League all-stars
Last night was our 1st practice with the League All-Stars. It went surprisingly well. 18 kids chosen, one dropped out for family issues, and 2 are being held out of contact this week due to minor injuries (really banged up). Did the little speech about how were one team, no longer rivals. Emphasized the big 3:
- Pay Attention,
- Hustle,
- Learn
That seemed to go over well.
This is a pretty nice team, 10 linemen, 7 backs. Last night we started with the Offense – putting in the Buck Sweep series. Tonight we’ll go Defense; a Split 4. Thurs we’ll intro the Belly Series and kicking game. After that Mon- O, Tues – D, Thurs- review and kicking game. Before practice starts we have try-outs for kicking and punting.
My AC and a coach from another team took the backs. The OLine is my baby…. One of my ACs and a young, 1st yr coach from another team were with me – I noticed he started physically doing some the drill work himself along with the kids…. Apparently, he’d never heard of a replacement step. Two of the 7U coaches were wandering back and forth, asking good questions and helping out.
Found a couple linemen who can catch (one is pretty fast) to put as TEs.
Indys went very well. In the past we’ve had issues with OLinemen who didn’t take well to switching from ‘beat up the guy in front of you’ to an angle blocking TKO scheme. This group took to it pretty well. No obstinance, or “Well, I’ve always done…” kinda stuff.
Group went even better. The line showed the capacity to work together.
Then we hit Team. 6 of the kids are from our team, so this was just normal routine for them. But, the kids from other teams… well, they picked things up pretty nicely from Indy and Group. Not perfect by a long shot, but, you could what we were teaching coming thru.
Where I was really pleased, was the coaches were all on their position assignments, the guys from other teams were jumping in, asking Q’s when they weren’t sure, and the coaches were just ego-less. The 3 prior times we coached All-Stars, all I got was ego, attitude, complaints, people telling us this won’t work, that is stupid, why isn’t my kid the QB…
None of it. It was such a joy. Totally un-like my prior experiences. The one thing the Poachers did for us, took all the malcontents and big egos with them.
Afterward, got the coaches together, looked for input on players and position, from the beginning I made it clear we’re looking to get the Round Pegs in the round holes and Square Pegs in the square holes. We were pretty much on the same page regarding which kids we need to switch around, and when we weren’t, good cases were made, and there was no sign of ego or conflict. It was good, quick and efficient input. Couple kids are going to get switched around, as is usual after a 1st look. But, mostly I thought we nailed getting kids in the right spots to start.
We’re practicing 3 nights a week instead of just 2, Weds is church-night around here, and Fri we want the kids at the H.S. games.
We’re in 2 tournaments… the 1st one got cancelled a couple days ago, so we scrambled and found one in the Big City that had one slot open. But it’s a week earlier, so instead of 9 practices to bring the kids together, we only have 6. We’ll be facing some of the traditional powerhouses, we’re a Rec League all-star team, these are mostly travel teams, or big program school teams. Definitely punching up above our weight class. But we’re guaranteed 3 games. 2 weeks later we’ll be in a tournament for Rec League teams.
Last night was a lot of fun, tonight I hope for even better.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
The one thing the Poachers did for us, took all the malcontents and big egos with them.
^ This. Bingo!
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
Completed our 1st week’s practices.
As expected, going to have to do some de-programing of kids from other teams. One team esp. we’ll be talking to their HC 1st chance, as they were taught to lead with the head on blocking. Can’t believe we didn’t pick this up earlier. The old 3 pts of contact thing, went out in the 70’s or 80’s I think. But mostly its terminology and technique.
Our 1st live action drill for tackling was a bit of an eye-opener. The tackling was good overall, and often quite violent. The DBs were struggling a little with Rotation vs sweeps and QB breaking the tackle box, but started catching on. Team Pursuit drill revealed some real deficiencies, we’re going to have to work on this a lot.
But over-all, nice group of kids. Decent athletically, only one knuckle-head [emotional issues], and we knew going in he was going to need extra coaching.
Come the 22nd, we’re off to the Bright lights of the Big City to see what we’re made of…
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Last night was our last practice before this week-end’s tournament. We’ve had 6 practices to get the kids ready, 5 of them were good practices, the other was last night.
The knock parents have on our staff getting the all-stars is we don’t pass enough. Our run game looks pretty good in practice. Last night we really worked on our passing, 22 incompletions on 23 attempts. It was enough to make a grown man cry. After practice, I told one of the parents whom I’ve known a long time, “when people complain we don’t call enough passes, you tell them what you saw here, tonight.” He laughed, his son plays on the line. We were completing passes pretty well until last night. Hopefully it was an anomaly, last night we couldn’t catch a cold standing buck-nekked in Lake Michigan in January. [to be fair, our really good receiver is out sick this week and if he comes Sat. he’ll get very limited P.T]
Overall, we really like the physicality of the kids, in drills the hitting has been very good. In choosing the team we emphasized speed / quickness over size [which drew the ire of a few folk with big kids] 2 of the backs have separated themselves from the rest, but all of them are decent runners/ blockers. What we really like are the Linemen. Back in the combine I was drooling over some of these kids, and now I get to coach ‘em. Some are still struggling a little with overcoming a season’s worth of different coaching (or lack of it), but I think we may surprise some folk Sat & Sun [We’re guaranteed 3 games].
We got some good news, the travel teams are not in this tournament after all. Supposedly, only "school based recreation league all-star" teams.
Not able to scout much, most the teams we’re playing against have IEFA travel teams [There is a ‘game of the week’ broadcast and we found some on the ‘net], we’re playing their rec league all-star teams, kinda the best of the rest. [the smallest city involved has twice the population of our whole county] If the rec leagues run the same offense and defense their IEFA teams run, we’re facing a whole bunch of gun – spread / pistol teams / Even front Defenses. The biggest dog on the block (#1 seed – I'm told 4 teams seeded, the rest drawn in), is the exception, like us, they run the Wing T, a 4-4-3 Defense and always on-side kick [wondering if their coach is a DumCoach alum]. We were drawn in against the #4 seed.
So, watch-out Urbanites, the Hicks-from-the-Sticks are comin’ your way. [Please, Lord in Heaven, let us be ready…]
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Well, that was humiliating.
Yes, we were punching above our weight class (Small school system playing against the largest 2 classifications).
Yes, our team was mostly 3rd graders playing in a 4th grade tournament.
Yes, we only had 6 practices.
Yes, our biggest kid weighed in at 126 and everyone we played had kids over 165 on their lines.
No, we should not have looked that bad.
We took our opening drive of the 1st game right up the field, 5 plays, good size chunks, added the PAT. We looked good, aggressive blocking, precision wasn't quite where we want to be, but not bad. They came out and hit a big play on their second down for a score. When we got the ball back, we fumbled the exchange, they recovered, and 3 plays later scored again. That’s when the when the wheels came off.
We were unable to get the kids confidence back up.
In crisis mode, most folk go back to doing what they learned 1st and been doing the longest. All but one OG played for other teams, during the reg. season, and all pretty much worked on the “block the man in front of you” plan. I failed to properly re-program the kids in the time we had, and we were not able to sustain drives. Then our QB got the ‘yips’ and started mishandling the snap & hand-offs. Fumbles killed us our back up wasn’t much better. But mostly I put it on myself and the Oline.
Defensively, well… too much grabbing, not enough tackling. We did get 4 picks, and only gave up one big pass play. The 3rd game we actually played pretty well on D.
I guess the most disappointing thing is that I felt our Oline would be much better than it showed.
Tonight we’re going light contact (just played 3 games over 2 days) and going to do a ton of work with the Oline, and form tackling on dummies. Tomorrow and Thurs night practices will be more physical. But tonight, we’re gonna get the blocking straightened out.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
All but one OG played for other teams, during the reg. season, and all pretty much worked on the “block the man in front of you” plan.
--That's funny. "Plan" indeed.
--I can't imagine coaching any team with only a few days to get them acclimated to our way of doing things. I know that I couldn't do it. My hat's off to you for trying, though.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
Well, if this is the end...
We have 2 more practices then our final all-star tournament of the season.
Haven't seen the brackets yet, but the Poachers are in this one. Praying we get to play them. They have our all-star team, we have the left overs, they have good players, lousy coaches. Two of the other teams are powerhouses, there is already some buzz about if those 2 play.
Lost our starting OT / DE to a broken foot (gym class basketball game); lost our starting QB to bruised knee - he'll be fine just no football for 2 weeks. So, we're taking 15 kids into the tournament. But if we get to play the Poachers ...
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Just learned the Poachers have withdrawn from the tournament. So, no chance to play 'em.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
We had an opportunity to play in a bowl game that is 2 hours away. Of course we need parents to be all-in for it to happen. But being as the game is meaningless and we aren't in the play-offs, the drive is long and we didn't play last week, people have moved on. Frankly, I'm relieved not to have to do it.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
The tournament is about 40 minutes from our field. About half that for me since I live in the south end of the county. curiously, our parents seem to energized and many want to try to find an additional tourny to play in. I confess, without a chance to play the Poachers, I've kinda lost some of my motivation. But, if the kids want to keep playing, I'll keep coaching 'em. This all-star group seems to enjoy playing together more than the one's I've coached in the past. I suspect that's partly due to the loss of toxic influence the Poachers had... some odds and ends are coming to light, we're much better off without that bunch. Miss the kids they took, though.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Just learned the Poachers have withdrawn from the tournament. So, no chance to play 'em.
That sucks. Was looking forward to a good story to see the forum off into the sunset.
Game plan? I got your game plan. We gonna run the bawl some. We gonna throw the bawl some. We gonna play some defense. We gonna run some special teams, but we better not run kick return but one time and we sure as heck better not punt.
Played 2 games today, another tomorrow.
Our QB is out with a bruised knee, a key OL / DL broke a bone in his foot, and one of our better LB’s was out with a bug. So, of course we drew the 2 traditional powerhouse teams.
We opened tournament play with a 22 – 8 win. Buckshort and Belly plays ate up clock and turf. Our new qb had been looking pretty good in practice, but come game time, was having a lot of trouble with footwork and hand-offs. Our TB especially, it got so he was waiting to see where the QB was going to be, instead of running his path. Loss of a step really messed up timing and several nice holes closed up by the time he got there. Still, tho, we got the win, and even completed a pass in some insane wind.
2nd game, the wind died and we really could have used it. Not often we see a passer of this caliber with actual receivers. The issues with the TB only got worse. Every time it looked like we were finally moving the ball, and start picking up 1st downs, we’d fumble an exchange. Our DB’s struggled to cover, and it seemed about every 3rd pass would get caught for big yards or a TD. Loss 33-0.
We play again tomorrow, pretty good team, but I like our chances. If we can get the QB and TB on the same page.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
Final game of the season
We ran the opening K.O. back for a TD. Added another TD in the 4th Q. In-between they scored 4 times. Several of the kids pretty much mailed it in. Maybe the season is just too long? Several have already begun Basket ball practices. Anyway, hoped for better, but we didn't deliver.
Umm.... why does that 6 ft tall 9 yr old have a goatee...?
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