What is the purpose of the dead period in the summer? I can understand between fall/winter and winter/spring, but why is there one in the summer?
Dead Period in Summer
- Thread starter rivalsHSFBfan16
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They don't need a dead period for that. Nothing before actual practice can be mandatory. If a family goes on vacation in July that's fine.
Nothing wrong with a dead period. 2 weeks a year is no big deal, especially since football is now allowed all year. remember, it's only been a few years since Coach Supervised Football practice was only allowed 5 months per year. Weight training is different but you can now run full pads all year. Would you prefer to go back to the old. To be honest. I would.
Concentrating on a single sport in HS is total BS to me. I will never accept the thought process behind this.
A dead period before winter sports, a dead period before spring sports, then one in the summer. It's not just practice but no lifting. Between that and school holidays (We're not allowed to lift during exams, for example) it's hard to get things going. Full pads? Not here.
I really need to check this because I don't see this happening but I will review. Thanks for making me revisit the rules. I'll post tomorrow.
Shauntclaire, I agree with the old way. This new. Year round is a sports killer for 1A and 2A trying to share athletes for every sport. IMO. Weight lifting,open gym, batting cage etc. This is more like college.
Agree. HS is a pure form of sports. But I do understand what happens at the next level. To me, multiple sports in HS makes someone a better player.
You can make a good Football player almost overnight if you have an athlete. Soccer, Basketball and Baseball takes half a decade........minimum. That's how many reps are required to make that ludicrously difficult play seem easy and effortless. Football is hardly more than Gladiators in the Coliseum. Make em' strong. Point the way. Then Wham and Bam. Not much more than telling your dog to "go get the ball".
I think it's better than the old rule where you couldn't legally do anything other than lift and general agility drills but some guys overdo it. 7 on 7 really isn't that useful. I think it's funny that people worry about summer football workouts taking time away from basketball, a winter sport. Any football coach who forces a kid to make a definite choice between will probably regret it.
I disagree. I have seen too many teams loaded with athletes lose to well coached teams in my time. Ask the folks at Giles how easy it is to run the single wing. It takes coaching from little league on up. Good teams have good execution. Football is much more complex than soccer, baseball or basketball. Even the year-round conditioning has to be well planned. You want to develop strength and agility.
Also, the pre-season practices are not mandatory, but kids are strongly encouraged to be there if they expect to play in the fall. It's good to have those dead periods for kids to have some time off. They are kids, after all for Pete's sake and although they should be committed to the team, most of these kids will not be playing college or professional ball when they get out of school. Kids have to be kids sometimes, the world is stressful enough when they get to be adults.
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Some good points but not even close. Football does have some complexities but the skills required are not even in the same ballpark as Soccer, Baseball or Basketball. I've done them all. I've Coached them all.
Give me some athletes and a couple of bulls and I can make you a football team that's competitive. Give me some athletes and a couple of Bulls playing Soccer, Baseball or Basketball and you get an embarrassment. These are sports which require 10s of thousands of reps just to be respectable. An athlete can be good day one in football. You can catch or you can't. You can run or you can't. No amount of training gives you good hands. Training can make you faster but it can't make you fast. Weights can make you stronger but they can't make you strong.
I agree with the mandatory "dead periods" at the beginning of each new sport AND around the July 4th week. It gives parents/athletes a scheduled, consistent break every year. I wish it would go back to the "old days" but it's too hard to police and someone will always cheat the system.
As for "single sport HS" athletes you might want to check even younger ages. Tons of little kids start baseball in Feb, play "all stars" through the summer, then start fall ball in August until November. That's not even counting the AAU and "travel ball" teams. Hmmmm, wonder why we are seeing Tommy John surgery for high school athletes?? Soccer also has 2-3 "seasons" per year in the lower ages. It's not just a football problem.
Making a football player overnight is laughable to say the least.
As for "single sport HS" athletes you might want to check even younger ages. Tons of little kids start baseball in Feb, play "all stars" through the summer, then start fall ball in August until November. That's not even counting the AAU and "travel ball" teams. Hmmmm, wonder why we are seeing Tommy John surgery for high school athletes?? Soccer also has 2-3 "seasons" per year in the lower ages. It's not just a football problem.
Making a football player overnight is laughable to say the least.
Me too. Then we wouldn't have to bother with all of those practices.
Well, since that's the case we should only have one day of practice and then start the season......like they do in little league soccer. Ridiculous.
Then why do recruiters not care about the hard workers? It's Athletes and Bulls that fit the measurables for College Football. For the other sports, it's the skill level. I stand by my statement unequivocally and with total certainty.
Football Coachs in College don't care if you can't catch a cold. You run a 4.4 40 at camp, you're in. They don't care if you're an All State LIneman at 6 feet tall. They're taking the 6'7" 300 pounder as long as he can walk and talk at the same time.
I'm surprised you don't understand this concept but you will eventually.
Don't misconstrue that I have something against weight training. It's necessary from a competitive standpoint in HS. Of course, Hershel Walker never lifted a weight in his life.
Since when were we talking about college recruiters? We're talking about high school football. There are planty of very good HS teams that don't have one guy who's a D.1 recruit.
I'm curious. You said that you've coached football. What level?
It's not called an example. It's called proof. And there's plenty more.
Again, I do not deny the necessity of weight training. I was only pointing out there is a difference between getting stronger and being strong. Same as speed or the instincts on how to move on a field. You're born to it. It cannot be trained. It may be improved.
Football is about the work, the motivation and good Coaching. That makes competitive. It does not make great players.
Pete Rose is an excellent example. Possibly the most un athletic player ever but pure hustle and work made him one of the greatest of all time. You can do that in baseball. Does not fly even a little on the football field.
I again affirm my contention that 30 days is all that's required for a couple of athletes and a few Bulls to make a competitive football team. I certainly don't contend a State Champion as possible. That's rediculous.
Sorry. Can't throw out an advanced football resume for you. That would just be a lie. U13 is my best here and I never won a Championship. Can't deny it.
I also never participated in the "draft". My team was always comprised of the players no one else wanted. Even the girls. But made the finals many years. We were the last team anyone wanted to see there.
I am highly certified in Soccer and Coached a number of teams to National Tourneys. No, I did not win any.
Baseball has always been a passion so I've done that too. I am currently an assistant for girls softball at the local College but I don't know how long that will last. They do not like my methods. But they have noticed how a 62 year old man can take 90 mile an hour fastballs in the cage and hit to right, center or left at will. WTF is the common expression but I've been used to that my whole life. No big deal. The HC wants these girls driving the ball. I want them on base. He's the HC. I'll do as I'm told. Hope it works out. I like these women. They're good girls.
Coaching is difficult because eventually you find you are not really a Coach.. You're a teacher. Only then do things start to come together. Knowing your sport and teaching your sport are two completely different things. And I have to admit, I was poor at first and in retrospect, poor would be a kind term. In deference to myself, I did accept and humbly learn.
One word of advice though. It's August soon. Water balloons. Trust me on this one.
VHSL should eliminate year round practice in all sports and go back to the "old way". Under the old system, a team could still get their conditioning in, and teach fundamentals year round, if they're smart.
You mean "the old way" where basketball had "open gym" year-round, baseball had "voluntary" fall ball, and coaches of both sports knew their rosters months before "tryouts"?
I wasn't surprised to hear that you coached youth football only because your model for building a football team conforms exactly to U13.
Your idea that weights can make athletes stronger but won't make them strong is just plain wrong. I know that for a fact because I see it every year. You can't do it, go from weak to strong, in one offseason but over years kids can become strong.
The same is true of skills. A kid who doesn't have great hands will never become one who does but he can make himself into a viable receiver. The same is true for passers, tacklers, and blockers (And yes, blocking IS a skill). The difference between good and bad football teams is not at the top of the roster. It depends on how your 10th and 11th players on the field match up to theirs. Those guys probably will not be college prospects but they can become contributors if they work hard enough. .
I know what you are trying to say but, the reality is that the sit ups, pushups, running and other natural body weight exercises Walker did are in reality lifting weights. In the quantities of reps he was doing, it actually represents massive weight training. While sports have a variety of unique skill requirements, to be good in any sport requires reps of practice and your single day assertion is unrealistic.
I know kids can become stronger and weight training is necessary to make them this way in a competitive environment. It would be ignorant to think otherwise. I thought I was clear, this was not my point. We used a mutant called Hershel Walker as an example as "strong". We'll use Lawrence Taylor as another. Absolutely adverse to weight training. Very happy about Cocaine. Not condoning this but the best defensive player in NFL history. Not my words. John Maddens. I think he has more credentials than me.
On your side is Clay Matthews and JJ Watt. Both born "strong". Weight training helped make them xcptional so I will no longer debate this point with you. You win.
And absolutely, blocking is a skill. Never said it wasn't. I have definitely seen more than few few OLInemen hold off much better DLInemen with outstanding footwork and technique. Happens in the camps more often than I would have originally imagined and I've been watching more than a decade. The disappointing part is, these guys don't get picked up. Measurables override performance.
The rest of your post, I completely agree with.
We seem to be talking about two separate things here. Can a kid who didn't hit the genetic lottery, one who isn't tall enough or fast enough, make himself a scholarship football player through hard work? No. Mom and Dad do that. Can they make themselves into good high school players? Absolutely.
You're an assistant softball coach for a college so you can scope out those college girls, come on admit it you sly devil. So which school is it and how is the scoping going?
OK, here it is. I'm old. I'm not dead. I notice but the good Sisters of Saint Joseph, the Jesuits (and you think I'm arrogant) and the most deceptive, manipulative, selfish wife a man could have trained me well. Nothing will ever happen.
I need to keep busy so I took a job in the IT Dept at the College because it's only a two block walk to work. I do receive an incredibly small stipend for Assisting. People know where I live. The College should be easy. I like to keep anonymous. Not for me, but the boys.
But I do take incredible pleasure at still being able to show off in batting cage. i love hearing WTF. it has actually helped me a great deal in my fight with alcoholism. GL to the Spartans this year. I have them in the Champioship game.
