Helmet Shortage Creativity

Please make sure each guy has a helmet buddy...or 2.  You dont want Jimmy just grabbing one for Joe because its convenient.  I know you know this...just saying.  We always lined up Varsity by postion at mid field and had them find a JV guy with a helmet that fit.  GReat for games when the #1 RB helmet breaks on the game winning drive.

Could you also do a Varsity practice..then a JV practice until the helmets come in.

We are facing this problem now. Our county won't allow kids sharing helmets so for the first time ever we will hold tryouts. Currently have 130 kids in the program and we will need to cut down to 90. So the plan is to hold a combine-style tryout two weeks before the start of camp and pick the best 90 kids for varsity/JV. Thinking of having a weight room/conditioning group that doesnt get equipment but continues to work.
Not happy with this situation one bit.

After they found a teammate whose helmet fit, coaches would verify if t was a good fit

FWIW NFL is apparently doing away with that rule this season.

How many of those kids do you expect to stick around?

True, and true.

Then, just cut them.

. Yes- The syntax of my post may have not been as clear. I was saying that his issue was that he has too many kids for the amount of helmets he has.

Never been part of a program who could afford to throw a dozen kids away.

Neither have I. I've also never been anywhere where a So or Jr who wasn't in the top 66% of players turned that around in a year or two of lifting and running. I used a dozen as an extremely generous number. I sincerely doubt you get 1.

No Sh!t. Glad you explained that the useless comment was a joke, I am certain people here thought it was a genuine suggestion

I don't have a road. Just not sure why just cutting kids due to lack of helmets is vastly superior than trying something else to keep them engaged. Clearly if the coach had the helmets, he would keep them on the team. But he doesn't at the moment. So why is trying to keep them around such a potential landmine?

This is a huge reason why we want to keep kids around - we always have a couple of late bloomers.

But there are other practical reasons to having those kids stay around and workout.

First off, we have the staff to do it, we are lucky enough to have a dedicated S/C coach on staff that will happily work with those kids while everyone else is outside - I know this is not everyone's reality.

Secondly, kids quit all the time, and unfortunely season ending injuries happen - if you keep those kids around then you transition those kids to the field as helmets become available.

Lastly, keeping those kids involved will keep them from withdrawing and going to another school. We are a public magnet school in a very urban area where kids can choose whatever school they wish to enroll in; just in a 3 mile radius of us must be something like 8 high schools. Every kid in our building means more state funding and more teaching positions. Our football program is a big selling point to choosing and enrolling at our school, there will be kids cut that are solely attending our school to be a part of the football program. No principal will be happy to see his enrollment go down due to cuts - if possible we would buy an additional 50-60 helmets to accomodate every kid (and hire additional coaching staff as well).

Once again, that last reason may not apply to everyones situation, but I think its safe to say that by rule of thumb you want as many people invested and engaged in your program as you can get.