Canadian High School Football

Trevor Prichard

Canadian High School Approach to weekly Organization in-season


When reading a couple of the other posts, I have come to the realization that other programs really rely on their assistant coaches a little more then I do. I do not believe in micro managing, but rather, keeping the workload down so that my coaches can concentrate on their families away from the game. I am the only teacher/coach in our program currently and we have been very successful over the last decade. The issue that we run into, is that our coaching staff is relatively young and they have young families, with young children. Therefore, if I can do more work on the planning side of things, I keep my coaches around and happy. Here is how a typical week looks in our program:

Sunday:

On Sunday morning our film will have been uploaded to our Hudl program by our student assistant and shared to our upcoming opponent. We will also obtain all the film from our opponent that we are playing in the upcoming week. This is done by our defensive coordinator and myself(head coach and offensive coordinator). Our entire coaching staff is obligated to watch our opponents and review their practice film to gather information about game strategy that can be used in our game plan. Our DC will game plan for the defensive side of the game, while I will prepare our offensive game plan and special teams game plan. Each positional coach is in charge of breaking down their units performance and making cut ups that we will go over on Monday with our team.

Monday:

7 a.m. - Grade 11/12 lifting session

9 a.m. - 3:20 p.m. - Grade 9/10 lifting sessions are organized throughout the day with our strength and conditioning coach

Noon - Coaches meeting via Google Drive to complete Tuesdays practice session. Must be filled out and completed by 1 p.m. the day before. We meet everyday as a coaching staff to discuss what is needed during the week in our practices.

3:20 p.m. - Yoga

4:20 p.m. - Character Education - A theme is selected each week to discuss what is necessary to be a member of the Celtic Football Program

4:45 p.m. - Special Teams meeting - Go over film and game plan for special teams

5:15 p.m. - Team Film meeting - Review the previous weeks game and discuss what the gameplan is regarding our opponent for the week. We do not watch the entire game, but we cut up the game film and present what is necessary to move forward and clean up our performance.

5:45 p.m. - Offensive and Defensive Breakout Meetings - The offensive and defensive coordinators will take their units to go over more cut ups of film that will build upon the game plan for the week.

6:15 p.m - Unit Breakout Meetings - Each unit coach has 1/2 hour to go over and discuss the weeks practice film and discuss alterations or adjustments to practice performance or skill development that are necessary for us to become better for the previous week. We also use this time to discuss any issues that may have occurred in the school amongst our student/athletes.

Tuesday/Wednesday - Regular practices

7 a.m. - Grade 11/12 lifting session

9 a.m. - 3:20 p.m. - Grade 9/10 lifting sessions are organized throughout the day with our strength and conditioning coach

Noon - Coaches meeting via Google Drive to complete Tuesdays practice session. Must be filled out and completed by 1 p.m. the day before. We meet everyday as a coaching staff to discuss what is needed during the week in our practices.

3:30 p.m. - Coaches meeting to discuss practice format and review any questions we might have as coaches

3:45 p.m. - Pre-practice - This involves our coaches going through their own unit warm up regiments like bag work and cone work. This is where the specialists will work on snapping, kicking/punting and where the QBs will complete their own warmups. We have a parent that will use our horn and follow our practice plan to ensure that we are kept on task and following the intention of the plan.

4:00 p.m. - Team pursuit drill/Hitting progressions(Safe Contact progressions)

4:15 p.m. - Warm-up

4:30 p.m. - Team Tackling/Special Teams - We work on a team tackling drill, while our special teams coordinator has 15 minutes to work on specials.

4:45 p.m. - Insertion - Offensive and Defensive insertion of what plays, formations, or adjustments we will make in our playbooks for the game plan this week.

5:00 p.m. - Indy - 15 minutes in total - 3 seperate 5 minute blocks where our coaches will run through their own unit drills for skill development. First indy period is used to concentrate on run skill development.

5:15 p.m .- Inside Period - 12 vs. 12 full contact green period concentrating on the run

5:20 p.m. - Indy - 15 minutes in total - 3 seperate 5 minute blocks where our coaches will run through their own unit drills for skill development. Second indy period is used to concentrate on pass skill development.

5:35 p.m. - Skelly - This is a frame period where we are working our pass game and pass defence. Linemen use this period for a third Indy session or for one on ones.

5:50 p.m. - Special Teams - We go back to special teams to concentrate on another element of specials(KO, KR, Punt, Field Goal, Extra Point), or we work in a concentrated special teams drill into this section of practice. A lot of time we blend our special teams drills into our conditioning period.

6:05 p.m .- Team Period - 12 vs. 12 full contact green period - This is where we put it all together.

6:25 p.m .- Team Address

Thursday:

7 a.m. - Grade 11/12 lifting session

9 a.m. - 3:20 p.m. - Grade 9/10 lifting sessions are organized throughout the day with our strength and conditioning coach

Noon - Coaches meeting via Google Drive to complete Tuesdays practice session. Must be filled out and completed by 1 p.m. the day before. We meet everyday as a coaching staff to discuss what is needed during the week in our practices.

3:30 p.m. - Coaches meeting to discuss practice format and review any questions we might have as coaches

On Thursdays, we will have a shortened practice schedule, but will concentrate on making sure that it is a perfect practice as much as possible. Many times we will come out in just helmets and shoulder pads, keeping everyone up from hitting the ground. Our tempo is red, which to us, means fitting or running through/past our opponents as defenders. Our offensive players concentrate on finishing every play to the endzone. We focus a lot of making sure that our special teams are crisp and everyone understands our gameday protocols. We will go through many hurry up offensive periods or what we like to call lightning periods(2 minute drill) where we are giving our players game situations to work through.

5:30 p.m. - Team Meal - we gather in our school where our parents have an amazing team meal for all of our players. We pray, and break bread, going over what is expected of all of us for game day.

Friday - Gameday:


7 a.m. - Grade 11/12 mobility/flexibility session

9 a.m. - 3:20 p.m. - Grade 9/10 mobility and flexibility are organized throughout the day with our strength and conditioning coach

3:30 p.m. - Coaches meeting to discuss gameday format and review any questions we might have as coaches. We usually go out for an early supper to discuss these things and share pregame comraderie.

4:30 p.m. - Mobility/Flexibility programming for our players

5:00 p.m. - Mental training - Go over the game with our strength and conditioning coach

5:30 p.m. - Taping with our athletic trainer, injury reports

6:00 p.m. - Special teams specialists are on the field working through punt, field goals, snapping, returning

6:20 p.m. - Team comes out to the field and starts pre-game preparations

7 p.m . - Game Time

Saturday:

I will take a look at the film on this day, and we use it as a day off of football for the rest of our players and coaches. I will make my notes and adjustments to be used as a discussion with my coaches for Sunday.