The RAIDERS

The other night was Jacks flag football practice. Jack loves everything about flag football. He chose practice over a school picnic for crying out loud. Jack moved over to another team this year. The good news is this team has some boys on it that he has gone to school with in the past. The bad news is the talent level is not…… well…. The boys have fun. Let’s just leave it at that.
Last year Jack’s team I think lost one game. The team he is on now did not win a game last year and got THROTTLED our first game. So we have been working with Jack on his attitude toward the game. We are here to have fun….yada yada yada.
Low and behold they WON their second game!
Now I have coached in the UPWARD program before so I get to criticize what the coach is doing.
- Just a suggestion but you should find out what your team does well and concentrate on perfecting that!
- We have some speed on the team and run the ball well. But for SOME REASON we try and throw the ball 3 out of 4 downs. I have a theory as to why but more on that in a moment.
- UPWARD provides you with a “coach’s book”. This is an awesome book. It breaks your season up into weeks and provides you with wonderful guidance on how to run a successful practice. There are tons of activities for you to choose from to help teach your team the skills they need to learn the game. Heck I know very little about teaching basketball and I used it religiously when I coached basketball last year. We went 10-0 and the boys looked GREAT toward the end of the season. They were LEARNING from those drills.

So last night I am sitting there watching practice with my dad. Dad comes by and watches Jacks practice every Thursday. We are sitting there and it’s the same thing every week.
- We start off practice some passing the football practice. What is the point when only ONE KID gets to play QB? More on that in a moment.
- We then scrimmage each other. This is not very organized. We are not practicing certain plays or anything. And it shows!
- Then they have to run a lap. Again…PURPOSE??? We are not getting gassed in games here. What are you doing?
- This is the classic- THEY PLAY FREEZE TAG!!
- This prompted my dad to look over at me and say…. I am thankful for this guy giving up his time to work with the kids but he does not know much about “TEACHING” the game.
- MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY DAD!!!
- He said didn’t I see you working with those kids on the fundamentals of basketball like “hand placement” and positioning on passes?
- This guy runs practice like a bunch of monkeys trying to hump a bowling ball?
- Who has been teaching Jack about proper technique in being a center? Lower your butt…straighten your back…head up…bend your knees! That would be ME!!! At the first game I saw Jack just bend over and basically hand the ball to the QB. What the heck? You gotta POP it in there JACK! NOW the boy is doing it right.
- We watched the kids run all over the place chasing the kid with the ball.
- I told Tracey just in passing about pursuit angles and it’s not about chasing the ball … you run to where the ball is going to be based on where the ball carrier is going. I swear all I did was just mention it.
- Next thing I know who has Jack in our living room running mini-pursuit drills. JACKS MOMMA!! YOU GO GIRL!!
Now as to my theory as to why we throw the ball so much. Would anyone like to guess who our QB is related to? That would be the coach! One of the important skills you need to be QB is arm strength. This kid does NOT have it AND THAT’S OKAY! Hey, growing up I wanted to be QB. In junior high they asked…who wants to be a QB? Heck I ran to get in line. The first drill the kid in front of me threw the ball WITH ZIP 40 YARDS! Then it was my turn. Mine had ZIP for about 20 yards hit the ground at 30 yards and rolled to a stop at 35 yards. That was the END of my career in organized football as a quarterback. BUT I was big and took up space and could MOVE! LEFT TACKLE!!!! It’s all about your skill set.
This kid can’t throw a football to save his life.
Back during the skills assessment a high school kid was taking Jack through the skills. When it got to throwing the ball Jack was not only hitting the target the ball had so much zip to it that the target started moving when it got hit. He told Jack …You have got a serious arm there! That made Jack grin!
So last night they are doing these passing drills. Jack, Will, Jacks buddy, and two other boys are ZIPPING the ball across to one another.
And then there is our quarterback….most of the time the ball never makes it to the other kid. I don’t say anything but my then my dad pipes in….
Isn’t that the kid who plays quarter back for Jacks team? (Dad looking over at the boys throwing the ball)
Yeah dad it is.
Dad….I see…..Why?
My guess is he is the coach’s son.
Dad…. A HA!!