Practice has begun in Tidewater Virginia and, guess what? It’s muggy!!! and raining… a LOT!!! The HC that I’m consulting for asked if we should go outside or go to the gym? I told him that “football practice doesn’t get rained out! It gets rained on!! I think that if you might have to play in rainy, muddy conditions that you should practice in it — as long as there’s NO thunder/lightning in the area! We went on out yesterday and it turned out to be a good practice.
There are times in the season when you simply have to go inside. We have used the gym over the years to get a lot of reps during Team period. Make sure everyone is wearing tennis shoes and nobody goes to the floor, but… you can accomplish a lot.
The thing that disturbed me— that I want to share with you today— happened the other day. As practice ended, the HC yelled, “Everyone help clean up the field.” There were bags, dummies, pennies and line spacers that needed to be put away in the shed. As most of the players headed to different spots on the field to help clean up, I saw a couple of “escapee’s” taking off for the locker room. Fortunately, I had my whistle! I blew it to get their attention and then waved them back. As I was corraling them, a group of 5-6 started wandering off toward the locker room too. It was then that I called the whole team up!
I explained that NOBODY leaves the field until ALL of the equipment is in the shed! It’s another example of the 80/20 Principle (80% of the work will be done by 20% of the organization!) I explained that if everyone would join in, the stuff would be put away quicker. Then… everybody will get in sooner. However… NOBODY leaves this area (where the shed it!) until the shed is locked!
There is nothing that is more UN-teammanlike (is that a word?!!) than for a slacker to get to do something while a few players stay and do all of the work! You’re always going to have those who don’t want to do their “fair share.” It doesn’t mean they should be rewarded for being selfish.
Assign a coach to monitor things. He positions himself so that he can observe that nobody leaves the area until the HC gives the thumbs up! It’s just one more little thing to promote unity and good will among the players.
