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Post by bwjuice on Nov 28, 2007 13:14:09 GMT -6
After just coming off a mediocre season, in reflection I know that it could have been much better. However, our success for next year will not depend on our athleticism as much as it will be determined by our team's will to compete and desire to win. As a coaching staff many of us are from the North (Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania) and it has been noted that football is approached differently in the South (North Carolina) including things such as time allotted for summer camp, play offs, etc. In my few years coaching up North I noticed a certain fire in my players, a will to want to win. Now, I am not seeing it as much, actually very little. It seems that many of our kids (and Parents) are somewhat satisfied with "close games" or "almost winning". We have tried many different approaches to try to overcome this mentality during the season but to find very little success. I know that a coach is a huge part in igniting that fire, but I am looking for some different approaches on how to keep it burning in our kids. Any suggestions that anyone could provide to increase athlete motivation, competiveness, and MENTAL TOUGHNESS will be appreciated. Thanks.
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Post by dubber on Nov 28, 2007 13:33:52 GMT -6
This is a great topic, and more so than x's and o's, seperates good coaches from great one
Some things I have found might work, as I will need more time to test their usefulness:
*Don't over praise your kids. This sounds harsh, but it leads, IMO, to laxity
*Be demanding-----"Joe I don't care if you dominated that guy, you are still too high coming out of your stance"
*Be challenging-------"ok, you squatted 350, that's nice, but can you get to 400 before we start camp?"
*Don't be afraid to play the 2nd string go-getter over the 1st string "I got this spot in the bag"-------if the first string guy doesn't lit a fire under his own butt when he is no longer playing, you're better off with the 2nd string guy anyway
*Mental Toughness can be built during conditioning periods.........try using "overtime"------say we got 10 gassers, guys finish them, and then you got a surprise: overtime (say they have to play GL defense for 10 plays, each time the offense scores, it is another gasser). This teaches them to fight through the unexpected.
*Hold them accountable. Soon, they will hold themselves accountable.
Just a couple of ideas-------I can't wait to hear what better coaches than me do
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Post by fbdoc on Nov 28, 2007 14:05:11 GMT -6
The off season lifting running program is a very good way to get them competitive. Use groups, challenges, teams, points, whatever your situation will allow.
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Post by bwjuice on Nov 28, 2007 15:31:51 GMT -6
Many of these we have or have trying... This is the first off season that our staff will be all together, thus we all want to turn the program around. Right now we are organizing our athletes, not in winter sports, into teams led by "leading" upper classmen and a select few underclassmen. Some upperclassmen have been overlooked due to attitude, or lack there of. We are in the process of putting up a Big Board, to display core lift records. Also, we are incorporating a team challenge where each team can earn points for attendance, grades, earning top spots on Big Board, and winning team challenges. At the end of each workout we will choose two (any number according to challenge) athletes worthy of competion and they will engage in some sort of competition, the team of the winner is awarded points.
We feel that this will help build competive spirit as well as show the kids how to pushing and challenging each other will get us better as a team. There will also be times where the challenge involves everyone, kind of a every man for himself - last one standing (but still earning team points).
Thanks for the input... look forward to more ideas.
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Post by bwjuice on Nov 28, 2007 15:35:24 GMT -6
One other thing on holding the kids accountable... I am a strong believer and enforcer of accountability from the classroom to the field. However, it seems that where we are now accountability is overlooked at home (I think mom still cuts off the crust of their PB&J) and it shows in all aspects of many of these kids lives. Any ideas on how to combat this?
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Post by tothehouse on Nov 28, 2007 17:48:23 GMT -6
We had a staff meeting yesterday and are making a major change. We are going more MILITARY STYLE. Now....that might sound harsh, but what we are actually doing is breaking our team up into positions and assigning a "captain" to each position. The captain is held responsible for the GOOD and the BAD that happens with players from his position. A LB captain is held responsible if a linebacker is late. Not only will the late linebacker get down ups...so will the captain. Now, it's easy to have too much negative enforcement here. So we are going enforce leadership amongst the groups.
The captains will be the ones handing out weekly awards to their position. They will talk about what their position player comrade did the previous week to earn the helmet sticker (usually coaches do this). Young men have a hard time expressing themselves.....therefore, we are giving them more opportunity to express themselves and show LEADERSHIP at the same time.
If all goes well the other position players will not want to let down the captain of their group. Captains aren't always captains either. A captain can lose his status and another can step in at anytime. We are also going to post a depth chart in the weight room each we which shows where players stand. One week they might be a second teamer and the next week they are the starter.
Could be a good thing.
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Post by PSS on Nov 28, 2007 18:03:48 GMT -6
We had a staff meeting yesterday and are making a major change. We are going more MILITARY STYLE. Now....that might sound harsh, but what we are actually doing is breaking our team up into positions and assigning a "captain" to each position. The captain is held responsible for the GOOD and the BAD that happens with players from his position. A LB captain is held responsible if a linebacker is late. Not only will the late linebacker get down ups...so will the captain. Now, it's easy to have too much negative enforcement here. So we are going enforce leadership amongst the groups. The captains will be the ones handing out weekly awards to their position. They will talk about what their position player comrade did the previous week to earn the helmet sticker (usually coaches do this). Young men have a hard time expressing themselves.....therefore, we are giving them more opportunity to express themselves and show LEADERSHIP at the same time. If all goes well the other position players will not want to let down the captain of their group. Captains aren't always captains either. A captain can lose his status and another can step in at anytime. We are also going to post a depth chart in the weight room each we which shows where players stand. One week they might be a second teamer and the next week they are the starter. Could be a good thing. Good to see that discipline and leadership are core issues for everyone and not just us. One thing that we do and I know a lot of schools in Texas do is have Boot Camp. It is much like what TTH stated. Discipline and accountability while building teamwork. Just like the Marines, break them down and build them back up. |
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Post by coachcoyote on Nov 29, 2007 4:19:00 GMT -6
OOHRAH!!
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Post by coachjd on Nov 29, 2007 6:16:55 GMT -6
outstanding thread!! We have used teams in the off-season before, but really have not done the best job we could have with communication and competition with them. Thanks for the great ideas.
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mike13
Sophomore Member
Posts: 108
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Post by mike13 on Nov 29, 2007 8:09:43 GMT -6
Threads like this are the reason I joined this board. I love new ideas on how to get a little more out of players. Thanks for the help, gentlemen.
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Post by tribepride on Nov 29, 2007 8:25:42 GMT -6
I believe that there is an underlying cultural issue in play. Kids are constantly told that participating and "trying" in whatever they do is good enough. I think this leads to the type of problems bwjuice was referring too.
We do basically the same things that dubber does and have found that to be successful. We might be the most pessimistic coaching staff in the country (just ask coachjd) but we expect the absolute best out of every player.
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Post by coachweav88 on Nov 29, 2007 10:45:38 GMT -6
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Post by deaux68 on Nov 29, 2007 14:42:39 GMT -6
For the ones that are there for free hamburgers and to wear that jersey to school on Friday you have to do one of two things.
1) Run their a** off
or
2) Make it mean something. We had this problem in a school that is just 4 years old. The school that was split up had a program that had been slipping for years. Anywho, we basically made it so hard (6AM workouts during the spring workout, with normally 5 to 8 coaches watching, it was impossible to cheat the system, they were doing pushups, situps, adn the such between lifts, and during the summer we had 6AM and 8AM workouts followed by 7 on 7/O line camps) that if they made it thru they didn't make it thru without the will to work hard and most importanly the will to win.
There was attrition. We could've had 80 or 90 players. So what. We had 65 that wanted to win and did the work to win. Early on that ugly monster arose again. We had to find a way to win instead of finding ways to lose.
We lost three games by 9 points total. We found a way to lose each of those games. Turnovers, missed tackles, big plays, special teams, you name it.
We finally had one game where we tried to give it away again. Our QB had a broken leg. We gave up big plays and after being up 17 points the other team went up a TD with about 3 minutes left. They kicked off to us, we went straight down the field and scored in a short time. They got the ball back and we ended up stripping the ball from them, getting it, and on our possession scored a TD with like a minute left. After that we didn't lose again until the playoffs. Played one game without our QB. Beat a team that had dominated us the year before. Beat a team that we had never beat in a close game. We won a game that we didn't play our best, which hadn't happened in the program.
I think all that happened because of the work that started last December or actually the week after Thanksgiving. Those kids and coaches put in a ton of work and meant something to them not to lose.
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Post by 7384729737 on Nov 29, 2007 22:08:16 GMT -6
When I was at Emory and Henry we had a program that was great. We were broke up into to "tribes", (Apache, Sioux, etc.) and everything we did gave or took away points. Grades, missed classes, weight lifting, banded workouts, everything. In the spring we had a boot camp like week called "Dog Soldiers". We got up around 5 and had workouts that the coaches tried to make impossible. The last day of Dog Soldiers we had a big challenge. It took place over the entire campus. As a team we had to complete different tasks at each station, things like tire flip, dumbbell runs, truck pull, Indian relay, and others. Winners of the tribes got a steak meal while the others got hot dogs and hamburgers. Everyone got dog tags for completing Dog Soldiers. It really brought everyone together and when I become a coach I know I will incorporate this somehow.
I really like the idea of tothehouse, making one person the leader of their tribe/team.
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