Comments on: Coaching

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 15:46:57 +0000

Coach,
This past season I stepped up to help coach my son’s football team. We are a small town so most the sports besides little league are run through our Rec Department. All the teams that we have to play are bigger then us and their towns have the money to put on these great programs. We are the only team in the league that plays 3,4, and 5 graders for the JV team. The rest of the teams are 4th and 5th graders. Next year I am gonna step up to be the Head Coach for the JV team and am looking for some pointers. One thing I want to do is try and put together a free summer mini-camp to help kids learn the basics of tackling, blocking, how to take a hand off and throwing the ball. The reason for doing this free is because the economy is rough here and I feel all kids should be able to participate and learn the great game. I am thinking about asking the high school coach for some help with it and maybe getting some of the HS players to help. I feel that these young kids seeing the HS players will help motivate them. The kids that I coached this past year had huge hearts and played the season with out a single win. Every team that plays us thinks this is that team we always crush and I want to get rid of that and make it hey here is that team that came to play. Our last game was against a team of BIG 5th graders and like I said before we had 3,4, and 5th graders. I told them that if they won the game they could pie me in the face at our banquet. We played one hell of a game and lost by 4 points to a team that was bigger faster and was suppose to crush us. At the banquet I told the parents of this little challenge I issued the players. These boys played their butts off and never gave up and to me that was a win in my book. so needless to say out came the whip cream pies and well 15 pies in the face later there were smiles all over the place. with that being said I want to know how to put on a mini camp with drill that teach the basics so that way when the season starts we can focus on plays instead of how to tackle.

Coach Joe
1st yr Coach

By: Steve Parker

Steve Parker — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:45:10 +0000

ya, 2nd and 3rd graders are tough. Keep them busy on football.

Their attention span is very low. Keep topics / drills to about 10 minutes, maybe 15. Don’t talk much, demonstrate the drill and let them DO and get tons of reps. Set up multiple stations (maybe 3 in each line) so they are not waiting in line and talking and goofing off. Keep them busy. Basically wear them out doing drills or scrimmaging so they are too busy and tired to talk or goof off.

They goof off while they are standing in line. If you have one or two that keep goofing off send them to run around a tree or goal post about a 100 yards off and back. This will cool them off and get them in shape.

Also let them know upfront at practice that you expect them them to be respectful just like in the classroom. Sometimes, I will just stop coaching and look at the few that are goofing off and let the team tell them to quit so we can start again.

Hope that helps,
Coach Parker

By: eric

eric — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 02:41:47 +0000

Started coaching a team of 2nd and 3rd graders flag football, have some pretty good talent but there are some issues with getting the kids to pay attention to the drills and plays that we are working on, I have never coached a team, let alone one this young. When I played I was quite a bit older and the techniques used to “get our heads in the game” were a liitle aggresive for the kids I have… Any ideas as far as gaining there attention and cutting out the horseplay?

By: Steve Parker

Steve Parker — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 15:21:47 +0000

So a rule of thumb on the number of plays is age = # of plays in playbook. Last Spring I had about 10 plays and the group I had could only run about 4 of the plays so we focused on those plays. Several years ago, my older sons team in 5th grade had 36 plays and ran about 20 very well. So it depends on your group of players.

I don’t like moving kids around in positions too much. You really do not have enough quality practice time to teach kids all the positions so they have the skill to play all positions in a game. Keep them in one or two positions so they can learn one.

Everyone talks about preparing them for high school. they are pee wee players not HS players. many never play in HS if you are pee wee, play pee wee ball not HS ball.

All coaches should have a direct communication policy. I can understand if he asks you to email the CEO first, but he should have a way to set up an appointment with him and the CEO to discuss your issues. Our games are Saturday and I am open the following Monday for calls. I ask parents not to talk to me about issues at the game field or on Sundays and never in front of players.

just my two cents,
Coach Parker

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:17:31 +0000

Question?
My son plays on a 10 year old Football Team.
My son is a linemen. 3rd year playing.
However constantly confused because they change positions often.
Our coach insists on running and learning(playbook/watch film) about 10 different plays.
We are getting whipped everytime!
Seems like the other teams only run 2 plays and they win.
The coach states that the goal is to prepare these players for our High school football team.
They are only 10. Shouldn’t we be keeping it simple?
The coach is also “off limits”.
We are instructed to send all concerns/comments to CEO of football.
Is that normal?

By: sdwyer

sdwyer — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 10:15:31 +0000

The High School coach is running a camp through for the youth league, when we signed up for football we were able to sign up for that. $20 for a 4 day camp, 1.5 hours per night with the HS Head Coach. I thought that was a good deal. It starts next week, we are both excited. I signed up to be an assistant coach also.

By: sdwyer

sdwyer — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:31:36 +0000

I have a question that is a little off the topic here. My son is getting ready to start his second year of tackle football. He can’t wait for it to start, and he will be moving up from k-2 to 3-4. He will probably have the same head coach he had last year, which will probably mean lot’s of playing time for my son, as this coach loved the way he played most of the time. I may be moving from unofficial assistant coach to official assistant coach. Ok, Here is the question. My son loves to play football, and while he is a physical monster, big, fast and strong, he is a bit immature. I have heard that kids who start playing early don’t play past HS as they get burned out. I do not want this to happen to him so I don’t push him to work out, and I don’t make it too big of a deal, I figure he has plenty of time to mature yet. I do make a big deal of the games and his performance. He had an awesome season last year and I did all I could to encourage him. I tell him it’s his decision to play or not, but if he decides to play he will go to every practice, and every game, listen to the coaches and work hard. He want’s to go to football camp, but there are none in my area that take kids under 10 years old. Am I taking the right approach here? Is there something else I could be doing? Thanks in advance, and thanks for this great website.

By: MAJ Dom Tanglao

MAJ Dom Tanglao — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:22:44 +0000

MAJ Dom Tanglao (ILE-Staff Group 29A)

Paul,

Totally agree with your points. Coaches that never played the sport can’t properly illustrate/teach good techniques during practice. My kids play Pop Warner Football in NJ. During their practices, we saw inexperienced coaches (that never played contact sports at any level) teach our kids to lead with their heads during tackling drills. Preventing concussions in youth sports must be a priority in Youth Football leagues.

These inexperienced coaches set the conditions for an unsafe environment for our children. Also, they truly don’t know “what right looks like” since they’ve never really experienced it; except read about it from a book.

As parents, we spoke to their coaches and worked with our kids separately. Understand that good coaches are hard to find but the screening levels for coaches should include experience IOT keep our children safe.

By: Coach B

Coach B — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:33:34 +0000

Yes Big kids at young ages do get put on the line but as they get older and their size changes the coach should recognize a lineman at ages 9 and 10 maybe a running back at age 13 ot older. The responsibility to prepar a kid for the next level means that you teach them the importance of team concept. We once had a kid who was a lin,an at change 9 to about 12. At age 14 he grew and was slim converted him to a running back. What we had was the fastest kid on the team who had the mentality of a lineman. He always followed his blocks until he saw an opening and then he was gone. So to answer your question a coach has to decide what is best for the entire team not just one individual. Sometimes we get it right and sometimes we do not.

By: Paul Quinones

Paul Quinones — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 14:11:40 +0000

Can you learn how to teach a sport by reading a book? Can you learn how to instill desire, drive, the hard work it takes to be good if you have never been through it. I do applaud those parents who pick up the torch and help coach when others won’t. I would just have a hard time letting my son play for a coach that has never played the game. I could read a thousand books about cooking doesn’t mean I can cook. Having played the game also doesn’t translate into you becoming a good coach either. But at least you have gone through sweat and blood an have an idea of what the kids are going through. Football is an inner sanctum type of sport and if you never played you will never be in that inner sanctum. I am not saying that after a few years of assisting a head coach that he or she couldn’t turn into a good head coach. I just think there is a lot to be said about having gone through those 2 a day practices the bonds you have created with other players. How much physical and emotional pain you can actually bear. A coach that has never played will never be able to truly know what his player’s are going through. This is just my two cents for what it is worth.