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Post by groundchuck on Jan 30, 2006 14:21:35 GMT -6
What can be done for a school with no pride in itself. Garbage is left in the halls. Students talk rudely to teachers, facilities are broken and do not get fixed in a timely manner. I was told once a broken window left unfixed was an invitation to others to break more windows. That kind of thing goes on all the time here. A broken locker left unfixed seems to give another the right to destroy more property. Then the kids who do care don't say anything. They do not stand up for what is right. At least not from what I have observed over the years I have spent here. We coaches at this school have come to have to count on unreliable kids who make little effort to improve. Example: Our PE teacher takes a strength training class and has them to the dot drill. Not a single kid's time has improved all year b/c they do not try. There is no real "want-to" amongst most of the boys and girls. Don't get me wrong. We have some very good kids walking around this place who do care and it shows in thier efforts. But you cannot take 2 kids who care and put them on the field with 9 more who could give a crap and expect to win. So what can I do to improve school pride? Or should I do what I think has to be done and simply cut bait.
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Post by tog on Jan 30, 2006 14:25:30 GMT -6
Make them care about the school. Clean it up. Have the good kids "make" the other kids do what is right. The good ones have to be willing to piss off their freinds if they want they want to reach their goals. If they care more about not hurting their freinds feelings than they do about football, then there is no chance.
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Post by brophy on Jan 30, 2006 14:27:53 GMT -6
How big is the school?
How much are you willing to put up with?
What is parental support like?
bottom line, it's all got to change from within. How do you get a kid to change his perception of himself? Doing it for someone else isn't going to do it.
How do you build 'integrity' - if you never had it, why would you want it?
How do you build a child's self-esteem? Change his perception of himself?
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Post by brophy on Jan 30, 2006 15:12:25 GMT -6
additional points.
Does the school have ANY previous accomplishments / alum that one could take pride in (former champs)
How much is the administration backing you?
How much control over the football program do the kids have? (ownership)
How much influence do you have over their peer culture? WHO are the leaders (good / bad)?
WHAT motivates the kids - what do they avoid?
I don't have the answers.....just a lot of questions that needed answered from previous gigs.
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vind
Freshmen Member
Posts: 15
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Post by vind on Jan 30, 2006 15:15:42 GMT -6
Kids are a lot smarter than you might be giving them credit for. If they are not trying at the dot drill then you have to ask yourself why would they try?
There are a lot of answers to that question, you just have to find the one that works on your kids. I personally like competition and reward. You also have to stroke the egos of the jokers. I know you probably don't want to but if a kid that is normally a slacker does something good, let them know it.
Like brophy commented on "self -esteem." That is an important factor that you will fight with when dealing with HS kids.
If you can make practise a positive thing in their lives then you are doing your job IMO, and will get better results. It may take years to turn a program around but you can see very visible and immediate results in some kids.
You can not rely on self motivated kids anywhere, let alone a place like you describe.
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Post by brophy on Jan 30, 2006 15:25:44 GMT -6
Find their carrot.....if you're committed to another year or two....
Bring in the local Colleges - show them some college game film, players......sometimes you have to bring the future TO THEM.....get them to see the bigger picture, that they COULD aspire to be better than they are today, that all the hard work may just add up to something.
One thing I've learned, though.....there will be those kids who are just a pain in the a$$. They are usually your best athletes.....cutting them loose HAS to be an option. Never rule it out and remember that they are expendable. Keeping a cancer on the team does not help.
....here's something else we've done......just have an open gym one night in the off-season.
Coaches vs player or intermingle them.....in groups of 4 or something.....
have relays, basketball, competition......and finish with a Dodgeball tournament.....kids will have fun and you'll find your aggressive kids (guys who will take charge / be assertive) out of it
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Post by coachcalande on Jan 30, 2006 15:47:30 GMT -6
I took a job at a similar situation...in fact, i was the pe teacher too...our lockers were beat up and the toilets were broken...grafiti and trash...you just have to crack down and do soemthing about it when it happens...what is tolerated is encouraged. period. i see kids kick lockers all the time...they have to clean up the locker room for me when i see anything disrespectful to "my" gym.
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Post by brophy on Jan 30, 2006 15:51:40 GMT -6
you sound like a real bad ass, Steve.  |
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scox80
Freshmen Member
If quitters never win, and winners never quit. Who is the fool who said quit while your ahead?
Posts: 91
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Post by scox80 on Jan 30, 2006 16:29:53 GMT -6
have a day where your team goes out into the school to clean it up. Announce that you may need supplies from the parents or staff. have your kids be there and let pther people know that they are welcome to help too.
Also, we face a similar problem (lack of pride) when we took over the team we just got. It wasn't as bad as your situations seems. We needed pride...so we gave them soemthing to be proud of. Kids who don't have pride were probably never shown anything to be proud of.
We remodled our team room/locker room.....looks like a D1 college locker room.
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Post by coachcalande on Jan 30, 2006 17:48:16 GMT -6
brophy...im the guy with teh towel over his head...my kids are teh guy in the suit...
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Post by ticobrown on Jan 30, 2006 18:45:04 GMT -6
Sounds like the school where I work at. Don't get me wrong, there's other schools in the district that makes my school look like Beverly Hills. But it seems like the administration at the school is just counting down the days towards their retirement. The kids do pick up where the don't have to worry about being punished for being disrespectful towards teachers/ staff, destroying property/ vandalism, fighting, etc.
Most of the kids do care about the school but because the administration is so worried about the 5/10 percent, it ruins the school for everyone else.
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Post by pegleg on Jan 30, 2006 20:59:32 GMT -6
ok here's my take.
first a little background, the school i just left was shut down by the state. not the high school, the entire district. everything about the district was so pathetic it couldn't maintain. horrible test scores, admin stealing money among other things. the kids come from the worst parts of south dallas, true ghetto school. the facilities were literaly falling apart, the hs building was condemed by the state health people.
all of that being said, we had great athletes. i don't know how that part compares, obviously that is huge. the approach we took was that we couldn't fix what went on in the building, so we concentrated on the athletic aspect. we forced the athletes to take care of business. grades, facilities, take some pride type stuff. this was not an easy process. we had to run off several excellent athletes, but in the long run it paid off. we got the athletes to change their attitude and we won a ton of games.
most of the credit has to go to the hc. he took a stand and would not back down, regardless of the response of the kid, parent, or community. if you can take that stand and bulid from a core group, you can change things. it takes some tuff love and a take no {censored} attitude, but it can be incredibly rewarding, for you and the kids.
my 2 cents i don't know if it helps or is even relivant, good luck!
Holla
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Post by ogie4 on Jan 31, 2006 9:35:43 GMT -6
From an administrative point
If its broke fix it. If its dirty, clean it.
From a coaches viewpoint-School I am at, had athletic morale problems on the boys side.(except tennis) Head coach changed attitudes one group at a time. 1st Coaches attitude, 2nd players attitude, 3rd parents attitude,4th teachers attitude, 5th then student bodies attitude. Things are rolling, expectations are growing each year, wins are growing each year. Winning is a habit, and so is losing.
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