Youth Football: long story.

Reid

Reid

Hasnt Seen Dirt in Years
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Location
Winston Salem
I dont like sports. Im not entertained by any sport...could tell you who plays for what team, or even what season it is. havent cared about sports since i walked off the football field for the last time in high school. But dont stop reading here.......

back around May of this year i was approached by someone i looked up too in when i was learning how to play football as a kid. His son is playing football for our local team (lewisville Titans). He said he was the head coach for the team, and needed some assistant coaches and asked me to help out.


I wasnt right away willing to jump in. Its been a while since ive been on the grid iron and like i said early, i just dont care about sports. I got a speach from Phil that sounded something like this:

"You know all those coaches you had growing up. The ones that took the time to teach you how to play, shaped you into a football player from a pile of crap? You owe it to atleast one year of kids to return the favor."


Well, he had a point.



I took all the required classes, and wasted a bunch of my free time trying to "certified" to coach youth football.

I helped coach at pre season clinic.

I showed up at all the parent meetings, even though i wasnt a head coach.

Started to get hooked at this point.

about a week into regular season practice, walking back through the parking lot at the end of a practice, i heard "hey coach"......


it took a few seconds for it to click.....he was talking to me!


thats a pretty awesome feeling.
I'm still not used to grown adults addressing me as "coach" yet.


I dont have kids. and i had started this season feeling like this was a waste of my free time. But the more time i spend on the practice field, the more id rather be there than anywhere else.

It's amazing to see how quick these kids can learn and adapt. 5-7 year olds. Most of them its their 1st year playing. Lots of raw untrained talent. And i get to be the 1st person to get my hands on that talent. Its a big reward knowing that these goofy, innocent, helpless kids, in ten years, are gonna be big, mean, aggressive high school all stars. And im starting them down that path.

There is also the realization that with that reward comes responsibility. The habits im teaching these kids now will be with them for the rest of their footballl careers. I was nervous about remembering..or even knowing enough to start with. I was surprised and relieved at how much came flooding back the first time i got down in a 3-point stance.


anyway...just wanted to share that with you guys. :beer:
 
What a great opportunity Reid to be a positive influence in those young lives. Guys rarely remember their teachers but they always remember their coaches. Don't let the crazy ass parents get you down.:beer:
 
That's awesome. It's great that you take your time. I know I bitch about my son's (11-13 yr olds) coaches doing this, or that. But at the end of the day, THEY are taking their time to do this. Not me. So, congrats. Be proud. And watch out for the crazy ass parents!!! :lol:
 
It's a great feeling Reid. I never wanted to get into coaching, but last year the local middle school needed somebody, I kept turning them down. Then my dad gave me a similar speech to the one you received...and told me it's a great feeling being able to mold a child. So I took the middle school job 3 days before school started for them, went 6-2 with the 8th graders and 3-5 with the 7th graders. This year, I assisted the high school during camps and summer workouts and just started practice with a 5/6 grade team last night. I tell ya, it gives me a high like no other when you not only see the team come together and learn, but when you see young people start to develop for the better.
 
That's great Reid! You too, Ben. Keep us posted on how your seasons go! :)
 
Don't let the parents get to ya.

Just keep teaching the fundamentals. As a high school football coach, I would recommend that you do all of the footwork drills that you can think of. (I can think of a lot if you need some.)

They really do remember coaches more so than any other person in their lives.

We are a month and a half into our season which is only half way. Helped me to put my job into perspective. Thanks for sharing that. Keep up the good work.
 
this is awesome to hear, Im going to show to be a high school gym teacher because I want to coach football, my friends give me crap for it but I want to be an influence in a kids life like my coaches were, thanks for sharing this, its going to make my pre-cal homework seem worth it tonight
 
I played all thru school and was even all county a couple of times but have absolutely no desire for my son to play or for me to coach. If he wanted to play I would let him but we have a rule that once you start something you have to fininsh so he knows he would have to go the whole season if he didnt like it,anyway he joined the band last year and last Fri night they were playin at the home game.Now his school is the largest elementary school in the county with 1100+ kids so they have some talent to choose from.
They were playin another county school that has around 500 kids.My sons school got the kickoff and ran it all the way back for a TD.Their first three posessions were touchdowns so with 4:00 left in the 1st quarter and ahead by 21 what do they do???? kicked a on sides kick,recovered it,and and two plays scored again.
I thought it was in poor taste and unnessecary under the circumstances,they wound up winning 48-6.
 
1-tonmudder said:
I played all thru school and was even all county a couple of times but have absolutely no desire for my son to play They were playin another county school that has around 500 kids..
Click to expand...

I'm the same way...after playing 19 seasons of football, and knowing the way I feel every morning when I wake up, and knowing what kind of permanent damage my body has endured over the years...I'll never push any of my kids to play football. I think I'll push them into golf and chess instead.


1-tonmudder said:
My sons school got the kickoff and ran it all the way back for a TD.Their first three posessions were touchdowns so with 4:00 left in the 1st quarter and ahead by 21 what do they do???? kicked a on sides kick,recovered it,and and two plays scored again.
I thought it was in poor taste and unnessecary under the circumstances,they wound up winning 48-6.
Click to expand...

Coaching at this level and seeing how games go after having a brother involved at that level for the last 10 years...I'll say anything really can happen...and I don't think racking up the points in the first half is all that bad. I had a game with my 8th graders last year where we were down 30-6 at the half and ended up winning the game 48-44.

And another factor, sometimes teams just get outclassed even if the other team has all their subs in. Again, an example with my 8th grade team, we were playing a cross town rival, we were up 28-0 at the half, I had all my third stringers in by the 4th quarter, and the final ended up being 54-6. I agree the sportsman thing to do is throttle back, but it is still a game, where the objective is to do the best you can and put the ball in the end zone.
 
Im not meaning they should have slacked it was just that (to me) you dont kick and on sides kick when your up by 21 in the 1st quarter.You do that the last 2 min of the 4th when your down by 6 or less.To the coaches credit though he was playin the 2-3 stringers by the end of the 3rd quarter and thats more than some would have done.
 
like Ben said, you dont know what the score is gonna be by the 4th quarter. The tide of a game can change quickly, and i you havent built a big enough buffer, you might find yourself in the L bracket!

a 21 point lead in football is nothing. that's 3 touchdowns. a kick return, an interception, and another touchown and you are back in the game. and that could only take a few minutes!

A football game is neither won or lost until the clock has run down.


Lol, We played a game in high school one time, where we had the 3rd string place kicker playing my position...NoseGuard!!!!

As long as the team is giving 100% and everyone is playing to the best of their ability there is no shame in defeat, no matter what the score is. If you are outclassed, you are outclassed. just give it you're all.
 
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