Archive for August, 2010

August 10th 2010 by admin

TAKING THE 180 DEGREE VIEW OF YOUTH SPORTS

On my continuous journey of observing the youth sports landscape I just returned from watching a youth football practice last night. Here are some of the things I saw:

Poor Safety Concern for Kids
Poor Coaching Techniques
A lot of standing around & downtime
Not a lot of fun

Let me set the scene. It’s the first practice of the season in helmets and pads for a town in Northern Westchester County, NY, with three youth teams on one high school football field. For one team of incoming third graders or 7 & 8 year olds it was their very first time in full helmets and pads.

Observations:
7 & 8 year old team – begins practice with static stretching on the ground, unless you’re 1960‘s or 1970‘s gym teacher, that technique of warming up went out long ago. It’s been proven that static stretching does more to increase injuries than it does to prevent. A dynamic, fun activity that gets their heart rate up and blood flowing to their big muscles is much more appropriate. But wait, next they line up and conduct up & downs (running in place, throwing themselves on their stomachs, getting up as fast as possible, all on a coach’s demand). A dynamic warm-up, yes I’ll give them that, a kid friendly way to break a child on their first day in pads & helmets on a 90 degree plus day, no!

Next up there’s an explanation & demonstration of form tackling – that’s a great thing, maybe these coaches know what they are doing! Wait, that lasted no more than 4 minutes, now were onto a nutcracker drill!!! A nutcracker drill involves two kids lining up at least 5 yards apart and charging full speed into each other, often resulting in a high impact collision with two bodies on the ground. A drill that has disappeared from many high school, college, & NFL programs due to safety concerns (more about safety in my next blog), now I’m observing it happen with 7 & 8 year olds, their first day ever in pads and helmets!!!

I turn 180 degrees, and I observe the entire high school team warming-up by going through a series of agility stations, working on their dynamic movement skills, everyone engaged, no one standing around. This is followed by a series of dynamic balance drills. Hmm…

That is followed by the high school team breaking up into small groups with an assigned coach. Now it’s time for blocking & tackling technique work. Interesting that they don’t line up five yards apart, but they’re on their hands and knees paired up several inches apart, with a slow progression over 20 minutes up onto their feet, never more than two yards apart.

I turn back 180 degrees and I watch the 5th grade or 10 year olds practicing. After a 10 minute warm-up they are now onto a full 60 minutes of special teams work. No open field or sideline tackling technique, it’s 60 minutes of kick-off strategy! Now let me put this into perspective. This team plays 8 games per season. If history repeats itself for this team, and the coaches don’t focus on tackling & blocking techniques, their total number of kick-offs for the season will hover in the single digits. Yet this team of coaches spend 60 minutes of practice time on kick-off strategy. Maybe it should occur to them to first work on the techniques and skills (i.e. blocking) of how to get your team into the end zone, before you jump the gun and begin working on what occurs after you score – kicking-off.

Oh it gets better! While 11 kids line-up on the field to kick-off with one coach kicking to a group of 3 to 4 dads (they like to be referred to as coaches), 20 other kids sit and watch. Maybe you could be engaging the 20 other kids in a form tackling drill while they wait their turn? Rather than sitting, with their helmets on, in 90 degree heat, bored out of their minds. Now it gets even better, the kick-off is taken each time, by a coach, who is at least 6’2” tall and no lighter than 220 LBS, returning the kick-off at full speed with 11 kids chasing him! If the insurance company ever witnessed this you could kiss that policy good-bye. This coach is weaving and cutting through kids at full speed. Now if he makes one wrong turn into a kid – he could knock them out – real smart & safe! Not to mention there was not one instruction provided on breaking down and tackling. Sixty minutes, wasted on one of the unsafest aspects of the game, with no time spent on instruction or technique, in an unsafe practice environment, on a part of the game that will happen less than a dozen times all season!

Wow, let’s turn 180 degrees to watch the high school team. Can it be? They’re still working on tackling & blocking techniques, by position. And no one is on the ground, contact is minimal, but technique and engagement in drills are fast paced and intense.

As a matter of record, this high school coach has coached for over 40 years, has been named NY State Coach of the Year several times, & NFL High School Coach of the Year. Yet he never allows his players to take anyone to the ground in practice. His reasons, number one – safety, he believes rightfully so that you put players in danger every time they hit and fall to the ground, number two – instruction, you cannot teach correctly or effectively when there are bodies constantly on the ground, it ruins the flow of practice. As a result, his team allowed a total of 6 points ALL LAST SEASON. He works on technique, and gets results. The same now holds true for many college and NFL Teams.

Oh, by the way, this high school team are in helmets, shoulder pads & shorts only. Did you know that a majority of all NFL Teams in pre-season camps will be in full pads only an average of 6 days this year? Not this youth football town!

Bottom line, it’s time as parents to turn 180 degrees and learn there’s a better and safer way to play and learn the game of football. You owe your kids that security and safety. It only takes a 180 degree turn!!

Join this Revolution!
In all seriousness, you might find this article humorous but at the end of the day we need to change the manner in which our kids are involved in sports. In particular, youth contact sports must begin to require that all coaches receive legitimate and practical on-field training. Today’s training and certifications are weak at best. With all the safety concerns and studies we are receiving regarding brain and head injuries can we afford not to demand better for our kids. Please join me and demand better coaches training and legislation that protect our children when participating in sports.

August 4th 2010 by admin

Stop Watching & Talking – Start Solving

I cannot decide what irks me more, parents & coaches who destroy the fun in youth sports through their bad behavior and misdirected mission to win games & championships (which is a majority of you by the way) or the so-called youth sports experts that reside at Universities and ONLY write books and papers on what is wrong in youth sports.

All I have to say to all of you is, STOP! Rather than sugar coat and position this issue as if only a few “bad apples” ruin the experience for everyone involved in youth sports, I’m going to tell you the hard-cold fact; You’re all to Blame!

If you’re the over involved parent (the type that needs to coach every team, every season, or the league administrator/commissioner that needs to control all aspects of a youth sport, or the parent that continues to lobby for his/her kid to make and start on any and all teams), or you’re the parent that never volunteers but can be heard every weekend by hollering at kids, officials, coaches and other parents, no matter what group you fall into, you are the problem, not only for your own kid but for all kids involved in your community.

Even the nurturing parent that never says a thing and quietly attends every game, is respectful, and wants their child to have a great experience is to blame! Yes, the highly educated, well balanced, and often the adult with more athletic experience than anyone else involved in sports in your community is to blame. Why? Because they know there is something seriously wrong with youth sports yet they do nothing to enact change.

I also have an issue with Youth Sports Experts that establish foundations and organizations sometimes to attached to prestigious Universities, in order to heighten their importance have become a colossal joke. Enough talking about the issue and how it affects kids.

What we do need are solutions! I have spent most of my entire professional career developing solutions for youth/high school coaches and parents. And I used to be as much to blame as well, until I did something about it. and got penalized for it! Despite my better judgement I coached my son’s football team in a traditional league with traditional rules that are better suited for NFL Players than 10 year olds! Until I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror anymore. I was contributing to a flawed infrastructure that had no consideration for the safety of kids. As a matter of fact I’m currently banned from coaching youth football (which would never stand-up in any court of law) and my son’s team because I raised concerns about the safety of the league rules, and suggested we look to play in a better suited and safer league. So now I sit on the sidelines watching other fathers, with about as much football coaching knowledge as a high school girl’s cheerleading squad (no disrespect to cheerleaders), coach my son and others.

Now don’t misunderstand, I’m not going away and letting this issue go away. Me, unlike you and most parents are going to observe and freely bring to everyone’s attention the mistakes being made and the other options available for their children.

The problem with youth sports are parents. The parents that masquerade as coaches and adults that masquerade as parents. What I don’t understand are the number of parents that make such an effort to get their kids into the best schools & classes, but when it comes to sports, they make very little effort or keep any type of watchful eye. Yet a coach with limited experience and knowledge is given free reign to make decisions regarding your child.

I DON’T GET IT!!! Please step in and question those who run youth sports and hold them accountable!!! I did, and I can get up every morning and feel good that I stood up to the insanity, and will continue to do so until we fix it!!