We’ve played one game, and won, and now we’ve had an “off” week! The schedule in Virginia is kinda peculiar. We opened on the “0” week and now we are open for week 1.
It doesn’t matter when you have your open date, the important thing is how you utilize it. It’s an extra week to prepare OR… it’s an extra day or two to let your players and staff recharge their battery! You can accomplish both.
Our HC gave the players Monday off. No practice. The fact that it was Labor Day helped— enjoyed the holiday. He also gave everyone a free day today. The plan was to go scout but Hurricane Dorian has messed up all of that.
He had us working hard on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday— which is exactly what I would’ve done if I were in charge. (I have a very wise HC!!!)
We went out in full gear and worked hard for 2 1/2 hours. Tuesday was Kicking Game and Offense. Wednesday was Kicking Game and Defense and Thursday was Kicking Game and split O and D evenly.
THAT was the physical part. The mental part is where you plant seeds that will bear fruit down the road. We talked to the players about the importance of “getting better.” We challenged them to focus… and pay attention to details. That’s harder to do when there’s no game on Friday.
We weren’t getting much effort nor enthusiasm during my Offensive practice on Tuesday. Rather than calling them up to talk to them at the end of practice, I had them circle up and we did up/downs for 5 minutes. We hadn’t done any Conditioning that day so that was taken care of with the exercise! It was afterwards that I explained that, “I cannot tolerate lack of effort. I will NOT accept a lack of hustle! You don’t go hard during practice, you’ll have to make up for it at the end of practice!”
Wednesday’s practice was much better.
Each week has a purpose and each day is an opportunity to fulfill that purpose. Paint a picture for your players so they can see that purpose. It’s highly motivating when they see that they’re all working toward a common objective.
