Post by Coach4Life on Oct 4, 2004 20:23:55 GMT
Gang,
I need some help if you have any thoughts or opinions on the subject.
I'm having a hard time with some of my kids. All my kids are 11-15, but once they hit 13 things happen in their head that are hard to figure out. I've got 2-3 chronic problems (walking off from a drill, zero hustle from one drill to the next, heads up their butts, etc.). 1 of 'em has a world of talent when he chooses to use it. Last week 2 of 'em caused a lot of extra running for the whole team (if one guy isn't hustling, we can't succeed, so they all run), while another who is a tremendous kid I really love who suggested I "Go back to your f***in' offensive line" while I was walking away from getting on his case to get up off the ground where he was rubbing his ankle (he wasn't hurt) to get in the drill or get on the bench. I wasn't sure I heard the F part or I would have dismiissed him immediately (he later admitted it to his mother), but I went back and we went eyeball to eyeball while I chewed his butt after which he got back into the drill (after flipping me off behind my back which I only found out about the next day). I told all 3 after practice in about a five minute discussion and asked for their Yes Sir on 3 things: You'll do what I want, when I want, the way I want, to the best of your ability, or we'll part ways. I love you all, I want to see you guys succeed, but I can't do it for you.
Saturday we beat a weak team with 15 kids, scoring on our first two offensive plays after which I emptied the bench (coulda scored 50 in the first half if I wanted to). I told the guys great job, that was what I expected, and that next week we have a "must win" game if we expect to make the playoffs. Today I was missing 8 kids, including our stud tailback (3 first touches in 3 games, 65, 96, 65 yard TDs on zone plays) and stud Z/QB. I'm sure they'll all have excuses galore tomorrow, but in the meantime the whole team suffers because we had to scrimmage half line, to say nothing of the missing guys not having a clue about the game plan I went over for the week. One kid called one of the coaches to say he had to do something at school, the rest had promised the day before while watching the game tape at one coach's house they'd all be at practice today.
We've got the talent, I'm very patient but firm in my expectation of hustle from one drill to the next, listening to the coaching, being disciplined on the field, and making it to practice. My policy is you don't call, you owe me 10 minutes of discipline time and you don't start in the upcoming game. Miss two practices, you get the two play minimum. I've also instituted a new policy of "Leon Time" after Leon in the commercials - 5 minutes per infraction of playing for me rather than we. If they don't want to do it, they'll cut themselves.
So now I've got to go into this game sitting 3 key guys with speed and talent. I don't believe you can make anyone play this game; it's too tough to not want to be there. This isn't high school ball, so I'm a cupcake compared to high school coaches. But I'll be darned if I'm going to sacrifice the lessons of the game for kids that don't seem to want to embrace them. My guess is a lot of this starts at home, but I can't do anything about that.
Sorry for the long post, but I truely am interested in any suggestions, ideas, or war stories about how you've handled similar or other such problems. Thanks guys.
I need some help if you have any thoughts or opinions on the subject.
I'm having a hard time with some of my kids. All my kids are 11-15, but once they hit 13 things happen in their head that are hard to figure out. I've got 2-3 chronic problems (walking off from a drill, zero hustle from one drill to the next, heads up their butts, etc.). 1 of 'em has a world of talent when he chooses to use it. Last week 2 of 'em caused a lot of extra running for the whole team (if one guy isn't hustling, we can't succeed, so they all run), while another who is a tremendous kid I really love who suggested I "Go back to your f***in' offensive line" while I was walking away from getting on his case to get up off the ground where he was rubbing his ankle (he wasn't hurt) to get in the drill or get on the bench. I wasn't sure I heard the F part or I would have dismiissed him immediately (he later admitted it to his mother), but I went back and we went eyeball to eyeball while I chewed his butt after which he got back into the drill (after flipping me off behind my back which I only found out about the next day). I told all 3 after practice in about a five minute discussion and asked for their Yes Sir on 3 things: You'll do what I want, when I want, the way I want, to the best of your ability, or we'll part ways. I love you all, I want to see you guys succeed, but I can't do it for you.
Saturday we beat a weak team with 15 kids, scoring on our first two offensive plays after which I emptied the bench (coulda scored 50 in the first half if I wanted to). I told the guys great job, that was what I expected, and that next week we have a "must win" game if we expect to make the playoffs. Today I was missing 8 kids, including our stud tailback (3 first touches in 3 games, 65, 96, 65 yard TDs on zone plays) and stud Z/QB. I'm sure they'll all have excuses galore tomorrow, but in the meantime the whole team suffers because we had to scrimmage half line, to say nothing of the missing guys not having a clue about the game plan I went over for the week. One kid called one of the coaches to say he had to do something at school, the rest had promised the day before while watching the game tape at one coach's house they'd all be at practice today.
We've got the talent, I'm very patient but firm in my expectation of hustle from one drill to the next, listening to the coaching, being disciplined on the field, and making it to practice. My policy is you don't call, you owe me 10 minutes of discipline time and you don't start in the upcoming game. Miss two practices, you get the two play minimum. I've also instituted a new policy of "Leon Time" after Leon in the commercials - 5 minutes per infraction of playing for me rather than we. If they don't want to do it, they'll cut themselves.
So now I've got to go into this game sitting 3 key guys with speed and talent. I don't believe you can make anyone play this game; it's too tough to not want to be there. This isn't high school ball, so I'm a cupcake compared to high school coaches. But I'll be darned if I'm going to sacrifice the lessons of the game for kids that don't seem to want to embrace them. My guess is a lot of this starts at home, but I can't do anything about that.
Sorry for the long post, but I truely am interested in any suggestions, ideas, or war stories about how you've handled similar or other such problems. Thanks guys.