I came across an email I replied to in 2006 as the head coach for the 6th grade team.\u00a0 The mom was concerned about her son and the offensive head coach being hard on him.\u00a0 \u00a0I replied with the names changed here.\u00a0 This email shows the\u00a0 results of the newer more competative program Caveman Youth Football fostered.<\/strong><\/p>Hi “Parent”, Thanks for your feedback. Some kids are having a hard time at\u00a0 their positions and the coaches are asking them to do better. “Player” is our\u00a0starting right tackle and we expect him to know and exicute his assignemnts.\u00a0 \u00a0I think player will do fine, but I am sure he feels the pressure of\u00a0knowing, like ALL THE PLAYERS, he is evaluated on every play. If any player\u00a0misses an assignment they hear about it. It will be this way from this age\u00a0up. We are trying to be more positive at practice, looking for them doing a
great job. But we expect them to do that; the mistakes are easy to see and\u00a0we take steps to correct them. No offense can work unless all the players\u00a0do their job every play. Last year we did not score many touchdowns. My son Ben\u00a0pointed out to me yesterday, that if a player only makes one mistake in ten,
and everyone does that in turn, one mental mistake on each play, you’ll\u00a0never have any plays run properly. Ideally, everyone must do their job, or\u00a0at least KNOW their job every time. They may not execute perfectly, but if they know what they are expected to do, and do their best, we’ll be OK.<\/p>
Part of what is different this year is that we acutally have coaches that\u00a0know the blocking assignements. I can not say for certain, but last year I\u00a0got the feeling that coaches did not know blocking assignents, so they did\u00a0not coach the boys about missing them. After all, they did not know themselves. These boys are older and smarter about football and we believe\u00a0they can do it.<\/p>
You can reinforce that by telling him that football requires great mental\u00a0focus and knowledge. The days of big slow dumb linemen are in the past; these\u00a0boys and all linemen have to know defensive formations and make quick\u00a0decisions together as a team on the line. They also know that if they will\u00a0not do their jobs, we will be forced to have someone else do it. In plan\u00a0english, they lose their starting position. From this age forward, there\u00a0will always be someone who wants their position because of the numbers of
kids in football programs. Let him know we have confidence that he can do\u00a0it, or he would be replaced by now.<\/p>
I do know too that coach\u00a0 “Coach” feels a lot of pressure to deliver wins,\u00a0and I expect that things will ease up a bit after we get into the season and\u00a0things look good. Keep me posted on his attitude. Michael.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t