Well just wanted to get some info from any ex coaches or anyone with football experience. Starting August 1st are the player evaluations. I am the head coach of the "O" line. I am excited to be coaching for the first year, as well as working with 7-8 year olds and was just wondering if anyone on this forum had any coaching experiences they could share or any comments to throw my way......
Coaching Youth Football.....
provisional
Could Care Less
Not having any sons, and loving baseball, my two daughters learned to play fast pitch softball. I coached, and sponsored various teams. First, and foremost your youngsters need encouragement, and they need to have fun. Some will have some natural ability, some will not. The one's who do not have the natural ability will be tougher on you as a coach than those few with greater ability. Don't do what a number of coaches do, and neglect those players with less ability. Spend more time with those players less gifted, even if it means over time on your part. Yes it is fun to show case the great player you have, but it is even a greater sense of pride to know those with less ability are playing well because of you. You as a coach need "ALL" your players to win games. Another thing to watch out for are parents. Some parents can, and do cause a lot of grief due to stupidity. I removed more than few players off our teams due to disruptive parents. This after everything else I tried failed. For your own part, you need to know what you are doing, as in how to coach the game. You will have to allow for a few harmless pranks every now, and then. Some even played on you. I could write a book of youth coaching, but let me give an example.
Our girls were from all walks of life. Rich, poor, good homes, broken homes, single parent, the whole 9 yards. The best thing they had going for them was their respect for each other. Last game of the season we are playing on the rich kids, loaded with ringers, best coaches, field. At stake was a trip to the state championships. Problem one; we had lost one game during the season, too this same team. To advance we needed to win the first game, which would result in a play off game. Second problem; it was windy, cold and a game under the lights. The other team was quite cocky, having been champions before. On the way to the game I bought 5 little portable heaters for the dug out. After our pre game pep talk, one of the girls ask what the heaters were for. I told them that quicker they could get off the field, the quicker they could get back into the "warm" dug out. The longer they stayed up to bat, the longer they could stay in the "warm" dug out. They played their collective hearts out, won both games, and won our state's championship a few weeks later. :clapp:
Our girls were from all walks of life. Rich, poor, good homes, broken homes, single parent, the whole 9 yards. The best thing they had going for them was their respect for each other. Last game of the season we are playing on the rich kids, loaded with ringers, best coaches, field. At stake was a trip to the state championships. Problem one; we had lost one game during the season, too this same team. To advance we needed to win the first game, which would result in a play off game. Second problem; it was windy, cold and a game under the lights. The other team was quite cocky, having been champions before. On the way to the game I bought 5 little portable heaters for the dug out. After our pre game pep talk, one of the girls ask what the heaters were for. I told them that quicker they could get off the field, the quicker they could get back into the "warm" dug out. The longer they stayed up to bat, the longer they could stay in the "warm" dug out. They played their collective hearts out, won both games, and won our state's championship a few weeks later. :clapp:
- Thread starter
- #3
Congrats man! And thanks for all the helpful insite. We have a rule where every kid has to play at least 10 plays. (10 play kids) But we are not going to look at them like that. We will play every kid like they are the best, and those that aren't hopefully will come away a better player then when they started.
Diane
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My father coached several of my brother's teams (baseball and basketball) and he always had every kid play in every game. The kids loved him and wanted to be on his team. Strangely enough - they often won. I think it was because he made sure they were learning, improving and having fun.
- Thread starter
- #5
provisional
Could Care Less
We would play every girl when ever possible. Another point about coaching is to know when "not" to play your weaker players. Hear me out on this before you slam me. Safety is, or should be a big issue in youth sports. Our girls became very competitive, which meant a lot of traveling to out of state tournaments in addition to regular league games. Sometimes we would run into a team that was made up of very "tough" win at all cost, players. In this case, I always wanted my better players playing to avoid a possible injury to one of our weaker players. Does not mean I would not leave a weaker player in the game for an intense situation, but I did know every girl's limitations on our team.
Another thing, I did not do all this coaching by myself. I had help from other adults, and even from some of our better players. This allowed me to spend more time with our weaker players.
I had young lady who had very few skills when she first started with us. She was a bit over weight, but she had a great swing. She told me she thought, due to her size, she could play catcher for us. Problem was she could not catch a ball to save her soul. So for three weeks I had her off by herself, throwing a rag ball above her head, while turning in a circle and trying to catch the ball back at her original position. At night, on her own, before she went to sleep, she would throw a sock up in the air with one hand, and catch it in the other. Her problem was one of poor hand/eye coordination.
After leaving us to go off to college, she became a two year all american catcher in the WAC.....as a walk on:clapp:
One other thing you need to know. Don't try to figure out why you are having so many birthdays when you have your team out for a lunch or dinner. I was having 2 birthdays a month while at out of town tournaments. I'd hear the clapping from eatery's employees, let them sing happy birth day to me, and take their "free" giant ice cream sunday. Of course I did not get to eat this desert, since there were 15 other spoons in it before I could blink an eye.:clapp:
Another thing, I did not do all this coaching by myself. I had help from other adults, and even from some of our better players. This allowed me to spend more time with our weaker players.
I had young lady who had very few skills when she first started with us. She was a bit over weight, but she had a great swing. She told me she thought, due to her size, she could play catcher for us. Problem was she could not catch a ball to save her soul. So for three weeks I had her off by herself, throwing a rag ball above her head, while turning in a circle and trying to catch the ball back at her original position. At night, on her own, before she went to sleep, she would throw a sock up in the air with one hand, and catch it in the other. Her problem was one of poor hand/eye coordination.
After leaving us to go off to college, she became a two year all american catcher in the WAC.....as a walk on:clapp:
One other thing you need to know. Don't try to figure out why you are having so many birthdays when you have your team out for a lunch or dinner. I was having 2 birthdays a month while at out of town tournaments. I'd hear the clapping from eatery's employees, let them sing happy birth day to me, and take their "free" giant ice cream sunday. Of course I did not get to eat this desert, since there were 15 other spoons in it before I could blink an eye.:clapp:
provisional
Could Care Less
Sorry about this, but here's a good story that involves sponsorship money. We had 15 girls on on our team. The age limit was 14-18. We were looking to make a 4 week tour to 5 tournaments in the Utah, Arizona, and California areas. We would be gone from Vegas for the entire 4 weeks. You can imagine how much this would cost to pull off. Parents paid for a lot of this trip, but we still needed more. In addition to softball, there were also a few theme park visits that needed to take place. :confused2:
One day I am having team chat, and I am looking at all these young ladies who were wearing braces. I started asking them one by who their dentist was, and how much their braces cost. Turned out 95% had the same dentist, who was also my two daughters' dentist. All in all I was looking at roughly $500K in dental work. I am not bashful, and I had a nice chat with our friendly, neighborhood dentist/orthodontist. After understanding what was going on,
he graciously wrote a nice check, and even agreed to fix any dental work that might be required due to playing softball,for free. For his monetary support he received a nice banner, displayed at every game with his work name address, and phone number. :clapp:
One day I am having team chat, and I am looking at all these young ladies who were wearing braces. I started asking them one by who their dentist was, and how much their braces cost. Turned out 95% had the same dentist, who was also my two daughters' dentist. All in all I was looking at roughly $500K in dental work. I am not bashful, and I had a nice chat with our friendly, neighborhood dentist/orthodontist. After understanding what was going on,
he graciously wrote a nice check, and even agreed to fix any dental work that might be required due to playing softball,for free. For his monetary support he received a nice banner, displayed at every game with his work name address, and phone number. :clapp:
OFvar
The Drive to Win
show them, dont just tell them...little kids are responsive that way
Harry Longshanks
ILikeBigPutts&ICannotLie
Different kids (and people for that matter) learn in different ways. Some are visual learners (learn by seeing how it's done); some are audible learners (learn by hearing how it's done); and some are kinetic learners (learn by feeling how it's done.)
Most people are a combination of the three, but have a primary learning method. It's best to use all three methods when working with kids because they can't communicate to you which is working the best. Tell them, show them, help them.
ClairefromClare
Give 'em Helen!
Your biggest challenge won't be the kids--it will be the parents. They will be all over you, telling you what to do and complaining because little Johnny supposedly didn't get enough playing time. I wish I could give you an easy answer for that one--The Kids' football coaches even sent out a mass email last year, saying they had every single boy on a stopwatch, to be sure they all got the same amount of field time. Totally nuts.
- Thread starter
- #11
EWWW I hope they don't take it that far here........
provisional
Could Care Less
This is so true for any youth coach, and especially bad for those who umpire, and/or referee games. I had more than few discussions with parents like you have described. Part of my league duties when our team was not playing was to umpire behind the plate. I am pretty laid back, and most things don't bother me. But if a parent got my attention for the wrong reason, they better have a good view of the game from their car.