Cal Band- Video Game Show 2007

Cal vs Washington State Halftime Show 11-3-07



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QNI3W8UB-s&hl=en

Should Youth Football Teams Run the High School Offense? Heck No

High Schools that Want You to Run "Their System" at the Youth Level.

A small number of Youth Football coaches get pressure from the local High School to run their offense. The High School coach in these situations often think that by teaching 8 year old kids to run his system, by the time the players are 18 years old, they should be very proficient at running said system.

I am 100% opposed to the High School coach imposing his will on the Youth Program.

For many reasons I am 100% opposed to the coaches imposing this will upon the youth coach and kids. My first reason has to do with basic control and effort. The often handsomely paid for his time, High School coach is telling a non-paid volunteer of a program not run or paid for by the School, to run his High School system. Part of the "benefit" of spending money out of your own pocket to coach youth football, is you get to choose what you are going to run and how you are going to run it. If I fail as a coach, I'm going to fail running something I did the research on and believe in, not something shoved down my throat by someone not even involved in my youth football program or by someone that probably never coached a down of Youth Football.

Who is to say this School coach will even be at the school 10 years from now, or better yet that he will be running the same offense? One of the local teams we feed into has run 3 different Offenses in the last 5 years and had 2 different Head Coaches. So which of the 3 offenses should my teams be running now? Yes lets train 70+ youth coaches a very difficult offense every year or two, when almost half of them have no football coaching experience. Most of these offenses had we decided to run them, had zero youth materials or support system available for our coaches. I'm sure we would have failed miserably and lost lots of players had we adopted these systems.

I've even seen on some coaching forums where some coaches say it doesn't matter at all if any team wins or loses below the varsity level. The "varsity" is all that matters, even their Junior High, Freshman and JV teams don't matter. Well, it matters to the kids and parents playing on these teams and isn't that why we are supposed to be coaching football in the first place? I wonder how that High School coach would feel if a college coach came up to him and said that it didn't matter if the High School won or lost, all that matters is what happens at the college level and that the High School should run the Colleges offense? Never mind the fact that few of the kids will ever play College ball, just as just 25% of youth players will play High School ball. Sound enough reasoning for you? Let's take it a step further, shouldn't the pro coaches be telling the College coaches their wins and losses mean nothing, all that matters is that the College kids are running the Pro Offense? This "next level" baloney is just that, baloney. Any coach with even fair coaching skills can develop players for whatever system he choses to run.

Such arrogance is disappointing to see from anyone involved in coaching youth football.

This type of attitude is rarely found among successful coaches, it is most readily seen from excuse making oaches that are doing poorly and are looking to lay the blame of their poor performance at someone else's feet. I've actually seen High School coaches blame Jr High coaches for their varsity teams woes, that's someone desperate to keep a job he probably shouldn't have had to begin with.

At the big clinics I do for Glazier and Nike, I always sit in on a session or two. In addition to a Darrin Slack session, I like to see what the best High School coaches in the country are doing, teams like Southlake Carrol, Jenks, Union, Hoover, Colton, De LaSalle etc. The guys that coach these teams care little about whether the kid coming into their program can read a 3 technique and can run their offense. They just want a chance to coach the kid, that he goes out for football. They want the youth coach to teach safe basic blocking and tackling and NOT to run the kid off. The good coaches are hoping to get a player that has a love for the game and is coachable. These successful coaches tell me they are pretty confident they have the coaching ability to teach a player about anything over a 4 year time frame with nearly 4 months of 6 day a week contact along with year round, strength, agility and skills training. On the other hand we youth coaches get the kids for a few months of very abbreviated 2-3 day a week practices, a mere fraction of what the High Schools get and we are supposed to have the biggest technical impact on them?

As stated in other articles, we know that 75% of youth players will never play High School football to begin with. So we are supposed to run the High School system that only a tiny fraction of our players will be using? Remember my study of the main reasons most youth football players quit playing: #1) Poor Coaching #2) Playing on consistently losing teams. Running a system that is often not age appropriate (High School) and losing will often lead to the High School coach getting fewer players than he would otherwise. Most of the great High School coaches could CARE LESS what the youth player runs as long as he's having fun, playing safely and developing a passion for the game. Developing that passion is hard to do if his youth football team is getting blown out every week or not scoring many points.

What really gets to me are a few of the simply preposterous e-mails I get from a few youth football coaches. One youth coach went 10-1 in 2006 and 11-1 in 2005 and was retaining right at 95% of his players. In that very same time frame, the local High School went 0-9 and 1-8. The High School coach was demanding the youth football program run his offense in spite of the fact the High School offensive football plays never worked at the High School level. Maybe the High School coach should have run the Youth coaches offense, he couldn't have done any worse. I make it a habit to support the High School programs, by encouraging the kids to go to the High School games and to play High School football. But I have not coached School ball, so I do not critique the High Schools practice methods or systems, no matter how often I'm asked to offer my opinion. I don't have the time or expertise to do an in-depth study of the situation and would hope they wouldn't do the same of my team.

Here are some other reasons the youth program should not run the High School offense:

Not age appropriate

Doesn't fit the talent level

Doesn't fit the size level

Does not work well with limited practice time

Does not work with small team sizes where you are not allowed to cut or send players to a JV squad

Does not accommodate minimum play players (I Formation, Spread)

Is beyond the physical abilities of youth players (Spread passing)

Is beyond the mental abilities of youth players (Triple or Midline Option or multiple read passing)

Most High Schools will not take the time to teach the youth coaching staff how to coach their system "correctly" anyway

School Offenses Change

School Coaches Change

Techniques Change

Very few youth coaching materials, books, DVDs available for most High School offenses

Many kids change positions as they go through puberty

Youth football players rightfully care about what's happening to them in the season they are playing in. They want to win and have fun, they are not concerned with developing the knowledge of football plays that 25% of them may or may not use 10 years into the future. They could care less about some technique he won't remember in the 9th grade or will be taught differently or changed by the time he gets to High School. If you can incorporate some of the High Schools numbering into your system without a big hassle, great, but resist the meddling of the High School into your program if your program is headed in the right direction.

The best coaches in the Nation could care less what offense or football plays the youth teams run. You should care that whatever offense you choose fits your kids, scores points, and wins ballgames. Until the High School starts buying your equipment, paying your fees and paying your salary (yeah right), run what makes sense for your kids so they have fun now and make it to play High School football.

In the Single Wing our kids are better prepared to play "at the next level" than kids from nearly any other type of system. Our linemen know how to pull, trap, double team, fold, crab block, drive block, rule block, pass block and work as a team. Our "QB" knows how to ball handle,give handoffs, take shotgun snaps, roll out, drop back,throw, boot,lead a team and run with the ball. Our recievers and backs all know how to take handoffs, block,read holes, read blocks, catch the ball etc, everything any other back or reciever would learn in any other type of offense. Most importantly, the kids have fun and do well, which is what keeps them coming back to play.

Winning and losing are both habits. I've seen very average teams with a history of winning win games they have no business competing in. These kids just feel somehow, someway they are going to win the game, even when they are down by 2-3 TDs and time is running out. I've seen the most improbable of comebacks and bizzarre plays in the last moments of games where the team of destiny beats the better team. On the other side of the fence, I see teams that expect to lose. Even when these teams are ahead they expect to get snake bit and lose the game, these negative expectations are usually met. I would think the High School teams would want kids that have a winning attitude, it's contagious.

Dave Cisar-With over 15 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach, Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Youth Football

Youth Football Practices, Fun Increases Competitiveness - it is Your Friend, See How

Having Fun and Being Competitive Are NOT Mutually Exclusive

First let's start off by establishing, you can have fun, play all your kids, teach great fundamentals and play well (win), these aren't somehow mutually exclusive goals like some soccer moms or perennial losing coaches would like you to believe. But I've also been challenged by some of the win-at-all costs guys or the skeptical negative naybobs of negativism that you can't interject fun into everything you do in youth football. One of these cheerful guys once challenged me to make an angle form fit and freeze tackling drill fun.

How To Interject Fun Into the Most Mundane Drill

While this very important drill is probably one of the few drills we do every day in practice, it can be a very vanilla and bland drill. These are the EXACT type of drills you HAVE to make fun, otherwise the kids end up just going through the motions on the drill instead of getting the full benefit of it.

First, let's describe the Angle Form Fit Tackling Drill: 2 players facing the same direction (towards the coach) about 10-12 yards apart. The coach is about 7 -10 yards in front of the players, he is standing in-between the 2 players 10 yard spacing. The "defender" is in his defensive position stance, whatever that may be. The "offensive" player is standing in a 2 point stance. On "go" each player jogs at about 1/3 speed toward the coach, so each player is running at about a 45 degree angle. The players converge just in front of the coach, with the 'defender" executing a "fit" form tackle on the offensive player. The coaching points we are looking for are: defenders feet nearly on top of the feet of the "offensive" player, knees bent, feet just wider than shoulder length apart, head up and in front of the offensive player, backside shoulder making contact with the offensive players midsection, and arms wrapped completely around the offensive players midsection. Upon contact each player freezes and the coach corrects any mistakes, once the coach taps the players on the head or says "go" they can come off the "freeze" and go to the end of the line.

Pace is Key

You can do this at a pace of 4-5 per minute; I do mine at a pace of 6-10 per minute. Do this in very small groups of 6 or 8, get several groups going and remember to alternate which line is offense and defense so the kids get used to tackling from both angles. This drill is part of our dynamic warm up, where our goal is to get blood flow to the muscles as well as teach a very important football skill. You can't accomplish this goal if the pace is not quick and the lines are too long. The pace should be such that the kids are breathing a bit heavier than normal, but not winded.

To interject some "fun" into this very important but monotonous drill is fairly simple. Divide the group into 2 teams of 3-4 players each. Team A is in line 1, team B is line 2. Alternate each rep the line that is the designated tackler. See which team can get to 5 perfect "fits" first. A perfect "fit" is a repetition where every coaching point is met perfectly by the tackler. As the kids get better, move the number to 10 perfect fits. The losing team has to do 5 pushups. Another way to do this is to see how many perfect "fits" in a row each team can do. Once a team makes a mistake they have to start back at zero. The first team to 10 perfect fits in a row, wins, with the losing team doing 5 pushups. Another way to do this drill is to have a team record. Keep the teams the same every practice and see which team can set the record of the most perfect "fits" in row.

Why it Works

Youth football players love competition, setting records and making their counterparts do pushups, so adding this into a drill will make them more focused and motivated to do the drill correctly. It also exerts some peer pressure on the players in their respective groups to stay focused, as no one wants to be the player that breaks the streak.

Fun is Your Friend

Remember that fun is your friend. Competition is just one component of many that you can use to make your football practices more fun. The book covers many more. Making your practices fun without giving up anything is just good coaching, Not only will your players be more attentive, your attendance and retention numbers will be off the charts.

I'm always perplexed by coaches that e-mail me about attendance issues or retention problems. While much of it can be solved through the expectation setting process and player contracts detailed in the book, a lot of the problem is solved by having great practice plans and interjecting a fun component to each drill.

Since moving to this practice methodology we have consistently had about 80% of the kids with perfect practice attendance. Our drops are almost non-existent and our retention numbers (kids who sign up again the following year) range from 90-95%. This season we have 97.5% of the kids back from two teams I coached last year.

Building the Emotional Bank Account

Another thing interjecting fun into your drills and practice does for your youth football team is it builds up your "emotional bank account" with your parents. Steven Covey talks about an imaginary bank account we all have with each other, where we are always making deposits and taking withdrawals. By having interjecting fun and the enthusiasm it generates into your football practices, you are making deposits into that emotional bank account of your parents. When it comes time to do something they don't like, like moving Junior from tailback to tight end, (making a withdrawal) the parents are more apt to be accepting if you have made a bunch of deposits along the way.

Fun is your friend; use it to make your youth football team better.

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington.

With over 15 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach, Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams. His personal teams to using this system to date have won 94% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips newsletter or to see his 325 free tips go to: Football Plays

A Taste of Dave's teams:
Youth Football Defense

Oklahoma Sooners 2008 College Football Team Preview

Oklahoma finished the 2007 season at 11-3 as Big 12 champions. The Sooners averaged 6.4 yards per play on offense, the most for the team since 1987. The offense should continue to thrive, but the defense may be a bit of a question mark at this point in time.

Sooners quarterback Sam Bradford had one of the best freshman seasons in college football history. Bradford threw for 3,121 yards and 36 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. He led the nation in passing efficiency and his 36 touchdown passes stand as the NCAA freshman record. With a talented and experienced offensive line in front of him and an army of weapons at his disposal, Bradford should continue to improve in his sophomore season.

The Oklahoma offensive line is led by future NFL players Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt. In fact, all five starters are back this season for an offensive line that ranks as one of the top units in the country.

The Sooners also welcome back wide receivers Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson. Iglesias led the team last season with 68 catches for 907 yards and five touchdowns. Junior Jermaine Gresham steps into the starting spot at tight end and appears to be someone to watch.

Senior running back Allen Patrick is gone, but the cupboard is anything but bare. The tandem of DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown combined for 1,375 yards and 22 touchdowns last season. Murray is just a sophomore, but he possesses great speed and elusiveness. He could very well have a huge season.

The defense only returns six starters, but three of them are along the defensive line. Oklahoma will have to rely on the front four to control the line of scrimmage; at least until the back seven get settled. The front four were equally successful at stopping the run and the pass in 2007.

The linebacker corps returns only one starter, Ryan Reynolds, who has a history of injury problems. The success of this unit could depend on the development of redshirt freshmen Travis Lewis and Austin Box, as well as junior college transfers J.R. Bryant and Mike Balogun.

The secondary returns both safeties from last season, Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes. Both have all-star potential and they'll need to show it because the team will have two new starting cornerbacks this season. The likely starters are junior Brian Jackson and sophomore Dominique Franks. Both played well in the spring, but it remains to be seen how that translates into the season.

Receivers Iglesias and Murray return for the top kickoff return unit in the nation last season. Mike Knall returns as one of the Big 12's best punters, but Oklahoma needs someone to step up and win the kicker job.

The schedule is favorable for the Sooners to make a run at the national title. The one possible roadblock is October 11th when Oklahoma travels to Dallas to face Texas. Bradford should continue to impress with talent all around him. If the defense can hide its inexperience, the Sooners should prevail as Big 12 South champions and make a play for their eighth national championship.

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