Some of you may be old enough to remember the song by the Standells, Dirty Water. It was about the Charles River in Boston. Wellllllll… I stayed in a hotel this past weekend right on the banks of the Charles River and it was beautiful! I attended (and spoke at) a Glazier Coaches Clinic in Boston. We had a great time!
Getting to meet coaches from all over the country is always a thrill for me. The chance to network is important. My purpose in doing these clinics is to help other coaches in their situations. If you have not been to a Glazier clinic, I encourage you to check one out. They do such a good job of educating coaches.
Two of the sessions that Glazier offers are particularly helpful. If/when you attend a Glazier clinic, be sure to attend them. One they call Chalk War and the other is a Panel Session.
In the Chalk War, they “pit” an Offensive coach against a Defensive coach and they go back and forth on the white board (not “chalk!”) in attacking and defending the plays that are diagrammed. I’ve participated in two and attended two others. They were very informative.
The Panel Session is perhaps my favorite. Three coaches take turns sharing ideas about a particular topic. The panel topic I sat on this past weekend was: Program Development Ideas. I had the pleasure of joining two outstanding head coaches in “shotgunning” our ideas about how to make our programs strong. One coach was from Washington state and the other was from Ohio.
An idea that the coach from Ohio shared really “rang a bell” with me! He shared about the importance of enlisting the support of your players’ parents in making your program strong. His example was eye-opening! Coach said to have a Mom’s Club… not Dad’s! It’s the moms who are watching to see if you are treating their son in the proper fashion. He recommended starting a Mom’s Club and give them opportunities to do fund-raisers and other events which —- here’s the key… benefit their sons! Not from a purely football sense but the over-all team experience.
He has a Mom’s Night. The first home game each year is dedicated to the Moms. They make a big deal out of it… rolling out the red carpet for the moms! It was even mentioned, “why do you stop having a Team Mom at the Youth League level??!!” The moms still want to be involved in their sons’ activities. Get them involved through a Mom’s Club. Give them a lot of leeway… just ask them to run everything by you first! I thought the whole concept was excellent. I passed it along to our head coach when I got home Sunday night!
