By
Darrin Sheffer
Lots of high school teams do it, many well known college teams do it, but no pro teams do it: reward stickers. You may know them as helmet decals or just stickers, but if you ever played or coached football you are probably familiar with them. The most iconic helmet stickers in college football are the Ohio State Buckeyes with their Buckeye Leaves stickers, The Florida State Seminoles and their Tomahawk stickers, and perhaps my personal favorite the Georgia Bulldogs Dog Bone stickers. Those stickers are a part of those schools' rich football tradition, but what about your HS team? Do you utilize reward stickers in your program? If you don't, you might want to think about starting to use them.
https://www.reference.com/sports-active-lifestyle/stickers-ohio-state-helmets-mean-1310634caa8984e3
When I was in high school we were the Knights. Our school colors were Black and White. We were known for being a tough team who played hard no matter who our opponent was. Discipline and effort were just a few things that were drilled into our heads on a daily basis. Despite all that we were not afraid to have some fun, and part of our tradition was helmet stickers. We had a basic skull and crossbones reward sticker for things like TD's, pancakes and meeting team and position group goals. But we had one helmet sticker that everyone was looking to win each week: The Hammer. This sticker was rewarded to the player who laid the biggest legal hit on an opposing player each week. It didn't matter if the hit was on Defense, Offense or Special Teams. This particular reward pushed many players to lay some lumber each and every play on Friday Nights.
https://fansided.com/2013/04/02/georgia-bulldogs-introduce-new-brand-identity/
I know that many coaches may say that helmet stickers are an inefficient use of time and resources, but it's amazing how much HS players will eat this stuff up. They may be that one thing that some players will be motivated to play for. In an ideal world a coach would not need something material to reward players, but in the real world we know that many kids are motivated by things other than for the love of the game. In reality these stickers do not need to be expensive or high quality to achieve the desired effect. You could go to your local sports store and buy a sheet of 25 stickers for about $5. So, should your program start using stickers? That's up to you, but if you decide to use them here are a few ideas on how to award them to your players.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/24-NEW-FLORIDA-STATE-FOOTBALL-HELMET-TOMAHAWKS-DECALS-/360373155115
Off-Season Achievement
I asked other coaches on Twitter if they used stickers and one coach spoke about how they will reward players stickers for off season achievements. I'm assuming these could be for things in the weight room like attendance and significant improvements. I am also a big supporter in kids playing multiple sports, so perhaps you could follow up with their achievements in other sports and reward them with stickers. The coach I spoke to said that they give different colors: Blue for in season rewards, red for academic and grey for off-season.
Academic Achievement
The first and most important word in Student Athlete is Student. As coaches it is our responsibility to not only encourage on the field effort but also effort in the class room. As coaches we should be keeping up with our players grades. Some coaches check each week while some check each grading period. I think that a grade check every two weeks would be sufficient. In my opinion I would reward students for earning A's and B's, showing significant improvement in the classroom, Honor roll and Perfect Attendance.
In-Season Achievement
Last but not least is the obvious reason to award helmet stickers: on the field achievements. Many coaches reward stickers for things like scoring TD's and racking up yards. While these may be good ways to use the I would also contend that stickers should be used for reaching team goals and position group goals. Did your running back rush for over 100 yards this week? How about some love for the O-line, they probably did most of the work anyways. Did your QB throw for a lot of yards? How about each WR gets stickers for the position group. Don't stop there! Did you have a third stringer who went hard all during practice all season? Did you have guys who didn't miss any practice? Did your team win big because the scout team gave the 1st stringers good looks at practice? Why not reward those guys as well?
https://blog.healyawards.com/tag/stock-helmet-decals/
Conclusion
So, do you think it might be worth it? In my opinion it's a big Heck Yeah. It's a outward and physical symbol of recognition not only for good play on the field, but for important off the field achievements as well. Coaches are constantly wanting their kids to compete more, maybe this would be a way for your kids to compete with each other.
What do you think? If your program uses helmet stickers already please leave a comment below and describe what you do and how it works for you.
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