By
Darrin Sheffer
It's 4th and long, 1st quarter of our 1st game of the season and we send out our punt team for the 1st time. We were confident in our special teams due to our multiple reps during practice and the fact our kicker had one hell of a leg. The snap is low but our guy fields it beautifully, he gets the kick off and it's a high punt that lingers in the air long enough for our gunners to get to the returner before the ball does. Just before the returner catches the ball, our gunner tackles him. I'm stunned. "Why in the heck would you tackle him before he had the ball?" "Coach, you told me to tackle the return man!"
It was at that moment that I knew that this was going to be a long, long season.
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Moral of the story: Communication is KEY. I made the mistake of assuming that my players knew and understood the rules of the game. I also assumed that they understood me and my coach talk. So what could I have done to prevent something like this from happening? I should have taught my players the rules of the game and what was expected from them.
When I say rules I mean the things that are listed in the league rule books, rules that all players are governed by during a game. Expectations means something different to me, it means what do the coaches expect from the players.
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Rules
When I say that coaches should take time to teach the players the rules of the game, I don't mean that they need to be as versed as a ref would be. However, they need to know the basic rules such as blocking, tackling, pass interference, offside, false start etc. Some more obscure rules that we didn't teach but should have were things like you can't hit the long snapper, you can't touch the return man until he has the ball and celebration rules.
Some ways that you could teach these are to show them old film or YouTube videos of penalty plays. When you show them the videos ask the kids what did the player do wrong? What should he have done? How can we prevent this from happening to us? Also, when you are in practice to reinforce the learning, pop quiz them on the field about penalties. Also, during practice if a player does something that would cause a penalty in a game call them out and explain to them what they did wrong. If you allow bad play during practice you allow it during the game. Coach against perfection.
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Expectations
Team Expectations are different than on the field rules and will vary from team to team and coach to coach. Do you expect the students to show proper behavior in the classroom? Let them know this is what you expect and stay in touch with teachers. When players misbehave in the classroom it makes the team, and the coach look bad. Do you have expectations for keeping the locker room clean? You should. We shared the gym locker room with the PE classes, so we had no control over most of the mess, but you will be sure that our football players area was clean. They got tired of running laps at the beginning of practice after about two weeks.
How do you teach the players your expectations? Be honest and up front with them. Be clear and concise with what you expect from each of them and why. Today's youth usually require you tell them why there is a rule in place, and usually they need constant reminders. It's not enough anymore to just tell them once and expect them to follow suit all year.
Did I miss anything? Do you do anything special to teach these subjects? Any stories you would like to share? Please comment below or follow me on twitter: https://twitter.com/DarrinSheffer
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