Coaching Football's "Little Things"

We’ve had a great turn-out for our off-season work outs thus far. We started with 14 and grew to 25 last week. I commented to my wife when I got home last Wednesday that we’ve been doing this for 6 weeks now and not once have I had to fuss at anyone about not giving 100% on every drill!!! It’s an amazing group of guys!
But, this week spring sports started at my school. And for a small school that means that the majority of the kids are going to be playing a spring sport! Today when I arrived we had 4 players waiting for me. At one time in my career I would have disappointed and down in the dumps; but, I guess I have matured some! One of my assistants and I ran them through their drills just as if there were 24 (or 44) instead of just 4. By the time we got to our second drill station, one young man walked over from Track practice. He’s very dedicated and could have gone home but chose to come to our work outs. That speaks of his character but also what we are trying to do here as far as making football something to be involved in (at least partially) year-round.

Once our work-out was over, I called them up and thanked them for coming out. I told them that if only 2 of them show up next week, the coaches will still be here! I sait, “We care about you and we care about this program. From January to July is the time to see the most over-all improvement in your strength, speed and agility. Keep coming on Wednesday’s and we will help you improve!”

I don’t know how many will show up next week but I know that we made an impression on those guys today. They’ll talk about it among their friends tonight and tomorrow. I want them to know how important they are to me and how much I want to help them achieve their goals.

From a personal standpoint, it was a reality check. I had just talked with a coach a few days ago about something my dad told me a long time ago: “you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar.” Don’t get upset over who does NOT show up… focus on the one’s who ARE there and give them a great work out. Make your off-season program something that they want to participate in and you’ll get the kids out there.