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whiskey.alpha

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Everything posted by whiskey.alpha

  1. "Take what the defense gives you, and, eventually, they'll give you the game." I like playing against teams that line up their entire team deep. We've had good success against it. I don't know what other coaches do, but for us it comes down to creating one on one situations and running HARD. The weakness of a flat-7 is one missed tackle = touchdown. There's no second level. I like those odds. Some things we do (again... with the focus of isolating defenders, usually a corner). - Get the ball out FAST underneath and attack outside. - Run HARD, run with INTENT. No happy feet. Isolate a defender and force him to make a play. One missed flag = touchdown. - Get to the sideline and hit the gas. Force the cornerback to defend inside-out and cause him to cut off the rest of his team's pursuit when he tackles the ball carrier. If he whiffs, touchdown. - If you can, consider throwing deep (or, at least, running deep). Sometimes the easiest 1-on-1's to create are behind the defense. 7-10 year olds still get mesmerized by shiny objects in the backfield; they let WR's behind them all the time. Best case, you get receivers behind the defense, or get 1-on-1 with a safety. Worst case, you pull some DBs off that 7 yard line and create better odds for attacking the corner from underneath. If we see defenders taking bad pursuit angles, or if we see they aren't disciplined about staying home, we'll sometimes pass into a flat and instruct the receiver to cut it back across the field. He needs to be FAST, but if that opposing corner leaked into the middle when he saw the ball caught on the far side of the field, racing him back to his corner can make good things happen. The whole defense will be running back that way, but the corner will cut off their pursuit as he tries to make the tackle inside-out. Depending on how the D plays zone, running short and deep options on the same side can be good. If the corner goes with the deep man, throw underneath him and cause the next defender to pursue inside-out. If you've got a disciplined QB, use look-offs and pump fakes to get the defense leaning away from what you really want --- those simple checkdowns. Then go pick-on their corners. Good luck.
  2. We ran into the same problem last year. The best solution is to find another league. It's not only good for your team's development and psyche, it's also good for your league. Having one grizzly bear and three cub teams is bound to lead to dispirited kids and parents, which is bound to hurt their re-enrollment --and ultimately-- their brand. That said, I sympathize with the league directors. They're in a no-win situation when enrollment is marginal. In effect, should they cancel an entire season? Or should they put something out there that's less-than-ideal in order to have a season? Parents may actually split on the answer. At a minimum, it sounds like communication could have been better. It's always a bad idea to make big changes without resetting expectations, especially where the "product" is concerned (i.e., the quality of the league). At the end of the day, the league director should have looped you into the situation and maybe (i) solicited your input, (ii) solicited your assistance in finding additional teams, (iii) given your parents an opportunity to mulligan since the product yall signed up for clearly changed, etc. He probably didn't for fear of your answer (which was bound to cost him $1,000). All that said, based upon your description, it sounds like you're the only coach who brought a roster. It sounds like the other teams were (i) mostly "green," (ii) randomly developed, and (iii) coached by "dads stepping up to coach," not coaches. If that's the case, while it doesn't excuse the lack of communication, expanding the age brackets may not have been an obviously bad call (especially if your league is i9 sports, which doesn't emphasize competition, anyway). Your team is the "minority." It sounds like the rest of the teams will still be competitive with each other and still not take away from what i9 sports stands for -- sportsmanship, values, effort, etc. To your questions: 1. We ultimately challenged the kids by moving to a competitive NFL league and playing up a division. Until then, we did things like let them manage the entire offense/defense with no coaches on the field. They called and broke huddles themselves, called their own defenses and plays, etc. It was an opportunity for them to see the game from a different perspective, and an opportunity for us to introduce them to accountability. 2. Communication is never a bad thing. Just be careful how you position the conversation, since the unavoidable truth of your position is the other teams are "not on your level." That could come across as arrogant and leave a bad taste, especially after you pick their QB three times and beat them 54-6 the first time your teams play one another. 3. Same comment as #1, but maybe with some restrictions on the amount of times they can call a certain play. I have a hard time telling my kids to pump the brakes, or intentionally run out of bounds to avoid scoring, etc. But I don't mind limiting the high percentage stuff, limiting the easy checks, forcing them to practice new plays, forcing kids to learn assignments at new positions, etc. This season can still be a great opportunity to get better. Good luck with whatever you decide!
  3. I started coaching pee wee in 2008, and again this Spring for my youngest boy's first season. My thoughts on tactical team management: 1. Get an assistant coach. My biggest focus coaching 5-7 year olds is keeping the boys engaged. Some boys will watch birds or play in the dirt whenever it's not their turn to carry the ball. Lots of standing around = things can turn into "Lord of the Flies" real quick. Have someone help you run the sideline (manage substitutions, maintain decorum, etc.). Separate the team during practice to maximize touches and minimize standing around. Etc. 2. Minimize unnecessary variables and put the kids in the best position to win. And by "win," I don't mean win games, but put kids in the best position to execute and gain confidence. This may mean rotating positions less frequently early on, especially at QB and/or center. However, good ball exchanges will go a long way to reducing the learning curve and maximizing carries to distribute among 11 kids. I also do things like call "Ready" and "GO!" instead of the QB. I take the reins on anything that commands (and focuses) their attention in order to create an environment of consistency (or at least as close as I can get). 3. Make a big deal about defense. Chasing things and catching them is in the DNA of little boys. However, defensive success is less obvious to kids than offense. I also think it's more intimidating. I have no problem getting every kid in the endzone during the season (a goal), but it's sometimes a struggle to get every kid at least one tackle at that age (also a goal). Get the boys fired up about defense and this will help them focus. 4. On offense, keep things simple and make sure each kid has something to focus on. We've had a lot of success at the pee wee flag level, and our "secret sauce" is to have the team memorize --at most-- two or three plays. I've found it's hard for kids that age to visualize plays. It's twice as hard for them to visualize plays if they're required to know them at multiple positions. It can be done, but we only practice 1 hour each week and I don't waste time trying. Consequently, I don't coach my kids to know plays. I coach them to be coachable on the field and in the huddle. The kids do this by memorizing 2 running routes and 5 points on the field relative to the LOS ("A, B, C, D, etc."). That's it. That's the offense. I line the kids up and whisper each boy's route assignment into his ear. "Johnny -- run to A." "Billy -- run to C, then B." "Sammy - run dive 1 and take the handoff." It doesn't work as well in the huddle, because the kids can't visualize it (e.g whiteboard) or they forget it / get distracted on the way back to the LOS. However, they can visualize it from the LOS. The result is, when the ball is snapped, a visually complex play HAPPENS, although no one actually knows the "play." This allows us to orchestrate complex plays on the fly and confuse the holy ###### out of 5-7 year olds playing defense. It also gives me the freedom to rotate positions freely since "run to A" is easy to do from anywhere on the field. Feel free to disagree with this. 5. I impress on the kids that we want to have fun, but it's not okay to be silly. I also impress on them that it's okay to make mistakes, but it's not okay if the reason is they're not listening or not trying. No talking when others are speaking. Look people in the eye when speaking / listening. Etc. This creates the culture I want and sets the standard for behavior.
  4. I use same hardware/software. Sony 1080 HD cam, Adobe Premiere and AE. For online sharing, I render to 720p in H.264, single pass, 6-10Mbps bitrate. There are probably better settings, but this works for me in terms of balancing quality + filesize.
  5. Thanks. Our kids get a kick out of the video yearbooks, and that makes them worth doing. QB is 8 y/o, but super tall + great footwork. Our league brackets vary with enrollment, but are based upon grade. The divisions we play typically end up 3/4 or 4/5. This fall, all the action is in 3/4, which is now our appropriate bracket. I think there are 20+ teams. Don’t know how we’ll do, but it’s going to be fun. We started playing up last year, and while we dominated i9 leagues, we got our heads rolled first season in NFL. However, I don’t regret the decision. History has shown our core kids tend to play up/down to our opponent’s level, and being the underdog each week has made our team so much better. These days, we may or may not get the win, but each game is a dogfight into the fourth quarter. It’s fun to watch, and an absolute pleasure to coach.
  6. Enjoying this thread. Great videos. Here are a few highlight reels from central Texas. 8/9 year olds. We play them up a division. NFL Flag Football - Winter 2011 (4m 30s) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbU2kngGm24 NFL Flag Football - Summer 2011 (14m 30s) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8evghZME4s
  7. +1 for rushbuster70's comments. We play 6-8 y/o division. Defenses are allowed to blitz every down (as many defenders as they want). And in our age group, that makes the blitz a real weapon. So we run out of the shotgun 100% of the time. We drill the snap to the point of muscle memory. This season we averaged only 1 drop very 3-4 games. Done well and consistently, the shotgun all but completely neutralizes the blitz in our age group, usually to the point where the defense stops blitzing all together. That frees up all kinds of fun stuff for us - especially draws. The extra 5+ yards also gives our runners great angles to the corners, and further allows us time/space to suck the defensive line into situations where we can run screens and reads.
  8. Congrats, Texas_D. We had a tough Championship game ourselves in Austin last weekend (i9). Hadn't heard about the Extreme Flag league here in town. Need to look that one up. Enjoy the summer.
  9. I've coached in the same league against some of the same coaches for six seasons now. Some coaches are competitive and even tape our games from time-to-time during the season in anticipation of playing us. So, they know our offense. But dealing with it isn't big science. IMO, it really just boils down to two things: - we need to execute (where the D guesses right) - we need to run multiple plays out of the same formation/look We probably run a core of 10-15 different plays. Early on we ran only 2 or 3 of those plays with a man in motion. Now we run almost 2/3 to 3/4 of all our plays with a man in motion. Not saying it's the best thing to do. But it works for us at the 6-9 y/o level.
  10. Hi Gents. New to the forum. Enjoying the discussions here. Looking forward to learning how other coaches do it. As for me, I've coached 6 seasons of flag football. Two seasons pee-wee, four seasons 6-9 year olds. We play in Central Texas.
  11. Hey Texas_D. I'm a new poster. Great video of the center option. What league do you coach in Central Texas? Currently coaching i9 South in Austin. (6-9 year olds.)
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