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Post by Inthesticks on Sept 2, 2020 9:19:50 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated.
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Post by blb on Sept 2, 2020 9:25:28 GMT -6
Tell them they'll stand way out away from the linemen, never have to hit anybody, keep their uniform clean, spend all practice running pass routes, and get ten balls a game.
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Post by Inthesticks on Sept 2, 2020 9:33:48 GMT -6
Tell them they'll stand way out away from the linemen, never have to hit anybody, keep their uniform clean, spend all practice running pass routes, and get ten balls a game. I've tried that one..... unfortunately it doesn't seem to be working as well the past two years |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2020 9:36:30 GMT -6
I ask kids that are on the fence to come and try it for a week, if they don't enjoy it, they can pack it in. I do have some kids that "quit" after the week, but most that do end up loving it and sticking with it.
Usually these kids are underclassmen that would be freshmen or jv football players. I have had maybe 1 or 2 kids that have ended up playing varsity right away after this process.
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Post by coachcb on Sept 2, 2020 9:42:33 GMT -6
IME, those kids are "on the fence" for a reason and very little I've said or done has encouraged them to play. With that being said, peer pressure/encouragement is a good tool for recruitment. One year, we started off our first day of camp with around 20 kids out for ball. After two days of the kids talking to their buddies, we were up to 35. Those 20 kids bought into what we were selling and managed to get their friends out.
We were able to keep about half of those 15 kids out which was still a boost. Most of the other half quit after they were informed they had some conditioning to make up for the first two days they missed. The make-up conditioning wasn't horrendous and just showed that those 7-8 kids didn't truly want to be out for ball.
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Post by doubletight305 on Sept 2, 2020 11:37:58 GMT -6
When I took my current job in 2013 our entire program consisted of 32 kids, last year we had 96 and this year we will probably end up with 110-120 kids. We are in a very populated urban area with parent choice in regards to what high school to attend.
Here are a few things we did to be able to get our numbers up:
1. Changed offense from double-wing to spread RPO, I know its easier said than done but once we made this change it opened us up to a whole new level of athlete joining our program.
2. Social Media and graphics- make sure your team account is active on Twitter and Instagram. Follow some of the college programs around you and emulate to the best of your ability what they are doing for marketing. Try to find a coach or someone at the school who is halfway decent at graphic design.
3. Make it fun. If its not fun then kids won't play. Our kids genuinely enjoy coming to practice and workouts and being a part of the team. Let the kids take some ownership of the team culture. For instance, our kids love music at practice and at workouts. We let them pick the music (as long as its clean) and play it on our speakers on the field and in the weight room. Give the kids the ability to build the culture, your job is to put guard rails on it to make sure its headed in the right direction. Then, market the hell out of that culture.
I oversimplified this but those are some things that we feel have really affected our numbers.
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Post by aceback76 on Sept 2, 2020 12:22:38 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated. There are lots of "avenues" to explore here, and I will give one that was MOST successful to us: Get you "core" kids (who are dedicated, and the "heart and soul", and the leaders of your team) to serve as RECRUITERS or "ambassadors". We ask all of those to recruit the best athletes with the best attitudes that they know, & SELL them on coming out for for our team. We ask them all to bring as many as they can find, but at LEAST one each. It is not unusual for us to have 125 prospects out (grades 10-12). Our PLAYERS (recruiters) usually bring in 25-30 of those (that become a part of the program). They will have friends going back years that they will be better acquainted with than you, and OURS take PRIDE in being "recruiters". |
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Post by Inthesticks on Sept 2, 2020 15:57:32 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated. There are lots of "avenues" to explore here, and I will give one that was MOST successful to us: Get you "core" kids (who are dedicated, and the "heart and soul", and the leaders of your team) to serve as RECRUITERS or "ambassadors". We ask all of those to recruit the best athletes with the best attitudes that they know, & SELL them on coming out for for our team. We ask them all to bring as many as they can find, but at LEAST one each. It is not unusual for us to have 125 prospects out (grades 10-12). Our PLAYERS (recruiters) usually bring in 25-30 of those (that become a part of the program). They will have friends going back years that they will be better acquainted with than you, and OURS take PRIDE in being "recruiters". We've done that in the past with a little success but may need to rev it up this year and see what we can get. |
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Post by aceback76 on Sept 2, 2020 16:07:58 GMT -6
There are lots of "avenues" to explore here, and I will give one that was MOST successful to us: Get you "core" kids (who are dedicated, and the "heart and soul", and the leaders of your team) to serve as RECRUITERS or "ambassadors". We ask all of those to recruit the best athletes with the best attitudes that they know, & SELL them on coming out for for our team. We ask them all to bring as many as they can find, but at LEAST one each. It is not unusual for us to have 125 prospects out (grades 10-12). Our PLAYERS (recruiters) usually bring in 25-30 of those (that become a part of the program). They will have friends going back years that they will be better acquainted with than you, and OURS take PRIDE in being "recruiters". We've done that in the past with a little success but may need to rev it up this year and see what we can get. Who knows, you may get the next Tom Brady!!! A coach must be a "salesman" to have the ability to get kids out. I had a great article about "Selling Your Program to the Public" if I can find it! |
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Post by coachjm on Sept 3, 2020 3:37:15 GMT -6
Agree with much of the above...
Biggest thing in my opinion:
Kids will do what other kids think is fun and cool not what old men are trying to sell on them!
Let the players lead the way... You set the vision, work with leadership on the team, listen to the things they want and try to implement all that you are able too!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 3, 2020 3:43:58 GMT -6
They are all over the middle schools. Absolute giants. 6 ft, 170 lbs 7th grader but built for 225-240. I found a girl who can fly. 7th grade and she can catch a football. Another kid is 6-4 and bean pole, but with a little muscle. If you are waiting for them to walk through the the doors in 9th grade, you will find it tough. And you need to change. Kids dont respond to how you and I were coached on the whole.
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Post by chi5hi on Sept 3, 2020 9:22:36 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated. This isn't the 1960's anymore...when EVERYONE wanted to be on the football team. I'm not sure that the majority of kids today are as tough as they were in years past...previous generations. I think that some are "entitled". So many of them are over-entertained (computer games/cell phones/iPads, etc.) and are accustomed to getting a trophy for just showing up. When you welcome them for the first team meeting and let them know how hard they're going to have to work, how much time they'll have to contribute, and how physical this game will be...several of them will just walk away. They have a text message... Then they (and YOU) have to deal with Mom and Dad...IF there's even a Dad present...and Mom wants them to play Soccer (ugh). 20 years ago I had 103 kids show up for the JV tryouts. This in a boy's school with a population of under 1000. Today I'm lucky to see 150 for all 3 levels. Oh, yeah...there are no "magic phrases". The kids just have too many distractions. But as always, the guys that do show up are the ones who really want to play and usually have a good attitude. That is what we have, now. This is the world of coaching HS football. The good news is that if I have at least 50, I can still platoon and everyone gets to be on the field. Tell them that. Some who are on the fence may just hang in there. |
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Post by coachcb on Sept 3, 2020 9:49:47 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated. This isn't the 1960's anymore...when EVERYONE wanted to be on the football team. I'm not sure that the majority of kids today are as tough as they were in years past...previous generations. I think that some are "entitled". So many of them are over-entertained (computer games/cell phones/iPads, etc.) and are accustomed to getting a trophy for just showing up. When you welcome them for the first team meeting and let them know how hard they're going to have to work, how much time they'll have to contribute, and how physical this game will be...several of them will just walk away. They have a text message... Then they (and YOU) have to deal with Mom and Dad...IF there's even a Dad present...and Mom wants them to play Soccer (ugh). 20 years ago I had 103 kids show up for the JV tryouts. This in a boy's school with a population of under 1000. Today I'm lucky to see 150 for all 3 levels. Oh, yeah...there are no "magic phrases". The kids just have too many distractions. But as always, the guys that do show up are the ones who really want to play and usually have a good attitude. That is what we have, now. This is the world of coaching HS football. The good news is that if I have at least 50, I can still platoon and everyone gets to be on the field. Tell them that. Some who are on the fence may just hang in there.
I agree.. Unfortunately, we have more and more kids that don't like contact. In years past, we had kids chomping at the bit to get the pads on and ram through tackling and blocking drills. You'd get large cheers from the tam when you said "WE GET TO HIT TOMORROW!!"
Throughout the season, the kids loved defensive INDY drills where we shed and tackled. Now, we tend to drag kids through those drills but get a ton of enthusiasm for Pass Skelly..
It's just a different world.
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Post by Inthesticks on Sept 8, 2020 6:57:14 GMT -6
Anyone have any experience with "magic phrases" or things they say to kids to try and get them to come out for football? We seem to be losing the kids that are "on the fence" (especially from middle to high school) about playing and it seems like I've run out of ideas on what to say. I realize kids have to have that drive to play and you can't beg, but we really need to get a few more bodies. Any ideas or past success stories would be appreciated. This isn't the 1960's anymore...when EVERYONE wanted to be on the football team. I'm not sure that the majority of kids today are as tough as they were in years past...previous generations. I think that some are "entitled". So many of them are over-entertained (computer games/cell phones/iPads, etc.) and are accustomed to getting a trophy for just showing up. When you welcome them for the first team meeting and let them know how hard they're going to have to work, how much time they'll have to contribute, and how physical this game will be...several of them will just walk away. They have a text message... Then they (and YOU) have to deal with Mom and Dad...IF there's even a Dad present...and Mom wants them to play Soccer (ugh). 20 years ago I had 103 kids show up for the JV tryouts. This in a boy's school with a population of under 1000. Today I'm lucky to see 150 for all 3 levels. Oh, yeah...there are no "magic phrases". The kids just have too many distractions. But as always, the guys that do show up are the ones who really want to play and usually have a good attitude. That is what we have, now. This is the world of coaching HS football. The good news is that if I have at least 50, I can still platoon and everyone gets to be on the field. Tell them that. Some who are on the fence may just hang in there. Couldn't agree more |
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Post by 42falcon on Sept 17, 2020 20:09:29 GMT -6
I wonder if COVID will change this? No organized sport, parents keeping kids inside away from other kids. Once things are "open" again will we see a resurgence of football and other sports?
For what it is worth I tell prospective kids "you love football, you just don't know it yet". The other avenue is and this is probably wrong nowadays or offensive to some but for what it is worth I do tell the boys "when was the last time you ever saw the hottest chick in school dating a guy on the robotics team?" It might be 2020, esports and feminized sports rule the day but, chicks still dig muscles and tough dudes.
For me, it is about selling football, getting kids to buy into that "Friday Night Lights" experience and, doing my best to use football to build school culture.
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Post by bluedevil4 on Sept 18, 2020 10:59:55 GMT -6
I ask kids that are on the fence to come and try it for a week, if they don't enjoy it, they can pack it in. I do have some kids that "quit" after the week, but most that do end up loving it and sticking with it. Usually these kids are underclassmen that would be freshmen or jv football players. I have had maybe 1 or 2 kids that have ended up playing varsity right away after this process. I second this. Kids are often nervous about trying something new, because they don't want to be put down or made fun of by their peers, or be looked down upon if they fail or don't like it. Encourage them to play, and reassure them that you support their decision whether or not to play after they try it. Empower them to be a "yes" person and explore new things, and to not be ashamed for deciding they don't like something. Trying something out for a week through an honest conversation, then deciding it's not for them is far more healthy than coercing/convincing a kid to be on the team, then seeing it as "quitting" when they decide a week later they don't want to do this. If you can show kids you actually have their interest in mind, they'll likely be more responsive to your advice, and therefore more likely to try it out, and stick around. |
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Post by breakerdog on Sept 23, 2020 8:53:56 GMT -6
One local school goes out of their way to make new players feel comfortable and give them a safe place to start. The HC's reasoning is that the kids who have played minor football their whole lives are coming no matter what, you already have them, so how do you give the new starters a good experience.
They have a week of new players only in the spring. Kids get to come out and wear equipment, do some fundamentals and learn how to practice. They get the weight room introduction and some basic scheme installed. It gives the kids a way to get started without getting destroyed by your more experienced players. It takes a lot of resources to go through this, but by all accounts they get most of the new kids to stay and commit to a season.
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