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Football has never been a game to me—it has been a way of life! I started becoming involved in organized sports at about age 10. I have attempted twice to retire from coaching football, but keep getting coaxed to continue .
I began playing organized tackle Youth football and basketball at the Boys Club and continued for 3 years. The coaches were wonderful. They not only taught me the fundamentals of the game, but also self-esteem and the ability to work with others. We call this teamwork!
During the same period, I played organized baseball in Little League and Babe Ruth League. Unfortunately my experience in baseball did not match my experience in football and basketball. My baseball coaches were not very knowledgeable, unorganized, and did not seem to care about ALL the players. This same experience was to resurface again many years later when my sons played Youth Baseball.
Please don’t get me wrong. I know
there are good and bad coaches in every sport. What some coaches don’t
understand is the power and influence they have over a young person,
thus the reason for this website.
If I can help at least one coach become better, this in turn will
help many young people. It
is one way I am giving back to the
community.
I had several different coaches during my
football, basketball, and track days in high school and later during my
days as an enlisted man in the U.S. Navy. Since this website is about
young, pre-high school children playing organized youth football I will
concentrate on the experiences at this
level.
After my football playing days were over, I would walk down to the youth facility in Norfolk, Virginia almost every Saturday to watch young boys ages 8 to 14 play football. Watching these kids and their adult coaches was very enlightening. I saw the same type coaches that taught me when I was that age. Taking from the old Clint Eastwood movie, I saw the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly football coach. I knew if I ever became a youth football coach what type coach that I would want to be.
Years later my oldest son, who was 7 years
old at the time, announced he wanted to play football. I was happy, because I had
always thought playing sports was a good outlet for aggressive kids and
my son was definitely aggressive.
During my son’s first year his head coach asked me if I would
coach the offensive line. I
accepted with glee.
However, all was not very happy that year. We had coaches that did not work
as a team, and most appeared to be interested in only what their own
child could do. This lack
of teamwork and selfish attitude resulted in a losing season, both in
the won-lost column and in the child development
column.
Fortunately for my son and me the head coach
and several of the assistants moved up to the next youth level to coach
with their sons. I was asked to be head football coach of the Mighty
Mite team. For the next 13
years I coached youth football (ages 7-14) in the Pop Warner League in
Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
During my years of coaching youth football I complied an 87-43
record (.667 winning percentage) including 2 state playoff seasons and a
7-2 Bowl record. This was
accomplished using the philosophy and coaching techniques described in
this website.
During my playing days I experienced coaches who wanted to “win at all cost” and coaches that were not prepared to win at any cost. I decided to be a coach somewhere between. I wanted to teach the kids to be competitive and have the desire to win, but at the same time I wanted to treat all the kids fairly and equally. This meant sometimes having to work very hard to teach and reach the player that could not “walk, talk, and chew gum” at the same time. In addition, I had to teach and further the ability of the player that was a natural athlete. The combined tasks were not easy and sometimes I might have gotten confused. But, I never lost sight of what youth football is all about, to teach young people how to play the game of football while teaching them good manners and building good character behaviors. Some of my fondest memories were obtained during my time as a Pop Warner Youth Football Coach.
With the encouragement by many of the player’s parents, I decided to try my hand at coaching high school football. All of the concepts discussed in this website I carried to the high school level. I am currently in my 11th year. The exception is the simplicity of the offenses, defenses and special teams play. Although I use many of the same formations, the execution and the addition of new plays and formations are much more complex. However, I still teach good sportsmanship, teamwork, and discipline. These concepts did not and will not ever change
