Recruiting Has Gone Mad in Youth Football
The personal coaches/workforce clinics I do all throughout the nation for youth football groups are attention-grabbing to say the least. Most of the coaches share thought scary tales of their groups, leagues and opponents. Whereas I all the time get pleasure from working with the coaches and kids, what I get pleasure from most goes out to dinner with the coaches after we get completed and simply listening to those tales, sharing a couple of laughs and studying concerning the nuances of how issues are completed of their neck of the woods. The journey I’m talking of and the story you’re about to listen to made me snigger so laborious I feel the waitress and patrons thought I used to be having some form of assault or possibly had choked on some meals and wanted the Hymlich Maneuver.
A reasonably current journey confirmed me the extent youth football coaches will go to place a winner on the football subject. I’ve been teaching youth football for about 15 years and coached in three totally different organizations in three totally different cities in 7 totally different leagues. I’ve been to football clinics from California to Florida and talked with actually 1000’s of youth football coaches, I assumed I had heard all of it, however this story takes the cake. Throughout a really tasty dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, coach shared with me a somewhat superb story concerning the extent one youth football coach in his league went to so his workforce might keep their dominance within the league. Many aggressive youth football groups need to recruit gamers yearly to get sufficient kids to place collectively a workforce or groups. Whereas it’s a necessity for many, it’s a year-round obsession for others and for some they go off the deep finish.
This story begins out with a really huge and quick operating again that strikes from the native space his workforce is in, to a city proper at an hour away. This new city thoughts you is a hotbed for youth football and has loads of high quality groups the boy can play for. However as a substitute of enjoying for a workforce in his new home and making new buddies, the participant continues to play for his old workforce over an hour away. Along with this wackiness, the coach drives the hour to choose him up each Friday, has him sleep at his home after which drives him again home after the sport on Saturday. This coach logs four hours of drive time each weekend so this participant can play on his youth football workforce. Is it simply me or does this sound lame to anybody?
To have such little confidence in your workforce and training skills that you’d spend four hours driving each weekend to choose up a kid to “carry” your workforce is simply weak in my thoughts. This kid solely got here to video games, he didn’t follow along with his workforce throughout the week. Why not play a neighborhood kid, coach everybody up and make due with the workforce you will have? What sort of message is that this sending to this groups gamers and to this “celebrity”? You guys can’t win with out the star, football is a one man sport, you don’t need to follow to play, teamwork counts for nothing and many others and many others. coach adapts and can determine a method to compete with the hand that was dealt him, not depend on one celebrity to hold his youth football workforce. This got here from a company that dominates this youth football league. However a coach this determined for wins is susceptible, clearly he doesn’t assume a lot of his teaching capability and thinks expertise is all that issues in youth football. What’s subsequent, flying kids in for video games?
This identical “coach” usually tries to drag the rug out from beneath the groups in his league. My good friend realized this the laborious manner, this opposing coach really confirmed up on the properties of a number of of his gamers to persuade their moms to come back play football for his workforce. This coach really drives by my buddies follow subject, goes into the neighborhood to ask the place the kids stay and reveals up on their doorsteps along with his tune and dance about enjoying football for him. Fortuitously for my good friend, his gamers and fogeys simply adore him so the one factor generated from these escapades in a right away phone name from mother to my good friend to report the shenannigans. This “coach” even had the audacity to “be within the neighborhood” when my good friend placed on his workforce barbeque, he even stopped by to say hey and speak some football. My good friend is extra affected person with this particular person than I may need been.
Whereas recruiting is important in youth football, it may be overemphasized to the detriment of this system. Many youth football coaches mistakenly assume they HAVE to have one of the best gamers to win championships. When their groups lose video games they usually have a look at personnel as the explanation they misplaced somewhat than schemes to counter the opposite groups personnel or bettering their very own workforce. Good coaches focus their effrots on engaged on the elements of the sport they will management. Blaming losses on personnel mismatches frees the youth coach of personal blame, (he cannot management the expertise ranges of the opposite workforce) whereas in actuality no youth football workforce ought to permit one participant to beat them. Recruiting star gamers or driving four hours to choose one up each weekend are shortcuts to success, it’s the simple manner out. Good coaches put the time in to change into higher coaches so they do not want star gamers to win or have to chop corners and make accommodations for “star” gamers TOP10FOOTBALL.
In youth football I see much less gifted groups competing and beating significantly better groups each week. I see this in our league in addition to in each league I’ve ever coached in and within the regional and nationwide tournaments I’ve gone to. I see it within the tapes and DVDs folks ship me each week. Good teaching practically each time trumps expertise in youth football. Now I’m not saying the weakest workforce can win all of it, However the weakest of groups if coached effectively can compete and end .500. The common expertise workforce can vie for and even win league titles with good teaching. In the meantime one of the best gifted groups and poorly coached groups don’t all the time win all of it and may in reality finish as much as be a .500 workforce.
If recruiting is allowed in your youth football league, most frequently it’s essential recruit. However don’t obsess over it and don’t get down if you happen to don’t recruit the monsters of the halfway. My most satisfying seasons have been by far those we clearly had little or no measurement or expertise, but got here collectively and performed very effectively. Almost all effectively coached youth football groups can compete if they’ve the appropriate priorities, scheme and effectively outlined imaginative and prescient for achievement and you probably have common expertise you may even win championships.