Renegade 10U season

[CoachDP]

I was better, they were better. They were correcting each other and holding themselves and their teammates accountable. I know it wasn't from the speech, but more or less common ground. Common, because we were all frustrated and found out we were not alone. Don't know if this will carry over in the game, but is a building block.

Eric, it's called "coaching." 

--Dave

[gumby_in_co]

I honestly believe that most coaches are either:

1) So selfish they can only love and care about themselves. 

2) Have no idea how to show love.

3) Believe that showing love somehow makes them, or their players, soft.

Love can be taught and shown as a fundamental.  It has nothing to do with weakness.  It has nothing to do with being soft.  It has everything to do with getting a young man to believe in you, himself and his will to perform. 

When we do bearcrawls, something I do with the players when they have gone for a distance of 240 yards is when they are about 15 yards from the finish, I get down on my knees at the finish line and hold my hand out to them, yelling at them to "Take my hand, you're almost there!"  I strain my body towards them, sticking out my arm as if they were climbing a cliff and I am reaching down to give them something to hold on to, someone who is there to grab on to them and not let them fall.  There's nothing soft or weak about it, or what we do.  But when I tell them how proud I am of them for finishing, and I tell them I knew they were going to get there, it is the first small step in building that relationship of them wanting to perform because they want to achieve success, as opposed to wanting to perform because of the fear of punishment of negativity.  And you are showing them they can count on you.

--Dave

I'm glad you brought this up. Last Friday was a true "wheels falling off the wagon" game for us. So many tears. It's been years since I've been on the wrong side of one of those games. I realized that we were too soft and unprepared for game day. I also believe that this is in no way their fault. No one on the staff is frustrated with the players.

I had long conversations with Mahonz that practices need to be physically harder and that we need high standards and consistent accountability. This meant for me that the yelling had to come WAY down to almost nonexistent, or that the yelling will be on the positive side. I am by far the "yelling" coach of this group, but I take the time to tell them every day that I love them, especially after I've sent them on a punishment run or tore into them. So I'm trying to replace yelling with calmly telling them to run Godzilla or bear crawl around the back pack of shame, explaining why, then building them back up when they get back.

Three things that I have been VERY careful of moving down to the 2nd graders:
1) cussing
2) anything that belittles, disrespects or hurts their feelings

In the heat of the game, I invited a player to get "pissed", then immediately apologized and corrected myself to "get mad".

[angalton]

It was a wet day today, but we pulled off our first win. The oline blocked extremely well, but the backs turned the ball over three times. We were also penalized 15 times for 110 yards. We came out on top 21-0 and it feels good. Wedge went for 125 yards, off tackle box went for 50, and stretch and reverse went for 180 yards. We still had a lot of little things to catch up on. It did seem that the last practice carried over to the game. #1 team next week at their house. We are now setting at 1-2 with 6 games remaining.

[angalton]

Got to see some video of the team we are going to play. They are a single wing team and 4-4 defense. They do everything very good. Very disciplined team and have size and speed. I can see why they are a top team.

Meanwhile, we are still developing into a team. Ok I am a bone head. My lineman have worked on our footwork, explosion, punch, and our rules. I noticed yesterday, why are we not getting to our blocks? Because you have not done any fits to there blocks. So we worked that a lot today and what do you know? They are actually getting there blocks. I did fit for wedge, but not our base blocking scheme. How did I miss this very important aspect of the game. Oh well, we are heading in the right direction. Going to be a tough game, but I think we can make a game of it.

[angalton]

It was just our down block, which is really important to know block fit.

[angalton]

Ugh...we lost 0-35. Another 100°game and everybody was tapping out again. Some before the first kick off. We had holes to run through, but the blockers stopped and looked at the back. Our stretch and reverses were there, but the back kept trying to cut back instead of getting the edge. Left 3tds on the field. 2 turn overs for 2 TDs. Back to the grind.

[angalton]

This week we had our game changed from Saturday at 10am to Sunday at 10 am. The problem with this is Me, our other Offensive coach, QB, backup QB, FB, and LG were going to miss this game. So I worked a direct snap wedge in this formation

       XXXXXXX
            X.  X.     X
               X
And a TE pop pass with it.
Also a beast formation all wedge blocked. Wedge was looking very well at last practice. Called Coach to get scoup about the game. He said we had 6 possessions and 2 turn overs against us, but had 4-6 minute drives for touch downs.
Defense had 16 sacks. We ended up winning 25-0. He said wedge went for at least 5 yards everytime. Going to work our Jet series and passes this week. Game was around 65° and no one was tapping out. Would love to win out, but a couple tough opponents coming up.

[angalton]

I finished in stalling trap and jet. Working on belly option and our roll out passes. Right now I have blast, gap, cut, counter ( IOL-Wash)  Wedge, Trap, Jet (perimeter blocking). Belly option is one play that may or may not be used. Rollout passes are just simple combos with the ends and wing. We are playing a team that we match up well with. Should be close, but hope to get a substantial lead.

[angalton]

We lost 0-19 today. Had a TD called back at the end of the first half. 0-0 at halftime. We kick off they scored with a run back. They onside and recover. The kids were done at this point and they drive down and score. They onside again and recover again, then drive down and score. Onside again and recover we actually stop them. 30 seconds left we drive 20 yards, game over. Penalties killed us on offense all day. We would drive down the field with wedge and trap, then go back with penalties. Total second half collapse. 2-4 and have to now win out.

[mahonz]

We lost 0-19 today. Had a TD called back at the end of the first half. 0-0 at halftime. We kick off they scored with a run back. They onside and recover. The kids were done at this point and they drive down and score. They onside again and recover again, then drive down and score. Onside again and recover we actually stop them. 30 seconds left we drive 20 yards, game over. Penalties killed us on offense all day. We would drive down the field with wedge and trap, then go back with penalties. Total second half collapse. 2-4 and have to now win out.

Can you win out?

[angalton]

I think this team could win out, but have major mental issues. They keep reverting back to what they were taught, or not taught, in our games. I don't know if it is selfishness, nerves, or a combination. Maybe I'm trying to much or expecting to much. I think having green players with same athletesism, would have been easier. We will keep pushing forward and hope for the best.

[Rockets11]

We kick off and they returned it for a TD.

We kick off they scored with a run back.

How are you kicking? How are you covering it?

[angalton]

How are you kicking? How are you covering it?

We normally kick deep,. We huddle and kicker tells team direction. We maintain our lanes and converge to the ball carrier. First lost onside, kick went 5 yards and we yell poison and kid tries to get ball. The rest were kicked to open spot behind front line and return man bobbled it and kicked it forward twice. Front line didn't make there blocks either.

[angalton]

We got a big win today 12-6. We started out on fire, well fire for us. We drove down the field 4 yards at a time. We took 8 minutes off the clock. They come out in quads, empty set and picked up one first down, then turned it over on downs. We methodically drove the ball down the field again and scored again. After this, throughout the game, we couldn't consistently move the ball. Our line completely fell apart. They we're slow, lethargic, and did there own thing. Backs were running to wrong spots. The defense was strong all game. They scored on our second string defense at the very end. The second string was in for three series, so I think they performed well. Our opponent scored on a nice pass and a better catch. They threw a fade, about 20 yards, kid jumps and made finger tip catch. Our corner hit him as soon as he caught it and he spun off the hit and took it 30 more yards. We have to fix the selfish and lazy play. A win is a win

[angalton]

We are at 3-4 with 2 games left. We win these next 2 and we are in the playoffs. Tough opponent next weekend.