Getting kids motivated to work out during the summer.

W

West3311

11-man fan
I live in a small town in west Texas, were our team went 0-10 last year. Coach set up a summer work out program and only 4 kids showed all month. Tried to field a six on six team starting in early May. Started out with 16 after a few practices only 5-6 would show yet when game time came around all would show up ready to play. Which resulted in us not working as a team and losing all games. This just depressed our boys even more resulting in not having enough to continue. Any ideas to get through to them the importance of not taking the summer off?
 
Sounds like the kids have been GIVEN everything they want without working for it. You say ALL the kids showed up on 6 on 6 game day and you lost, surely coach didnt let them play. Sit a goal to win say 3 games this fall, get as many kids as possible to respond to working out on yalls on, come fall ask coach to ONLY let hard workers play, notice i said HARD workers not just the BEST players that show no work efforts. You will WIN again and only get better.
 
I agree..... You'll have a lot of upset mommas & poppas and the coffee drinkers will tell
Whoevers in earshot how it should be done but you will at least have some kids with " want-to" instead of "gimme gimmee"
 
Summer motivation has to come from the kids. 1. Call your best kids in and challenge them to challenge their teammates. In 2009, our juniors led the charge. In 2011, it was our seniors. This summer, our seniors are leading, but our big group of freshmen are highly motivated and their presence really heats it up because of how hungry they are and how bad they want playing time. It's pushing the older players. In 09 and 11 we had taken some bad beatings at the end of the previous season and those leaders were determined not to let it happen again. Now its the opposite. They feel the pressure to defend. Either way, the kids are the ones lighting the fire. 2. You can't just powerlift and run sprints. Its too hot, too boring, too exhausting, and they have too many things they'd rather be doing. Put some variety in it. Make at least some of it fun. For whatever reason, flipping tractor tires is somewhat fun, but powercleans suck. Its the same exercise!! Pulling the speed sled is fun and promotes competition because we race while we're doing it, but doing lunges sucks. Etc, etc. 3. Invite the junior high players. Your varsity players go much harder when the young guys are around. Promotes leadership. Summer is tough and its hard for the coach to have much of a motivational impact. But if the leaders encourage, cajole, shame, threaten, text, facebook, tweet or, heaven forbid, call the other kids to come, it works.
 
"powercleans inhale"??? I didn't write that, but that's hilarious. That's going to be my battle cry all summer. "Let's go boys! Powercleans inhale, but we gotta do 'em!!"
 
It's got to be a personal decision for a kid to workout. Workout plan should begin in 7 th grade . These summer workouts don't work very well, that I have ever seen. I know a kid that has worked out almost everyday for last three years. Confidence remains high. Athletic ability outpaced seniors as a sophomore. He made a personal choice to be the best physical condition by his senior year this year. Testerone kicked in past year and he gained 35 pounds within past year, all muscle. He made the commitment to his coach that he will do everything he can to make their team successful. But I do caution you. Find a real doctor and trainer for workout advice. Coaches don't know squat about weight workouts. I don't care what coaches say about that. Start early and young. The kid told us last week he is in now prime physical condition for football . He will exceed his goal of 190 pounds by practice. But you know, he may not even play college ball. All that time , effort, and money spent to make senior year best he can. It takes a lot of dedication . Roller skating and jump roping are two best workouts. Sorry coaches, but I have seen too many kids injured from bad workout practices to have confidence of their workouts.
 
We have actually had great success by outsourcing our summer workout program- we have a guy that is certified to teach from the Nike and Velocity training programs run our off-season conditioning...We just don't go through either of those groups- we contract with him directly.... he does it at our practice field, and the result has been fantastic...We do charge for our Summer conditioning (so we can pay for the coach) but that also motivates Mom's and Dad's to kick Junior out the door to get their money's worth...We average about 20 guys (between Junior and Senior High) per workout-

And agree- haven't seen anyone add 35 lbs. of muscle, but would be VERY concerned if that was one of my kids...
 
The new school I am at has not had a summer workout program in years, but we started one 2 weeks ago, and have been having great turnouts, we are averaging between 18-20 a day. We offer two different workout times, which is great for kids who work during the summer. All it took was letting the kids know that the weight room would be open for them, and workouts would be ready for them if they would like to come. In just 2 weeks I can already see improvements in our kids, and believe that it will make a difference when the season comes around.
 
Clairatt19":3bj2dh7u said:
If we ever have one gain 35 pounds of muscle in a year he's going to get to go to the lab and pee in a cup!!
Click to expand...
I noticed a local kid
has grown about 4 inches taller
since last year,
and maybe put on 15 lbs. all in the right places
(quads, pecs and biceps etc., not belly).
I think that's just about right.
 
I noticed a local kid
has grown about 4 inches taller
since last year,
and maybe put on 15 lbs. all in the right places
(quads, pecs and biceps etc., not belly).
I think that's just about right.
Click to expand...

Agreed. If one grew 3 or 4 inches as well, he'd get a little leeway. If he had the same frame and packed on that much...meeting time. My son has been working out like a madman daily since he went to college and improved his diet substantially. After 2 years, went from 170 to around 190. 10 pounds a year.

Back to workouts, remember its really hard to do everything over the summer - get bigger, get stronger, get quicker, etc. We try to focus on speed and structure accordingly. Just don't have time for everything.
 
You coaches are gettin plumb off west3311 question. He aint talkin about wieght gain and conditioning. He's trying to get his buddys to want to work and earn some wins, anit no team gonna give them none. He dont need no coaching he needs good ol common sense help....
 
Having everything handed to them is right with this bunch. We will see when the season gets started how our seniors respond, when our hardest working boys are 1 junior, 4 sophmores, and a couple of freshmen.
 
Best chances of getting a bigger turn out is getting the kids to get ahold of the ones not going and trying to get them to come.
 
But I do caution you. Find a real doctor and trainer for workout advice. Coaches don't know squat about weight workouts. I don't care what coaches say about that.
Click to expand...

Ever heard of the fallacy of composition? It happens when when a person infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole.

You've come into contact with a few knuckleheads that didn't understand the weight room and you're going to make a sweeping generalization like that? I've read some of your posts, JAFO. You're smarter than that.
 
My son graduated four years ago in Lubbock. He had got several years of bad workout advice from the so called trainer-coach. Dr.Crawford in Lubbock fixed the damage and instructed the correct way to perform workouts without trashing knees. It was not even close to what coaches were preaching. The bullheaded coach said do workouts his way or leave. So my son left and talked five of his friends to not play football . They enjoyed their last year playing golf. Didn't regret it at all.
 
So you lump all of us together because of this one incident? And then come onto a football message board and be proud of the fact your son talked his buddies out of playing this great game? Wow.
 

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