Youth Flag Football - Sportsmanship

[hollad6636 0]

As we get ready to move into a new season I was thinking over the past few years on the sportsmanship issues I have seen. Some of the worst beeing parents screaming at other parents that they are going to kick their @#@'s, a coaching pushing down an official, a coach screaming at his own son who was crying because of a missed play, that he was going to get his butt beat when the game was over, etc.

I have also seen some great things, like the coach of the three time defending champion of a league get beat in the championship game and who then spent 5 minutes giving the kids from the other team kudos for playing with heart and desire.

So what are some of the best/worst things you all have seen since you started coaching?

[yurirdgz 1]

Last year I was not happy with the football team politics and approach my son was playing at , so I took him out one month before the flag season started (August) and created our own flag team, of the six guys I had in the team half of them used to play for the football team I mentioned above.

At round three we faced these guys and it was really a sad and annoying game for my guys and myself, first of all we where really getting whipped (42-7 was the score) as a rookie coach I didn’t find the formula to stop these guys who actually at the end where champs, beside this our players had to stand a lot o mooching up & laughing up from the other team players, my Qb which used to play for this guys was so upset by the critics from his former teammates that he had to leave the game because he could not contain his crying, my parents and myself received a bunch of critics from the other team parents who where yelling across the field stuff like “traitors, that’s what you deserve”, now your probably thinking about the referees, well both referees where rookies and that was their first football game as refs, they where really nervous and where totally unaware of what was going on in the sportsmanship side of the game.

At the end of the game I took a few secs with my guys to change their attitude around since all where crying an really upset, I told them not to lower their heads at the center field during the end of game hand shake, and they did as told, I really admired them for that, after the game one of my parents approached the other team players and had with them a really respectful chat about sportsmanship, something these guys lacked probably because they are acquainted to always win, these guys came a few minutes after that chat and apologized to our guys and me, their coach and parents never did so.

Days after I did complaint to the league, they asked me if I wanted to forfeit the score, I told them not to do so that we would take the defeat, I only asked them to pay more attention in the future to the sportsmanship side of things.

As for the good stuff, our team lost two games that season and went into playoffs, we won our playoff game and should have played the champ game, we didn’t since it was agreed before season kick off that as a “guest team” we had no right to be in champ game, so third runner up played the champ game. At the end of the championship game the third runner up (they lost the champ game) approached us and personally congratulated us and admitted it should have been us up there, their attitude was really great and that made our season even a happier and a better one, they suggested a “friendly match” and we did so, we gathered around a few bucks to pay the referees and had a great final game, we took it as our championship game, it was an awesome game which we won 28-26, but the score didn’t matter, what matter is that we had won friends.

[Charlie 2]

yurirdgz,

I think we all have a few of those coaches that we face that just don't get it. It always feels good to beat them the right way. I have always been a big proponent of giving all my players as much opportunity as possible at the younger levels but I have to admit that sometimes when I face these coaches I get caught up and forget for a few moments what it's really about. (That's why I have good assistance around me that think the same way that I do, as they will immediately remind me that this isn't the super bowl).

Charlie

[yurirdgz 1]

I think we all have a few of those coaches that we face that just don't get it. It always feels good to beat them the right way. I have always been a big proponent of giving all my players as much opportunity as possible at the younger levels but I have to admit that sometimes when I face these coaches I get caught up and forget for a few moments what it's really about. (That's why I have good assistance around me that think the same way that I do, as they will immediately remind me that this isn't the super bowl).

Charlie

I don’t know about you guys but I have basically detected this sportsmanship problem on the big shoulders and pads teams that go into flag during their tackling off season, getting good results out of their tackling season it’s much harder for them to achieve that getting positive result out of flag. I think some of them use flag to get some positive renown and fame for their team, of course its not a general rule and not all these type of teams have this approach, but at least I can tell you this is the picture with the five time flag champ down here, but if you look at their tackling season its not all that impressive, they are probably ranked in the middle of the chart.

One thing I can tell you for sure is that we are going into our second seson and I’m pretty much sure a scenario like the one I described you won’t happen again (it was worst than I could describe), we have been working since February and a lot on the mental side of the game as well as skills, we are a much more prepared team and my kids have got the picture of what I want from them, to have fun despite the result of the game, flag is about having fun. I have created a slogan for them “If you have fun on the field you will get the good results you expect”.

[Johnp2 21]

The worst was years ago when we were losing by two TDs with about 15 seconds to go in the game. Our opponent had the ball at about our 10 yard line---he went no huddle and started calling time-outs to score another TD (we stopped them). I'll never forget when most of my team's parents starting booing that coach. It was so tense. You could see that even his team's parents were embarrased.

The best I've seen might have been this season. While I had the best player in our league, there was another player almost equally as good. This player's coach gave him the ball about 90% of the carries. I know this from speaking with other coaches, watching them play a little, etc. This goes against my philosophy (I spread the ball around equally), so I was concerened going in to play them (we were both undefeated). I had my team prepped to stop this player.

Oddly enough, when we played them that kid only got the ball about four times (and scored on us once). It turned out to be a lopsided game (we had three INTs for scores) and I think we ended up beating them 40+ to 6--and felt bad about it. I was really surprised that the coach did not give it to his best player over and over like I had heard and seen before--especially the way we were thumping them.

After the game I went to the coach, shook his hand and told him how commendable it was to spread the ball around as I had heard he gave it to that player 90% of the time. The coach told me, "Thanks. By the way, I'm the assistant coach. The head coach could not make this game" then he winked. Ha!!! I loved the fact the assistant did what he (and probably most of the parents) had been wanting the head coach to do all season.

[Coach Fun 0]

So what are some of the best/worst things you all have seen since you started coaching?

I've seen tons of good sports and fans, but the worst sportsmanship I've seen was done by a coach. It was the playoffs and he really wanted to beat our team. One play I was complaining that his RB only had one flag. The coach feigned disbelief. Turned out the coach had the player's flag hidden in his playbook!

Coach Fun

[Orange 26]

The worst I personally witnessed was a club team basketball game. Kids were about 15 years old or so, early high school. Their game was before ours so I was watching. This kid commits a pretty hard foul and the kid that got fouled hauled off and punched him in the nose, knocked him down. Both teams scrambled around and grabbed each other but no more punches were thrown. The scary thing was the parents who ran down from the stands and looked inches away from jumping into the fray. Fortunately they did not and the refs made the smartest decision I ever saw; they ended the game then and there and made the one team (with the guy who threw the punch) leave the gym while the other team stayed for an additional 20 minutes.

Against us the worst was we were losing by 3 touchdowns, there was a minute left and the other team had possession on their own 5. They were calling timeouts and throwing the ball downfield. They ended up scoring and then decided to go for 2. That last part was infuriating and I asked the ref "are you serious?!" He just shrugged and said yea, I know, there is nothing I can do.

Here's one that I love: My daughter's baseball team, 7-8 year olds rookie baseball. A kid on her team is playing first base and fields a grounder and makes a tag on the runner. At that level coaches make the call and two of their coaches and our coach all signal he's out (anyone watching the game thought the same thing). The first baseman immediately announces that he just barely missed the tag and that in fact the runner was safe. No hesitation, just clearly and matter of factly announcing that the kid was safe, just pure clean sportsmanship. Where do we lose that innocence?

[Johnp2 21]

Against us the worst was we were losing by 3 touchdowns, there was a minute left and the other team had possession on their own 5. They were calling timeouts and throwing the ball downfield. They ended up scoring and then decided to go for 2. That last part was infuriating and I asked the ref "are you serious?!" He just shrugged and said yea, I know, there is nothing I can do.

For the most part, I've always found that it is the new coaches who struggle with sportsmanship. I believe it is for many reasons, but mainly because it is difficult to win your first season (unless you just luck into getting good athletes). These guys walk in thinking just because they know football they will win--and suddenly get a big shock when they play disciplined, well-coached teams. Couple that with their "man-hood" being on the line in front of the parents, and it goes downhill from there.

I remember a few seasons ago we beat a MUCH physically superior team (new coach in our league). We played them again late in the season, and they were leading by 7 points, with the ball, and only about a minute left. Their coach was going bonkers arguing calls, asking the ref how much time on the play clock so he could run it out, etc. I'll never forget I yelled to him, "Coach, relax. You've got this game won." He replied, "Sorry--you don't understand what a long season it's been for us---we need this win." (Of course we beat them in the playoffs and won the Championship that season....heh-heh), but it validated the pressure new coaches put on themselves to win.

[GeorgeC 1]

Last Spring 2010, our 2nd grade FF team with Coach QB was not very good. I recall that we had one win going into the last game of the season. But the team that we were playing against had zero wins and had been beaten badly every game. We were up, I think, 30-0 with maybe 5 minutes left. Remember, this was us (not very good) against a really-not-good team. I was Coach QB, since our lead coach was out of town. There was one kid on the opponent team whose Dad on the sideline was encouraging him on. We called a pass play, and I floated a 10 yard duck out there. The other kid caught the interception and ran it all the way back for a TD. His Dad was screaming on the sidelines, "that's my boy, that's my boy". Of course we still won. But there was at least one very happy kid on the other team. The other coach understood and the parents of our team understood. And I got a teaching moment with our boys.

[Johnp2 21]

Last Spring 2010, our 2nd grade FF team with Coach QB was not very good.

Does "Coach QB" mean the coach is also the quarterback?

[GeorgeC 1]

Last Spring 2010, our 2nd grade FF team with Coach QB was not very good.

Does "Coach QB" mean the coach is also the quarterback?

Yes, for K-2nd grade, it is Coach QB. The coach is the quarterback. A center is optional as the coach can just hold the ball out in open air and "hike". Lots of passing.

When they hit 3rd grade, it's Kid QB. No rushing until kid QB.