in my first season coaching the offense and the defense had to have 5 guys lined up on the line directly across from one another .....after that season it was decided that the center was getting hurt too much or just beaten too easily so we would move the defenie player acros from the center off the ball by 1 yard ...moving the nose tackel back 1 yard from the center you effectively made him a linebacker.....so now a center who was srtuggling with blocking a kid comming at him from a standing still position now has to block a kid who has a 1 yd running head start.....it honestly never made sense to me to do this as it ultimately seemed less safe to me but that was the new rule.
Since I am a coach who likes to do the unexpected (ie...shot gun...passing...running up the middle...all things other coaches swore couldnt be done) instead of putting my big kid on the line and forcing him to try and battle the line men for a chance at a flag....i placed him at this new "NOSE-BACKER" spot.....and he took to it like a fish in the water....in the first game he started there he was "Crashing "the middle and sacking the QB literally every other play!!!!! well he got soo good at it he started timing the snap and getting back ther so quick that one tiem he pulled the flag of the QB right as he got the ball! Needless to say this crippled other teams offensively and helped us mount our comeback from last to 2nd place....no other team seemed to exploit this new rule and new position the way we did......
So at the beginning of this season when new rules were being put in place the VERY FIRST new rule was to say that nobody on the defense can now go through the center gap......a rule designed specifically to stop my defense and my player from dominating ...once again to keep it safe!!!!! so we went from 5 on the line to nobody can come up the middle....in the name of safety...i think its more in the name of we cant stop this.....
OH yeah the kids name....Aaron Wheeler.....Aaron is the only kid in the league with a rule made against him because he was too good at what he did......I certianly hope that inspires him to stick with the sport!.....and send me superbowl tickets when you get there bud. lol.
Monday, October 27, 2008
I need to vent
ok....If you know me or have read this blog then you should know I try to teach a little bit of life lesson and honesty with football. I honestly set out to teach the kids how to play ...have fun doing it and if we win good..if we lose...there is always next time. Sadly ...this season I feel as though I may be the only one who thinks this.
In this season I have seen some thigs that disturb me and I need to let them go....
1 I saw a coach I really respect tell his kids to make a fist and slam it into the knuckles of the kid trying to block him...in order to deter the other child from blocking him again.....I was shocked its not dirty and its not clean....if you argue this technique...you will hear ....they are going to be tought way worse...or its football toughen up....or something equally dismissive...it honestly hurt to hear him coach that....he is a friend and i respect him as a coach...further more he is better than that....he was comming off of a two game losing streak for the first time since i met him so im sure it was out of frustration but even still....I cant help but feel like if i was cought doing that ...there would be another "Aaron Rule"
2 I had another coach jump all over me because of the score board and my parents cheering! we were up 34 to 6 in the playoffs and I was making an effort to keep it from getting too bad...i was letting everykid touch the ball.....kids who arent even sure what way to run got to run the ball....basically the game was in the bag so i was scaling it back ...unlike what any other team does.....and we managed to break off an amazing touchdown run by one of the smaller guys in the league....when the play was over the parents cheered loud...as they are encouraged and should... then one of the parents changed the score....the next thing i know i have an angry coach yelling at me about showing the score on the board and telling the refs to have the parents STOP CHEERING.......thats just laughable....we should not cheer for our team because the other team doesnt like it! we obliged anyway because we are good sports ...and I personally changed the score board to show the other team wininng......... earlier in the season against the same coach, I accidentaly left my QB in durring our 2 min ...safe play...all he did was hand off the ball to a smaller guy and stand there....the other coach pitched a fit about me leaving him in so in an attempt to rectify the situation not only did i take the QB out for the next three series when i didnt have to...i took out all of my big guys and let the little guys match up against the big guys.....didnt have to...but i did it any way....never mid the fact he left THE BIGGEST KID IN THE LEAGUE IN THE GAME BECAUSE HE WAS 7 and the rule is 8-9 year olds out first then biggest and most aggressive....my QB has a 1 in 50 shot of hurting someone durring safe play as he is one of the smaller kids on the team but he is 9 so i was wrong.....his kid hurts the biggest kid on my team every time we play but thats not "agressive" so by letter of the rule he is 7 and can stay in and hurt kids while my 9 year old is out for an entire quarter for handing the ball to another kid.
3 in one of our last regular season games we would be facing a tough opponent and we were without 3 of our guys...that meant we had to bring in 2 guys who dont normally play durring "safe time"....and instead of making the decision on who to bring in.....though it is ultimately my choice....I let the other coach decide who HE wants me to bring in as an attempt to keep it fair.... Not every coach does this as i would learn, because, he turns to me and says oh yeah....my big guy is in anyway so bring in "Player 1" ....18 points later player 1 is tired from all of the extra play time and needs a break....i let the other coach know im going to change him out for player 2...he says to me " dude whatever, its not like it matters now" this was in the first quarter...well at half time we are up 25 to 0.... The other coaches by this point are complaining about the refs on EVERY play.....even when the play was a better result than the penalty...they would still complain....I chalked it up to anger....and simply just kept playing.....in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter the other coach starts yelling about my player breaking the Aaron rule even though he scored on the play...when i take the field he yells at me for it like i could prevent it from happening from the sidelines....i ignore his obvious frustration and go about winning the game......After the game I am helping the the refs clean the field while the other coaching staff is huddled up talking....when im done cleaning the field...i notice the other coaches are talking to the league president.....I go up to see what they are talking about....the other coach is upset with the outcome of the game and is trying to get the game thrown out and replayed!!!!!!!!!!!!! screaming about how he was cheated by the refs and they should be fired and the game is unfiar....I told him about how the season before i lost 5 straight games and attributed more than half of those to close calls that didnt go my way.....so when that was met with opposition he accused me of CHEATING!!!!!!! saying that i have been breaking the Aaron rule all season long and i did it 3 times in that game alone.....I explained to him that...I coach the players to play by the rules and if that 3 times in that game a rule was broken I am sorry....sorry the refs didnt catch it or think it was being broken and that if 3 times in one game a 8 year old gets excited and runs to a part of the field he isnt supposed to I can tphysically be there to hold his hand and stop him......he responded with "MY Kids don't do it"...and I responded with " well congratulations....your a better coach than I am" luckily the kids were not there to see me get heated and he walked away before more damaging words were thrown...... Now in this game i never brought up the fact that his small kids were not on the field at the alotted time or that some of his kids physically threw a puch at one of my kids or were choking my kids instead of blocking to the chest.....nonw of that was complained about....on top of that the refs told me they were wy more lax on the other team in the second half as far as penalties go because of the 25 point lead in the first half......plus I scaled back our offense...I could have just stuck to the plan and scored 50-60 points but i pulled back to play nice.....
There are many many more things that bother me about the season these are just my big three....the biggest is this...it happened before the season even started....the "Aaron Rule"
I will explain in nother blog the reason behind it and why i like it...just know its aimed directly at preventing my defense from using a specific player to dominate the line and its chalked up to a "safety" rule.
I know there are two sides to every story so please understand the other teams most likely felt like they were right to do these things, but these things and more REALLY bother me so i had to get it off my chest. I dont want the parents and kids thinking I was a cheater... or rough coach ... or the type of coach who verbally attacks the refs....though i have seen all these things happen I do not approve of these things nor do i want to be remembered as participating in any of them.
In this season I have seen some thigs that disturb me and I need to let them go....
1 I saw a coach I really respect tell his kids to make a fist and slam it into the knuckles of the kid trying to block him...in order to deter the other child from blocking him again.....I was shocked its not dirty and its not clean....if you argue this technique...you will hear ....they are going to be tought way worse...or its football toughen up....or something equally dismissive...it honestly hurt to hear him coach that....he is a friend and i respect him as a coach...further more he is better than that....he was comming off of a two game losing streak for the first time since i met him so im sure it was out of frustration but even still....I cant help but feel like if i was cought doing that ...there would be another "Aaron Rule"
2 I had another coach jump all over me because of the score board and my parents cheering! we were up 34 to 6 in the playoffs and I was making an effort to keep it from getting too bad...i was letting everykid touch the ball.....kids who arent even sure what way to run got to run the ball....basically the game was in the bag so i was scaling it back ...unlike what any other team does.....and we managed to break off an amazing touchdown run by one of the smaller guys in the league....when the play was over the parents cheered loud...as they are encouraged and should... then one of the parents changed the score....the next thing i know i have an angry coach yelling at me about showing the score on the board and telling the refs to have the parents STOP CHEERING.......thats just laughable....we should not cheer for our team because the other team doesnt like it! we obliged anyway because we are good sports ...and I personally changed the score board to show the other team wininng......... earlier in the season against the same coach, I accidentaly left my QB in durring our 2 min ...safe play...all he did was hand off the ball to a smaller guy and stand there....the other coach pitched a fit about me leaving him in so in an attempt to rectify the situation not only did i take the QB out for the next three series when i didnt have to...i took out all of my big guys and let the little guys match up against the big guys.....didnt have to...but i did it any way....never mid the fact he left THE BIGGEST KID IN THE LEAGUE IN THE GAME BECAUSE HE WAS 7 and the rule is 8-9 year olds out first then biggest and most aggressive....my QB has a 1 in 50 shot of hurting someone durring safe play as he is one of the smaller kids on the team but he is 9 so i was wrong.....his kid hurts the biggest kid on my team every time we play but thats not "agressive" so by letter of the rule he is 7 and can stay in and hurt kids while my 9 year old is out for an entire quarter for handing the ball to another kid.
3 in one of our last regular season games we would be facing a tough opponent and we were without 3 of our guys...that meant we had to bring in 2 guys who dont normally play durring "safe time"....and instead of making the decision on who to bring in.....though it is ultimately my choice....I let the other coach decide who HE wants me to bring in as an attempt to keep it fair.... Not every coach does this as i would learn, because, he turns to me and says oh yeah....my big guy is in anyway so bring in "Player 1" ....18 points later player 1 is tired from all of the extra play time and needs a break....i let the other coach know im going to change him out for player 2...he says to me " dude whatever, its not like it matters now" this was in the first quarter...well at half time we are up 25 to 0.... The other coaches by this point are complaining about the refs on EVERY play.....even when the play was a better result than the penalty...they would still complain....I chalked it up to anger....and simply just kept playing.....in the last few minutes of the fourth quarter the other coach starts yelling about my player breaking the Aaron rule even though he scored on the play...when i take the field he yells at me for it like i could prevent it from happening from the sidelines....i ignore his obvious frustration and go about winning the game......After the game I am helping the the refs clean the field while the other coaching staff is huddled up talking....when im done cleaning the field...i notice the other coaches are talking to the league president.....I go up to see what they are talking about....the other coach is upset with the outcome of the game and is trying to get the game thrown out and replayed!!!!!!!!!!!!! screaming about how he was cheated by the refs and they should be fired and the game is unfiar....I told him about how the season before i lost 5 straight games and attributed more than half of those to close calls that didnt go my way.....so when that was met with opposition he accused me of CHEATING!!!!!!! saying that i have been breaking the Aaron rule all season long and i did it 3 times in that game alone.....I explained to him that...I coach the players to play by the rules and if that 3 times in that game a rule was broken I am sorry....sorry the refs didnt catch it or think it was being broken and that if 3 times in one game a 8 year old gets excited and runs to a part of the field he isnt supposed to I can tphysically be there to hold his hand and stop him......he responded with "MY Kids don't do it"...and I responded with " well congratulations....your a better coach than I am" luckily the kids were not there to see me get heated and he walked away before more damaging words were thrown...... Now in this game i never brought up the fact that his small kids were not on the field at the alotted time or that some of his kids physically threw a puch at one of my kids or were choking my kids instead of blocking to the chest.....nonw of that was complained about....on top of that the refs told me they were wy more lax on the other team in the second half as far as penalties go because of the 25 point lead in the first half......plus I scaled back our offense...I could have just stuck to the plan and scored 50-60 points but i pulled back to play nice.....
There are many many more things that bother me about the season these are just my big three....the biggest is this...it happened before the season even started....the "Aaron Rule"
I will explain in nother blog the reason behind it and why i like it...just know its aimed directly at preventing my defense from using a specific player to dominate the line and its chalked up to a "safety" rule.
I know there are two sides to every story so please understand the other teams most likely felt like they were right to do these things, but these things and more REALLY bother me so i had to get it off my chest. I dont want the parents and kids thinking I was a cheater... or rough coach ... or the type of coach who verbally attacks the refs....though i have seen all these things happen I do not approve of these things nor do i want to be remembered as participating in any of them.
Hardest part
You want to know the hardest thing about coaching.......
Its not making the first call to the parents or the first practice where you introduce yourself.... its not the extra work that goes into researching tactics and plays then changing them into something a 5 year old can both comprehend and execute....its not comming up with a defenseive scheme or an offensive playbook....its not even planning the practices or coaching the games....... its making the big decisions...... Now I am a HVAC foreman in the commercial world and everyday i make decisions that can cost people 100s of thousands of dollars but I make those all day everyday...they are no biggie...the hard decisions are things like do i punch in a qb sneak for 1 point or go with that pass play we struggled with all week for 2..... do I start my qb on both sides of the ball of let him sit on "D"....... use the reverse or the sweep....blocking drills today or flag pulling.....sprints or laps...... believe it or not these decisions make a difference in the outcome of the football season and in return effect the memories of the kids involved.
Everytime I step out onto that field be it practice or game I have that thought in the back of my head. These kids are going to be like me oneday and wonder what ever happend to my first coach...hows he doing....does he remember me....did i play up to his expectations....did i earn his approval....LOL was he screaming at me or encouraging me :-) Its because of these possibilities that I try to be careful both of wht I say and what i do......
I dont want the kids to remember me as a win hungry anger first type coach....what i want is to be the coach that instills a love of the game in the kids....so that when the kids think of football the think of how fun it is....how good it makes you feel when you work hard all week in practice and you use that hard work to carry you into a a win on friday night....I want the kids to see how fired up I get when they perform well....I want them to notice how we shake off bad plays and carry on....how we work together to form one unit and accomplish a single task by working together. At the end of the season when i walk away from coaching these kids I want to feel like i made an impact in thier lives.....and hopefully oneday when they have kids....maybe they will remember they smiles on my face and the fun that i appeared to have...the pride I had in them....and that will encourage them to do what i am doing....touching lives and teaching lessons....
There are several times in my coaching career that i have seen the impact i have on these kids. I hve had talks with kids about everything ranging from things on the field to grades in school...and how to handle anger and nerves..... I look forward to those moments where i can impact the kids life and thats honestly what keeps me comming back..... I just want the kids to have fun playing for me and carry that feeling and hopefully a lesson or two with them in thier life.....I know they are going to have plenty of coaches teach them how to hit...catch...throw...run...and win....they will have coach after coach preach winning above all...and get tought tactics that are dirty but accepted and therefore not "cheating".....I want to be the one guys that says "Do it Right, Do it CLEAN, and have fun"
Its not making the first call to the parents or the first practice where you introduce yourself.... its not the extra work that goes into researching tactics and plays then changing them into something a 5 year old can both comprehend and execute....its not comming up with a defenseive scheme or an offensive playbook....its not even planning the practices or coaching the games....... its making the big decisions...... Now I am a HVAC foreman in the commercial world and everyday i make decisions that can cost people 100s of thousands of dollars but I make those all day everyday...they are no biggie...the hard decisions are things like do i punch in a qb sneak for 1 point or go with that pass play we struggled with all week for 2..... do I start my qb on both sides of the ball of let him sit on "D"....... use the reverse or the sweep....blocking drills today or flag pulling.....sprints or laps...... believe it or not these decisions make a difference in the outcome of the football season and in return effect the memories of the kids involved.
Everytime I step out onto that field be it practice or game I have that thought in the back of my head. These kids are going to be like me oneday and wonder what ever happend to my first coach...hows he doing....does he remember me....did i play up to his expectations....did i earn his approval....LOL was he screaming at me or encouraging me :-) Its because of these possibilities that I try to be careful both of wht I say and what i do......
I dont want the kids to remember me as a win hungry anger first type coach....what i want is to be the coach that instills a love of the game in the kids....so that when the kids think of football the think of how fun it is....how good it makes you feel when you work hard all week in practice and you use that hard work to carry you into a a win on friday night....I want the kids to see how fired up I get when they perform well....I want them to notice how we shake off bad plays and carry on....how we work together to form one unit and accomplish a single task by working together. At the end of the season when i walk away from coaching these kids I want to feel like i made an impact in thier lives.....and hopefully oneday when they have kids....maybe they will remember they smiles on my face and the fun that i appeared to have...the pride I had in them....and that will encourage them to do what i am doing....touching lives and teaching lessons....
There are several times in my coaching career that i have seen the impact i have on these kids. I hve had talks with kids about everything ranging from things on the field to grades in school...and how to handle anger and nerves..... I look forward to those moments where i can impact the kids life and thats honestly what keeps me comming back..... I just want the kids to have fun playing for me and carry that feeling and hopefully a lesson or two with them in thier life.....I know they are going to have plenty of coaches teach them how to hit...catch...throw...run...and win....they will have coach after coach preach winning above all...and get tought tactics that are dirty but accepted and therefore not "cheating".....I want to be the one guys that says "Do it Right, Do it CLEAN, and have fun"
3 for 3
Well here we are one season later...I have found myself in a familiar spot...its championship week and we are playing for the title. Whats different this time? well for one we arent playing the steelers this year....we are playing the raiders....we have beaten the raiders 2 times already this season but not one of those games came easy.....the preperation for each was tremendous.....the week priorto playing them....i focused on keeping the kids level headed and letting them know we can be beat....to play hard and work hard....both games were very tough and in fact we almost blew a 25 point half time lead the last time we played them.... to make matters worse the raiders coach is....well....lets say he has a much different attitude towards the league in years where he is winning than when he was losing......sadly its not for the better.....This makes a lot of the other people in the league really want me to take it to him.....i have had everyone from other coaches and parents from other teams all the wy up to top league officials say they want to see me "stomp" him and his team...... the pressure of winin this game...is already kinda there but in a fun way....however this year its there with the added pressure of expecting to win and being expected to punish......it honestly has kept me up a couple nights already and I even find myself losing focus at work over it.....If this is at all what a real NFL coach feels like before a big game ...Im glad i just work in construction.....I want my kids to play thier best and hopefully we will win...no of course my assistand coach and I have designed a totaly new defense....infact 2 new schemes...and I have been hard at work creating new plays as well ...but ultimately I just want the kids to win for them....not for me or for "teaching someone a lesson"..... I dont want anyone to be let down either but...I will sure be glad when this one is over.....as long as we win LOL!
Saturday, October 25, 2008
from my myspace page
Ok for those of you who dont know ....I love to coach! I have coached baseball....teeball...and now flag football. I instruct my son on how to play soccer, wrestle, basketball, swimming and golf once or twice....I just love to talk and teach sports. Out of all of the teams I have coached I favor my flag football teams the most.
In my first year of coaching I was lucky enough to get some VERY talented players on my team....alot of the kids had never played before and most were at the younger end of the age group. My 1 veteran on the team ended up being the leagues star player and carried us to an undefeated championship year. I am greatful that I had him on my team and will always love the memories that were mde that season. I felt like most of the kids tried thier hardest on most plays and learned what they could about the game....When the season started I told the parents not to expect much out of the kids as I was going to focus on teaching the basics of the game and having fun...winning would be encouraged but not focused on.....I heard a grumble or two but nobody really complained. 13 games later we were undefeated and won a championship beating the steelers coached by Dan Will ( who I will face again tomorrow in the championship game). More times than I can count in that season Isiah Wilkes the star player pulled off a couple game changing plays and helped us win a game we otherwise would have lost.....at seasons end I walked away thinking it could get no better. the parents loved me as a coach the players loved me and the other coaches respected me...I mean we were the only team running the offense out of the shot-gun!!!! 5-7 year olds running the shot-gun...and running it well! but there were whispers of "if they didnt have wilkes". As a coach that annoyed me!!! we were a team and every kid contributed at some point in some way...sure he made the game easier but thats what star players do right?
It wasnt until my 4th consecutive loss at the beginning of this season that I realised how much I as a coach had leaned on him..... As a coach I had let him take the game into his hands and run away with it.....4 games into this season (with the help of my wife) I realised that I wasn't coacing this team like I did last years team...I was stressed and wasnt having fun....I was yelling at the kids and actually looking to my own son to perform on the level that my star player performed on...I was breaking down my sons confidence in himself and in his teammates....I was tearing apart my team and my son from the inside out all because I was trying to live up to my reputation as a coach......I gave into the hype of all the parents requesting thier kids to be on my team thinking that they wanted thier kid on the winning team and thats why they were comming to me. I put the "W" before the fun and it took Anna to point that out to me.
I immediately changed my attitude toward the team and the game...trying to focus on teamwork and having fun. I saw an immediate turn around in the way the kids played the game....It is amazing to me that my attitude toward the game can have such an astounding effect on the outcome ....when I shrugged off penalties and bad plays and said get back to the ball and we willl get it next time the kids seemed to have more confidence in themselves.....I started trying to focus on fixing the flaws in our game in practice and just preaching the get it next time tactic in the game...I know now that positivity on the field will get you further than anythig , thanks to anna....
We swithed a few things on the defensive side of the ball and started exploiting our opponents weakness. We put the pressure on them to score and just had faith in the fact that our offense would eventually put up points......in effect I took the game out of my hands and put it into the hands of the kids....I let them play to thier strenghts.
I sit here tonight on the eve of my second championship apearance in my second year of coahing. I am proud of what the team has accomplished...they came from dead last a 5 game losing streak to start the season all the way to a strong 2nd place finish in the regular seson and a spot in the championship game. I could not be more proud of a group of kids....they work as a team...they think as a team and the play as a team....i see the quarterback out there blocking for the running back, I see the guard help pick up a block for the center,...I see kids running reveres, and diving for tackles, and changing the snap count,.....I see my boys turning around thier season and playing with heart...I see them making me VERY proud, and out of all this what i have learned is the most important I see them out there making memories and having FUN.
I love my Cowboys.....every cowboy team I coach offers me something to love about each and every one of them but what I love about this team more than any other is that they have tought me how to coach....how to enjoy it all and not seek the glory of a win....how to love watching 9 kids work togethr to make themselves as well as thier teammates something they love ....the feeling of a big win...... No matter the outcome of the championship game tomorrow...you are all winners in my book and no team out there deserves it more or has worked as har to get where you have...I love my boys....you amaze me with every play...I will never forget the fond memories you guys have given me.
Update: After a hard fought game and some amazing plays...the cowboys wee defeated with less than a minute left in the game when the oposing team had a heads up moment and ran the ball before the defense was ready....the running back took off up the left side of the field and before anyone knew what was going on he was only a step away from giving the steelers a 5 point advantage with too little time for the cowboys to mounta a comeback drive.....good job steelers on your great season and congatulations to coach dan for finally getting that championship...see you all next year.
In my first year of coaching I was lucky enough to get some VERY talented players on my team....alot of the kids had never played before and most were at the younger end of the age group. My 1 veteran on the team ended up being the leagues star player and carried us to an undefeated championship year. I am greatful that I had him on my team and will always love the memories that were mde that season. I felt like most of the kids tried thier hardest on most plays and learned what they could about the game....When the season started I told the parents not to expect much out of the kids as I was going to focus on teaching the basics of the game and having fun...winning would be encouraged but not focused on.....I heard a grumble or two but nobody really complained. 13 games later we were undefeated and won a championship beating the steelers coached by Dan Will ( who I will face again tomorrow in the championship game). More times than I can count in that season Isiah Wilkes the star player pulled off a couple game changing plays and helped us win a game we otherwise would have lost.....at seasons end I walked away thinking it could get no better. the parents loved me as a coach the players loved me and the other coaches respected me...I mean we were the only team running the offense out of the shot-gun!!!! 5-7 year olds running the shot-gun...and running it well! but there were whispers of "if they didnt have wilkes". As a coach that annoyed me!!! we were a team and every kid contributed at some point in some way...sure he made the game easier but thats what star players do right?
It wasnt until my 4th consecutive loss at the beginning of this season that I realised how much I as a coach had leaned on him..... As a coach I had let him take the game into his hands and run away with it.....4 games into this season (with the help of my wife) I realised that I wasn't coacing this team like I did last years team...I was stressed and wasnt having fun....I was yelling at the kids and actually looking to my own son to perform on the level that my star player performed on...I was breaking down my sons confidence in himself and in his teammates....I was tearing apart my team and my son from the inside out all because I was trying to live up to my reputation as a coach......I gave into the hype of all the parents requesting thier kids to be on my team thinking that they wanted thier kid on the winning team and thats why they were comming to me. I put the "W" before the fun and it took Anna to point that out to me.
I immediately changed my attitude toward the team and the game...trying to focus on teamwork and having fun. I saw an immediate turn around in the way the kids played the game....It is amazing to me that my attitude toward the game can have such an astounding effect on the outcome ....when I shrugged off penalties and bad plays and said get back to the ball and we willl get it next time the kids seemed to have more confidence in themselves.....I started trying to focus on fixing the flaws in our game in practice and just preaching the get it next time tactic in the game...I know now that positivity on the field will get you further than anythig , thanks to anna....
We swithed a few things on the defensive side of the ball and started exploiting our opponents weakness. We put the pressure on them to score and just had faith in the fact that our offense would eventually put up points......in effect I took the game out of my hands and put it into the hands of the kids....I let them play to thier strenghts.
I sit here tonight on the eve of my second championship apearance in my second year of coahing. I am proud of what the team has accomplished...they came from dead last a 5 game losing streak to start the season all the way to a strong 2nd place finish in the regular seson and a spot in the championship game. I could not be more proud of a group of kids....they work as a team...they think as a team and the play as a team....i see the quarterback out there blocking for the running back, I see the guard help pick up a block for the center,...I see kids running reveres, and diving for tackles, and changing the snap count,.....I see my boys turning around thier season and playing with heart...I see them making me VERY proud, and out of all this what i have learned is the most important I see them out there making memories and having FUN.
I love my Cowboys.....every cowboy team I coach offers me something to love about each and every one of them but what I love about this team more than any other is that they have tought me how to coach....how to enjoy it all and not seek the glory of a win....how to love watching 9 kids work togethr to make themselves as well as thier teammates something they love ....the feeling of a big win...... No matter the outcome of the championship game tomorrow...you are all winners in my book and no team out there deserves it more or has worked as har to get where you have...I love my boys....you amaze me with every play...I will never forget the fond memories you guys have given me.
Update: After a hard fought game and some amazing plays...the cowboys wee defeated with less than a minute left in the game when the oposing team had a heads up moment and ran the ball before the defense was ready....the running back took off up the left side of the field and before anyone knew what was going on he was only a step away from giving the steelers a 5 point advantage with too little time for the cowboys to mounta a comeback drive.....good job steelers on your great season and congatulations to coach dan for finally getting that championship...see you all next year.
How do you beat Perfection?
Here I am again.....june 2007 and this time I can't wait to coach. Last year I was unsure if I wanted to do this....this year is different..... Last year i spent most of the first few practices watching other coaches and going man....they got thier stuff together....and researching practice drills and plays....basically scrambling to find what to do next.....not this year though....this year I am the accomplished coach....I have a reputation.... I have a championship....I have a few new faces and all but 3 guys from last year....im a favorite and I know it..... the only things I dont have are 1 my reciever from last year....no matter though ill find one.... i dont have my QB...nate....its ok...i spent the off season working with my son...at this point he has a flawless 3 step drop and can run the ball if the play breaks down.....i dont have wilkes.....stings but thats ok too.....I would never trade him but the other coaches make it seem the only reason we won was because of him....and that bothers me.....I believe it takes a team and though he is a stand out he wasn't the ONLY kid on the team......and the last thing i don't have this season...is the correct focus!
I made the biggest mistakes of my coaching career this season.....i had a team of kids who had it all....veteran champs...new speed and new size....I didnt just think we would win....I EXPECTED IT.... I figured that the parents who brought thier kids back to me in season 2 would expect the same results....and while Im sad to say i couldnt live up to that I can say i gave them something more.
The cowboys droped the first 5 games of a 10 game season....it didnt look good....I had moments in the game where i actually started yelling at the kids for missing blocks or not executing plays propperly....I was so concerned with putting points on the board that when a child made a great play....instead of running down the field to join in the celebration and help him enjoy his momment i rushed them to the ball and prepped for the next play...nothing was making me happy..... my son who took over the QB job was laying his heart out...he was at best the 5th fastest kid on the team yet in the first 5 games he had run 6 touchdowns and thrown 3.....even by High school standards thats an outsanding start for a QB...and he was only 7.... and his reward for this hard play....a coach that was always angry...teammates who openly blamed him for losing.....and an overwhelming need to earn dads approval...... Looking back on those five games now I am embarassed of my actions ...and ashamed of how I was acting.....the pressure of winning was so great that my son isiah began making up injuries to get out of games....and i saw that ...rather than think i was wrong it enfuriated me and i began pushing him harder.....it wasnt untill that 5th loss that my wife finally gave me that much needed slap in the face....she sat me down and told me to forget the record and coach for the fun of it.....
reluctantly i put aside the record and the thought of a championship and tried to focus on teamwork.... we had game 6 comming up and it was against the steelers...the team we saw in the championship the year before and the team who was dominating everyone...they were the new undefeated team....and now instead of taking the hard-nosed approach and attacking the other team....I was going to adopt the style im now know for ...the "hug'em" style.....LOL..... the other coaches love to joke about how i would rather hug the players than yell at them..... Im constantly hearing...c'mon....its football man....not woodstock.....to which i reply man im only 28...whats woodstock....secretly they hate me LOL.....so its game 6 and we gotta beat these steelers.....believe it or not i can recall EVERY SINGLE PLAY of that game I saw josh throw a block on a 3rd an long to spring bull for a 20 yard td run...I saw george..normally reserved and quiet throw a block from the left side of the line that took out three steelers!!!! I saw AJ crash the line on defense and attack the QB...I saw Aaron play like the beast of a linebacker I hope he will oneday become....David and chris blitzing from the outside puling flags like they were getting paid to do it....I saw Sean...get steamrolled by a kid twice his size to pull a flag and save a go-ahead touchdown.....and i saw my son get back under center and lead his team to their fist victory of the year.....it was a hard fought game and the steelers are always hard to beat....id beat them before and would beat them again....but that day...that game was to this day the most important game I have ever coached...... it was that day i realised how a coach can affect the game....I saw that with positive reinforcement a group of kids can gell into something more...they can lean on each other... look to a leader... and become a team. I may never again witness such an awsome display of selfless play, teamwork, and effort. It was that day that will foreer make me well up with tears when i think about it.....I have never been so proud.
There were many other moments in that season and many other lessons....all of which i will write about ...but in an effort to wrap up this post..... the cowboys continued to win the rest of the way fighting back to a spot in the championship game against the Steelers.....we fought hard that day as well but in the end we gave up 1 long run down the right side for the go-ahead score...putting the Steelers up by 5 and with less than one minute left in the game the cowboys gave what they had and fell 10 yards short of that championship trophy......even in that moment of losing I was proud though....that loss was a proud one....it sucks to loose but that loss didn't hurt so bad....my boys went down fighting hard. We lost to Dan and his Steelers but it was his 3rd trip and he was due for a win ...so i was proud of him for getting it....and in the end....that one game..in game 6.... was the only loss the Steelers suffered all year, my boys once again gave me a perfect season.....I doubt anything will ever beat the feeling of a comeback season...man I love this game...and all my boys.
I made the biggest mistakes of my coaching career this season.....i had a team of kids who had it all....veteran champs...new speed and new size....I didnt just think we would win....I EXPECTED IT.... I figured that the parents who brought thier kids back to me in season 2 would expect the same results....and while Im sad to say i couldnt live up to that I can say i gave them something more.
The cowboys droped the first 5 games of a 10 game season....it didnt look good....I had moments in the game where i actually started yelling at the kids for missing blocks or not executing plays propperly....I was so concerned with putting points on the board that when a child made a great play....instead of running down the field to join in the celebration and help him enjoy his momment i rushed them to the ball and prepped for the next play...nothing was making me happy..... my son who took over the QB job was laying his heart out...he was at best the 5th fastest kid on the team yet in the first 5 games he had run 6 touchdowns and thrown 3.....even by High school standards thats an outsanding start for a QB...and he was only 7.... and his reward for this hard play....a coach that was always angry...teammates who openly blamed him for losing.....and an overwhelming need to earn dads approval...... Looking back on those five games now I am embarassed of my actions ...and ashamed of how I was acting.....the pressure of winning was so great that my son isiah began making up injuries to get out of games....and i saw that ...rather than think i was wrong it enfuriated me and i began pushing him harder.....it wasnt untill that 5th loss that my wife finally gave me that much needed slap in the face....she sat me down and told me to forget the record and coach for the fun of it.....
reluctantly i put aside the record and the thought of a championship and tried to focus on teamwork.... we had game 6 comming up and it was against the steelers...the team we saw in the championship the year before and the team who was dominating everyone...they were the new undefeated team....and now instead of taking the hard-nosed approach and attacking the other team....I was going to adopt the style im now know for ...the "hug'em" style.....LOL..... the other coaches love to joke about how i would rather hug the players than yell at them..... Im constantly hearing...c'mon....its football man....not woodstock.....to which i reply man im only 28...whats woodstock....secretly they hate me LOL.....so its game 6 and we gotta beat these steelers.....believe it or not i can recall EVERY SINGLE PLAY of that game I saw josh throw a block on a 3rd an long to spring bull for a 20 yard td run...I saw george..normally reserved and quiet throw a block from the left side of the line that took out three steelers!!!! I saw AJ crash the line on defense and attack the QB...I saw Aaron play like the beast of a linebacker I hope he will oneday become....David and chris blitzing from the outside puling flags like they were getting paid to do it....I saw Sean...get steamrolled by a kid twice his size to pull a flag and save a go-ahead touchdown.....and i saw my son get back under center and lead his team to their fist victory of the year.....it was a hard fought game and the steelers are always hard to beat....id beat them before and would beat them again....but that day...that game was to this day the most important game I have ever coached...... it was that day i realised how a coach can affect the game....I saw that with positive reinforcement a group of kids can gell into something more...they can lean on each other... look to a leader... and become a team. I may never again witness such an awsome display of selfless play, teamwork, and effort. It was that day that will foreer make me well up with tears when i think about it.....I have never been so proud.
There were many other moments in that season and many other lessons....all of which i will write about ...but in an effort to wrap up this post..... the cowboys continued to win the rest of the way fighting back to a spot in the championship game against the Steelers.....we fought hard that day as well but in the end we gave up 1 long run down the right side for the go-ahead score...putting the Steelers up by 5 and with less than one minute left in the game the cowboys gave what they had and fell 10 yards short of that championship trophy......even in that moment of losing I was proud though....that loss was a proud one....it sucks to loose but that loss didn't hurt so bad....my boys went down fighting hard. We lost to Dan and his Steelers but it was his 3rd trip and he was due for a win ...so i was proud of him for getting it....and in the end....that one game..in game 6.... was the only loss the Steelers suffered all year, my boys once again gave me a perfect season.....I doubt anything will ever beat the feeling of a comeback season...man I love this game...and all my boys.
Ahh the begining
I have always heard the best place to start is at the begining so ill give you a brief rundown of my very first and unforgetable season.
It was june of 2006 school was about to get out, summer was comming and so was baseball. However I had just washed my hands of coaching baseball. I spent three very long seasons coaching kids aged 4-9 in everything from tee ball to coach pitch baseball. I decided that all the extra work required was just too much...between mandatory field nights and bingo nights and concessions not to mention the practices and games all the planning and teaching was for what .....a few parents who were upset when little johnny (who would rather sleep than play ball) gets placed in right field....I simply didnt want the hassel of it anymore.
With baseball out of the picture I needed to decide what sport isiah was going to play next. As luck would have it he came home with a flyer from thalia-malibu flag football. I called Jim the league president and found out the details for sigining up my son. While on the phone I was asked to coach. Given the bad taste baseball left in my mouth i was reluctant to say yes and asked if i could get back to him in a day or so. It took about an hour LOL..... Thanks to my very supportive wife we decided to take on the task one more time.....plus i got to coach the COWBOYS.
It was only supposed to be one season..... I was just gonna coach isiah in his first season to "EASE" him into the game and then cut the strings and let him move on without me. I had experience in both coaching small kids and I played football as a kid....not to mention flag football for the airforce (championship team I might add) so i knew enough to do one season right?
well after a blind draft to put the team together and a brief look at the rule book i gave the parents a call and put together the first practice. As luck would have it one of the kids who landed on my team played for me in tee ball and his dad helped me coach so I asked if he wanted to help out....he accepted but told me he wouldntbe there for 4 weeks ...that meant i would have to have the first meeting and run all of the preseason practices on my own as well as the first two games. The season was looking great already.
I remember what i said to the parents at that first meeting to this day and may be quoted on it for some time to come lol.... i told them that I do not focus on winning I want to focus on the basics of the game and hopefully we will win a couple games.....that wasnt exactly what the parents wanted to hear i guess cause I didnt get too many supportive looks lol. I got to work evaluating the kids with simple skill drills......it must have looked crazy to the parents ...here is one guy coaching 12 kids and getting them to run around cones and catch balls .....when i think about it now I cant help but laugh........
To be very honest there weren't many instances in the first season that stuck out as really good or really bad play..... I mostly just tried to coach the kids to run the plays the best they could and work as a team...so many of the kids defined themselves as players that year....wilkes was an unstobable force on both sides of the ball and deserves a lot of credit for many of our wins...however it was never a 1 man team....our QB nate threw 3 touchdown passes that year...none of them to wilkes.....we were running a shotgun formation with a team of mostly 5-6 year old kids and the qb had loads of time...the kids were holding that line...on defense i remember 2 faces above the others....Aaron who would later have rules put in place to prevent him from continuing to dominate other teams and stopping them in the backfield.....and jalen a child I dubbed "Bull". Bull earned his name because when he got going you would rather stare down a ticked off bull than try to block him....all of the kids contributed in one way or another but those were definately the ones that stood out.....
Other than a couple tight spots here and there the season was a blurr of touchdowns and flags....the Cowboys at seasons end had put together an UNDEFEATED season and every kid from our 1 veteran (wilkes) to the smallest kid in the league (josh "speedy" starr) all of them contributed in one way or another.....at that point in time I really couldn't have been more proud.....I loved that team...and still do...they brought me into the league and gae me something no other coach in the league has been abel to repeat since.....perfection.
It was june of 2006 school was about to get out, summer was comming and so was baseball. However I had just washed my hands of coaching baseball. I spent three very long seasons coaching kids aged 4-9 in everything from tee ball to coach pitch baseball. I decided that all the extra work required was just too much...between mandatory field nights and bingo nights and concessions not to mention the practices and games all the planning and teaching was for what .....a few parents who were upset when little johnny (who would rather sleep than play ball) gets placed in right field....I simply didnt want the hassel of it anymore.
With baseball out of the picture I needed to decide what sport isiah was going to play next. As luck would have it he came home with a flyer from thalia-malibu flag football. I called Jim the league president and found out the details for sigining up my son. While on the phone I was asked to coach. Given the bad taste baseball left in my mouth i was reluctant to say yes and asked if i could get back to him in a day or so. It took about an hour LOL..... Thanks to my very supportive wife we decided to take on the task one more time.....plus i got to coach the COWBOYS.
It was only supposed to be one season..... I was just gonna coach isiah in his first season to "EASE" him into the game and then cut the strings and let him move on without me. I had experience in both coaching small kids and I played football as a kid....not to mention flag football for the airforce (championship team I might add) so i knew enough to do one season right?
well after a blind draft to put the team together and a brief look at the rule book i gave the parents a call and put together the first practice. As luck would have it one of the kids who landed on my team played for me in tee ball and his dad helped me coach so I asked if he wanted to help out....he accepted but told me he wouldntbe there for 4 weeks ...that meant i would have to have the first meeting and run all of the preseason practices on my own as well as the first two games. The season was looking great already.
I remember what i said to the parents at that first meeting to this day and may be quoted on it for some time to come lol.... i told them that I do not focus on winning I want to focus on the basics of the game and hopefully we will win a couple games.....that wasnt exactly what the parents wanted to hear i guess cause I didnt get too many supportive looks lol. I got to work evaluating the kids with simple skill drills......it must have looked crazy to the parents ...here is one guy coaching 12 kids and getting them to run around cones and catch balls .....when i think about it now I cant help but laugh........
To be very honest there weren't many instances in the first season that stuck out as really good or really bad play..... I mostly just tried to coach the kids to run the plays the best they could and work as a team...so many of the kids defined themselves as players that year....wilkes was an unstobable force on both sides of the ball and deserves a lot of credit for many of our wins...however it was never a 1 man team....our QB nate threw 3 touchdown passes that year...none of them to wilkes.....we were running a shotgun formation with a team of mostly 5-6 year old kids and the qb had loads of time...the kids were holding that line...on defense i remember 2 faces above the others....Aaron who would later have rules put in place to prevent him from continuing to dominate other teams and stopping them in the backfield.....and jalen a child I dubbed "Bull". Bull earned his name because when he got going you would rather stare down a ticked off bull than try to block him....all of the kids contributed in one way or another but those were definately the ones that stood out.....
Other than a couple tight spots here and there the season was a blurr of touchdowns and flags....the Cowboys at seasons end had put together an UNDEFEATED season and every kid from our 1 veteran (wilkes) to the smallest kid in the league (josh "speedy" starr) all of them contributed in one way or another.....at that point in time I really couldn't have been more proud.....I loved that team...and still do...they brought me into the league and gae me something no other coach in the league has been abel to repeat since.....perfection.
welcome
Welcome to my place.... Inside my huddle.... this blog is intended to give the parents on the sideline or the coaches staring me down across the field a chance to see the game from my perspective.
While I in no way claim to be the next Pete Caroll or Tom Landry I am proud to say that in my 3 years of coaching (football) thus far I have lead every team to the championship and they have all been uniquely different in one way or another.
I will post a few blog posts from other sites that i wrote in the past and recount things from previous seasons as best I can. Keep i mind these are all from my perspective so the stories may be a bit slanted but hey...its my blog. Enjoy.
While I in no way claim to be the next Pete Caroll or Tom Landry I am proud to say that in my 3 years of coaching (football) thus far I have lead every team to the championship and they have all been uniquely different in one way or another.
I will post a few blog posts from other sites that i wrote in the past and recount things from previous seasons as best I can. Keep i mind these are all from my perspective so the stories may be a bit slanted but hey...its my blog. Enjoy.
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