Building A Year Round Football Program

Abstract

A 365 Day Football Program can be broken down into four phases: Off-Season Program Standards, Leadership Academy, Summer Program, and In-Season Program. The following is a comprehensive look at the day-to-day operations of Torrey Pines High School football. Clear Mission and Vision Statements along with a program’s core values set the foundation for allowing players to become the best versions of themselves. A Friday night in the fall represents so much more than the final score on the scoreboard.



Phase 1: Off-Season Program Standards

In a high school football program, the time of year from December-June is as important, if not more important, than the actual months of the season from July-November. There is so much to be accomplished, and whether it is your first year as the head coach of a program or your 10th year, it all starts with teaching your players about the mission, vision, and core values of your program. At Torrey Pines Football, our mission is to “prepare student-athletes for success in life by teaching players to respect everyone, always give their best effort, love adversity, and consistently demonstrate humility.” The four aspects of our mission statement (respect everyone, best effort, love adversity, and humility) represent four out of the five core values of our program, with the fifth being together. Together will happen as a result of consistently striving to carry out our mission, and the efforts players and coaches make to get to know each other as people.


Through individual, small group, and team activities like Hero, Hardship, and Highlight, identifying what every person’s why is, and setting individual and team goals, our players and coaches will learn about the unique life experiences of every member of Torrey Pines Football. When players and coaches are willing to be vulnerable with each other, it creates an open line of communication and mutual sense of trust and respect that will be the backbone of our program. Shared experiences, shared goals, and shared adversity will allow us to carry out our vision, which is: We want to be the lighthouse of our community. We want all families, small businesses, retirees, first responders, and any other members of our community to feel like they are somehow a part of or contributing to the success of the Football program. 


In addition to focusing on our players, the off-season is also a critical time to develop relationships with our parents and community. We will hold a spring parents meeting in order to make it explicitly clear what the expectations are of coaches, players, and parents involved in the program. We will provide opportunities for parents to volunteer. We will fundraise, and the main source of that will be through our annual golf tournament, dinner and live auction. The golf tournament is a great way to bring our community together, keep alumni engaged and involved with our program, and celebrate the hard work of our players, parents, and coaches.


Phase 2: Leadership Academy

The Leadership Academy is a more specific plan of how we will implement our mission, vision, and core values mentioned in Phase 1. We are fortunate as a program to have a Football PE class every school day from 7:40 am – 8:35 am. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays will be dedicated to our off-season strength and conditioning program. That will make Wednesdays a perfect day to teach kids about our program and give them the tools they need to be successful in life in general. We will use a variety of methods to accomplish this. We will watch videos, TED Talks, speeches, press conferences, etc. that connect to our program and core values. We will read a book together as a team every year, which will allow our players to learn about the core values of our program from a voice outside of our program. We will assist our players in the process of setting individual and team goals, giving every member of our program a constant measuring stick of how we are doing and how we can continue to improve.


Perhaps the most important part of our leadership academy will be the community service we do in giving back to our school and our community. Players will partake in a tutoring program where they help elementary school kids in our community with their classes. We will work to give back to our military and donate our time at local Veterans hospitals and rehabilitation centers. As Clemson Head Coach Dabo Swinney says “if you serve their heart you will have discipline in your program” (2020).


Phase 3: Summer Program

Discipline and hard-work are at the forefront of any successful business, organization, or football program. Summer is a time to capitalize on all of the gains that have been made from January-May and turn those gains into explosive, fast-twitch movements that are applicable on a football field. We will hold Summer Weights Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays for Varsity, JV, and Freshmen. Our strength and conditioning program will be a continuation of the super set weight room program that goes in place every December/January, so players will be familiar with it. There will be an increased emphasis on agility and conditioning as we move into more football activities.


Part of that increase in football activities will be our participation in 7-on-7 tournaments throughout the summer. In reality, this begins in the spring, but our biggest tournaments will always take place in June and early July. 7 on 7 is a great way for skill players to compete for the first time as a group and coaches can assess where players are to an extent. If we are not traveling to play a game out of state in a given season, then we will look to do a 7 on 7 tournament out of the area (that includes a linemen challenge) so that we can stay at a hotel somewhere for team bonding purposes. The other highlight of our summer is our annual Jr. Falcon Football camp, which is for youth ages 5-12. The camp is a great way to establish a positive relationship with the community, and to get young kids thinking about being a Falcon one day!





Phase 4: In-Season Program

Football is unlike any other sport, in that you work harder for a longer period of team for fewer guaranteed opportunities to compete. It teaches players of all ages a valuable lesson: the value or working while you wait. Additionally, it teaches players that the more you put into something, the more you get out of it. There is no feeling like winning a football game on a Friday night, and we want our Friday nights on Ed Burke field to be a celebration of everyone in our community’s hard work throughout the year.


Saying that is easy, but it takes commitment to your core values and mission statement in order to make it happen, and coaches putting players in positions to be successful through great schemes. Offensively, we run the Delaware Wing-T. The Wing-T gives our players the best chance to be successful because year in, year out, we usually don’t have the biggest linemen. However, the Wing-T’s angle and trap blocking schemes give our offensive linemen a chance to be successful. As Wing-T originator Tubby Raymond explains “just remember, any play that moves the ball is a good one and the unexpected is still the best call” (1986, p. 41). The misdirection and play-action passing game of the Wing-T gives our players a great chance to catch the defense by surprise.


Defensively, we run a base 4-3 defense and play mostly quarters on the backend. Our defense prides itself on being fundamental, fast, and physical. If we align correctly, play hard, and pursue the ball with proper angles, it is going to be tough to go the length of the field against. Tackling wise, we have become staunch believers in the Seattle Seahawks “Hawk Tackling” system that takes the head out of the tackle. Additionally, it leads to more caused turnovers for the defense, which is something we pride ourselves on also.

Finally, Special Teams are all about heart, effort, and attitude. It’s a willingness and a desire to be on them whether you are a two-way starter, or it is your only role in the game. We always want to change field position in the kicking game and prevent explosive plays by our opponents. Scheme wise, we will adapt week to week in order to take advantage of our opponent’s weaknesses.


Conclusion

From the off-season to the leadership academy, to the summer program, to the actual season, all four phases of a football program must build on each other and be representative of the mission, vision, and core values of the program. Torrey Pines Football will work relentlessly to give players the best chance to be successful on the field and in life. A player returning home to say hello to the coaches after graduating is an indication that they have learned something that has helped them be successful in life after football. That is the ultimate victory.