pre practice stretch

We don't stretch at all. It is a total waste of time. We usually start practice with an individual period and work our way to full speed. we didn't have a single muscle pull last year.

We used to do a moving Nebraska type stretch but it wastes the first 10 minutes of practice every day.

Trust me, kids don't need to stretch before practice. How many of them stretch when they play pickup basketball with their friends? Do they ever pull muscles there?

Any coach who does not stretch his athletes either dynamically or conventionally is making a HUGE mistake! You are also doing your athletes a great diservice by toying with their physical well being. In 42 years of on field coaching, I have never heard of anything as absurd as that. Please do not take this as a personal affront, but that idea is ridiculous. Any athlete who has played the game will tell you that stretching is certainly not a "complete waste of time" in any sport! Can you imagine going to a track meet and not having the runners stretch??? I played Football, Basketball, and Baseball as a young man and will be the first to tell you I am shocked to hear a coach make a statement such as that. How long have you been a coach and did you play?

Coach Easton

LOU,

I am shocked to read your post! Wait until the hip flexors, groins, quads, calves, traps, deltoids and all the rest sart going. I certainly would not deem it successful to not stretch under any circumstance. Pull a groin
and it is 3 full months to get it back right!!! Your a college coach, see what coach Duda would say if you tell him you decided your not going to stretch your linebackers out anymore!

Coach Easton

Added thought: I am convinced it is not a physcological factor, but a WELL DOCUMENTED PHYSICAL FACTOR INVOLVED HERE. True, we no longer use all the conventional stretches as some are a waste of time, but we will always do 10 minutes of DYNAMIC STRETCHING as a team without fail. For those players who do not feel the dynamic stretches are enough, we tell them to do what they feel comfortable with but come out early to do the time consumming conventional stretches on their own time, not the teams.

Coach Easton

i wrestle back and forth with the whole stretching routine. watching 50 players and having 20 take it seriously and 30 jack around gets old with me. i viewed it as a waste of time. we went to the dynamic stretch and i will never go back to the old routine.

Total Stretch = 15 mins

First 8 mins is all players lined up on goal line going thru dynamic routine. all players stay active and i am happy about that.

Whistle blows, we break it out as a TEAM, and all players go to INDY time where they have additional 7 minutes to work on their own stretch in a small group circle.

I agree with your point about flixibility. One thing we will do a lot during off season workouts is partner stretch after workouts. You touch your toes while someone behind your helps push you down. We do this for other stretches as well. we find it helps with recovery and flexibility.

For the hardcore stretchers:

1) You stretch for a half hour about an hour before kickoff. You then go back to the locker room pep talk and do all that stuff. When you come back out just before kickoff do you stretch again or just do the customary 10 jumping jacks? If stretching is that important shouldn't you stretch again? All your players have tightened up in the that time period.

2) It is late in the third quarter. Your star corner gets hurt. You need a his backup in there for the next play but the kid hasn't stretched in 2 and 1/2 hours. How long does he stretch before he goes in? Does he take 10 minutes to go through a dynamic warmup or does he just touch his toes and go to work? Do you leave it up to your players to stay loose?

Just something to think about.