Game Planning

Shismar Johnson

I know that we as coaches are supposed to get our players into the weight room and help them to build up strength for next season. But, in our world of instant gratification. Just opening the weight room is not enough, there are just too many distractions. A lot of the kids that I get to play are kids that would otherwise but getting into stuff that they should not be and hanging around doing stuff they should not be doing.


This is the reason that I started coaching basketball. So I can pass students from one sport to other. I also encourage them to run track, my philosophy is to teach the whole student. One student comes to mind, he was the Captain of the basketball team and the leading rusher. He is now playing football in college. Don’t get me wrong I do not get all of them some will leave and do other things, but I do end up having a dedicated core of kids that play both sports,


This also helps with keeping their grades up, I get to monitor them year around. And they have something to be dedicated to that will keep them busy and coming to school. I work almost exclusively with inner city kids from middle to poor backgrounds. And keeping them occupied is a full-time job. But it pays off when they tell me they have gotten into the college they are have been wanting to get into since freshman year.


We have daily morning strength training that three-quarters of our athletes show up for. It is also a conduit to for our 8th graders (we are a middle and high school) to come in getting involved. For us, academics is first and I do check in with my player's teachers, I walk in right when they are in class and let them know I care and that I am checking on them.


The only time that we are not doing something with the kids is the dead period. For which I am grateful, it gives me and them a break. When we start back in August, we will be running the pistol. I am a true believer in running the ball. I also plan to use quite a bit of option and get my kids started early in learning and installing it. Depending on what we look like in the quarterback role we may open that up a bit more.


On defense, we will run the 3-4 or the 4-4 with an eye towards stopping the option. I expect for my team to have strengthened over the year playing other sports and having gained physically and mentally. I would love to get a leadership academy started and will look into doing just that.

Joseph Atala

When it comes to preparation for a weekly opponent there are 2 very important things to me as a coach. Number one is consistency on how we go about our game plan and number 2 is modification for each opponent that we face. Consistency allows a weekly schedule and allows the student athletes to know what to expect coming in to that day. For example, if Monday is film day then the team knows that they will be watching film of the other team on that day. With consistency we create a faster way of learning and makes things a lot easier. The second thing was modification. Each team that we face is different so the game plan will be game specific for that team. We must modify for any situation like a heavy running game or a heavy passing game. The weekly schedule will go as follows:



Monday: Film Review, Lifting, Correction Periods



Tuesday: Team Leadership meetings, Study Table



Wednesday: Game Plans, First- and Second-Down Prep



Thursday: Third Downs, Sub-Package Pressure



Friday: Red Zone, Goal Line, Two-Minute



Saturday: Recruiting/Coaches Meeting



The staff will acquire film from the weekend before and will be given a specific task to study on the opposing teams. Those things that they discover will be discussed during the film room on Monday. With everyone doing their task and by sticking to consistent yet modified schedule we should have the ultimate receipt to succeed.