Getting The Most Out Of The Players

[Tesla Did It]

Here is one that we all can benefit from.
What are some tried and true methods, or anything new that you think may work, on getting the players to work hard on & off the field?

 

[hhsowls]

It's pretty simple. It all comes down to expectations. Have high expectations on the field and the kids will strive to meet your expectations. Have high expectations in the classroom (or elsewhere off the field) the kids will strive to meet your expectations. Keep your expectations high and the kids will repsond.

 

[Tesla Did It]

If it was that simple everyone could do it.
It's not easy, hence the question.
Let's hear it from all the veterans.
How do you get the most from the players.
What abbout those stubborn years, or the low number years.
What if 4 or 5 flunk every other 6-weeks. What do I do then?? Much help needed please!

 

[freeagent]

One thing you need is TEAM leadership. You need strong leadership on the team, teammates with expectations that their teammates will do their best -- in the lockerroom, in the classroom, and on the field. You need to identify that team leader -- it could be the star, it could be the kid who just works hard, gives 110% but doesn't show up on the stats sheet. And sometimes, you need to sit that young man down and let him know that he is the leader of the team (and it can be more than one kid).

When the kids hold each other accountable, you will get the most out of your players.

Often it's your seniors that "run the lockerroom." And they need to know their job is to train the juniors (or in some cases, a sophomore) to "run the lockeroom" the next year. If the kids police their lockerroom and among themselves, you as coaches work on winning and getting the best out of players, not solving inter-squad squabbles (which are often best solved by the kids themselves).

I've seen teams that had all the talent of the previous year's squad, but lost that "lockerroom" leader, the guy (or gal) who had high expectations of his/her teammates. And that team floundered.

 

[Old Bearkat]

Shock collars?
Taser?
Cattle Prod?

Sorry, could not resist......

 

[oldfat&bald]

Shock collars?
Taser?
Cattle Prod?

Sorry, could not resist......

Some kids could use that type of motivation just to make them behave. Some of my old high school teachers wanted to use that on me.

 

[tweeter]

Start out with unbearable conditioning. They wont like this, so you can reward them with less conditioning for doing better and working together.

 

[Tesla Did It]

That won't work either!

Please tell me someone else is also experiencing some of this!?

 

[51eleven]

Sounds like your cup runneth over with frustration. Ever coached 3rd/4th graders? PeeWee was all the coaching I've ever done. Keeping their attention for 30 seconds is an accomplishment. I have supervised young men (and women) in a production oriented environment for several years. Heard my share of excuses from them.
Management 101 told me KITA (kick in the ass) does work for short term results. Paw paw told me you get more flies with honey than manure. A manager once told me when coming into a new operation, come in hard - stick to your guns - you can always back off later. Rambling. Guess where I'm going is each of those kid's IS an an individual, but, no ONE is the team. Once had to fire one of my most capable employee's. Frustrated me that I couldn't get him to reach his potential but his goofing off infected the others. My bosses supported me and things improved.
Speed is one of the most important aspects of sixman. I'd say run em till their too tired to complain. You need em in good shape. If they quit did you really want em on the team? Treat em all equal, "firm but fair". I know of an allstate mvp from Strawns 03 State champ team who came to 2 a days out of shape. Coach told of him pukin' during windsprints, wanting to quit, but he didn't. NO radio in the locker room till you see results you like. Then it's confiscated for a week the 1st time you hear crap coming out of it (tell them this up front). Life's a contradiction. Dont hesitate to say "way to go" when they get it right. They don't want to study? Tell em you want SMART football players. They don't want to set up the field or carry out equipment? Assign specific tasks (you can rotate these, say weekly). If their not done on time they run laps after practice.
Sorry coach, didn't mean to rant there over something I've never done myself. I'm sure other coaches can advise better than I. No way I'd want to be a teacher in the bigger schools with the discipline problems of these days. Keep your chin up.

 

[hhsowls]

Fofish, I feel your pain and understand your frustration. We don't exactly have a wonderful tradition here in football (never made the playoffs) so when I first started last year we had a bunch of kids that were not real excited to play football but still wanted to be a part of something. I was lucky enough to win my first game but we struggled massively from there. It took a lot of time and a lot of patience to begin building the team that I want, and although we are not there yet we did make some strides in the right direction. At one point in the season we were manhandles by a better team, and I had kids laying in the middle of the field, spread eagle, showing their displeasure in what was going on. After a tantrum in the locker room at half time, and a lot of constant reminding that that was no way to act, we began to develop a more positive attitude, actually making some come from behind runs late in the year. A small step yes, but a step. Here are some other things I tried with mixed results.

With the smaller size rosters in six man it is absolutely imperative to build an intimate personal relationship with each of your players. Obviously this will not happen over night. For me this came a bit more naturally for the boys because of my age (28). Some of the older coaches may or may not have a bit more trouble, but I know that in HS I would have run through a brick wall for my coach because the bond had been made strong. This is where you ultimately want to be.

In practice I would constantly let the kids know what I expected of them. It seems cliche to say that if you work hard and do everything you can to be successful that you are a winner, but by instilling this behavior you are setting yourself up for the opportunity to be successful. This attitude should be taken with you on and off the field. Now, obviously a chihuahua isn't going to win any dog fights, and if this is all you have on your team you may not be successful by most standard's, but you will have gotten what you want from the kids.

For those whom expectations along were not enough, there is always the reward/punishment method. The easiest of these is playing time. Work hard, do everything I ask, see the field. Rest on your laurels, don't do what I want, sit on the bench. The problem here is usually this works only with the middle of the bunch. The ones who are exceptional athletes assume you won't bench them, and if you are looking only to win then you won't. The ones at the bottom of the barrel know they can work their tales off and still not get rewarded. So what do you do with these kids? My answer: I Don't Know!!! If anyone does please, please tell me.

Other things I tried included making practice as fun as possible while also being productive. Giving kids time off if a practice went exceptionally well. And more than anything just doing what I could to show the kids that I cared about them, I cared about what we were trying to accomplish, and I wanted to do anything I could to help them become the best possible young men they can.

 

[billmountjoy]

PLAYING WITH MORALE AND INTENSITY:
There is no magic formula for developing morale, but there is a means of getting consistent effort from your team and intensity is what it is all about. How close do your players come to making their best effort every time the ball is snapped? That is what it is all about, and if your team can do that then they are going to play very well. My theory of judging how well a team is coached is not how many games they won that they shouldn’t have won (they upset somebody), it’s games they lost when they were a superior team, they didn’t play well that day. And why didn’t they play well --- nobody got geared up about it. Teach your players to think of the game totally as a chance to find out about themselves --- what kind of a man am I and how well can I play when it is tough to play? You begin by explaining to them that this is a most uncomfortable game to play. There is no way you can play football and feel good. The first two or three plays everybody feels good. But now I am the Nose Tackle and I have got to meet someone me and now it’s a sweep and I’ve got to run 20 yards and there is a big collision and I’ve got to line up again and meet somebody and run 20 yards and then there is another collision. I do this three or four times and I don’t feel good. Now, do I quit at this point and wait to get my breath or do I continue to go as hard as I can to try as hard as I can try? THAT’S WHERE THE GAME IS WON OR LOST! What happens to most teams is they play the first two or three plays as well as they can, then they get to a point, I used to call this the “QUITTING DOWN”, where two or three guys tell themselves, “If I coast on this play then I’ll be able to go real hard on the next one”. They have gotten kind of tired so they coast for a while. So they go hard again but now a few others decide it is time for them to coast and the result of this is that you never get eleven guys going all out.

So to get back to the basic point, if you can convince your people that the reason for playing is for them to find out about themselves and for them to find out how close they can come to playing as well as they can on every snap. Then you can eliminate, I think, that “up and down”. So now I have three practices and I get the men together after practice and I ask them, “how many of you think you went as hard as you could every time” and if anybody puts his hand up he is lying. “How many of you did it 90% of the time”, I don’t think you get any hands if you have an honest relationship. “80% of the time”, you will get some hands and you explain to them again, that’s not very good if you expect to be a good football team, and we’ve got to make the effort every time the ball is snapped and if you don’t think you can, walk off the field --- it takes more courage than standing out there bluffing. I’m never going to know if you make the big effort, and your teammates are not going to know if you make the big effort, but you are going to know and the whole game is a test of yourself. Now, if your players understand this, and I think if you explain it to them they will, some days they are going to play a guy in a red shirt who is a super athlete, some other day it will be a guy in a green shirt who cannot play a lick but that does not effect your guy’s performance at all because his whole purpose is to find out today how close, “I can come to making my maximum effort every time they snap the ball”. After the game in the locker room, “Okay how many of you went the best you could everytime”, I don’t think you will ever see any hands. How many of you went 95%”, maybe one. “90%”, maybe 4. But this is something that if they understand what I’m talking about, as the season goes along more and more of them will be able to get their hand up and if you can ever get them all giving their best effort then it is going to be awfully hard to beat you. And the major thing that happens is this, if you players begin to think this is just an opportunity to for me to find out about myself, “today, how close can I come to doing the best I possibly can”, then it doesn’t matter whether you are supposed to win by four touchdowns, because the objective has nothing to do with that, their objective is to find out about themselves. Or, they are supposed to lose by three, that has nothing to do with it. It is simply a question of “today, am I able to beat MYSELF”. I’m the toughest opponent that anybody ever had, there is no question about that. If they do honestly believe that, that is the purpose of the game, then I believe they will play consistently with MAXIMUIM INTENSITY!!! Get everyone on the field doing that – it will be very hard for anyone to defeat you!