AFM Home | The Staff Report | Dec 2002

The Staff Report

Speed Training 5-Tips for the Hips

Within the game of Football the difference in many athletes performance stems from flexibility of the hips. Whether your need is to engage a man on the line of scrimmage or to come in and out of your cuts faster, your results will depend on this. An interior lineman will be able to drive through the more forcefully and the skill position athlete will be able break down faster and more efficiently. Throughout our series how to maximize Power and Speed production on the gridiron we will review this matter in-depth. However to get you started NOW, lets consider these top-5 ways to get those hips into the game.

1. Tumbling drills - Yes tumbling, enhance movement & body awareness with classic backward & forward somersaults.

2. Dynamic range of motion training - Ducking under and walking over Hurdles set at hip height in daily training.

3. Agility ladder - When performing ladder work ensure athletes stay low “sitting” low and not running high

4. Lifting choices - When you Squat, perform with full range of motion, learn the proper technique and don’t be married to a heavy weight. Utilize various Squatting methods, not only the Back Squat but the Front Squat and my favorite the Overhead Squat. This also means that classic lifts such as the Clean and Snatch with the Squatting component can become a tremendous tool in your athletes development in not only assisting with strength but range of motion.

5. Static flexibility - Don’t ignore this area as some are often inclined to do so. Ensure that all training is concluded with a quality stretch down.

Add these to your training and soon enough your athletes performance on the gridiron will improve.

- Coach Davies
Author, Renegade Training for Football
www.renegadetraining.com

3 Ways to Increase Offensive Productivity

Schutt Sports 2002 Division II Coach of the Year

Valdosta State head coach Chris Hatcher, 29, is the winningest college football coach in the nation under the age of 30. Hatcher had won 33 of his 36 games at the end of the 2002 regular season and took a few moments to share his three tips on creating more offensive productivity:

1) No matter what scheme you run, to be successful you must alter it to best fit your personnel and talent. You have to put your players in a position to be successful.

2) Attack. Always put your opponent's defense on its heels and attack. Take control of the tempo and never allow a defense to dictate your offensive game plan.

3) Do whatever it takes to get the ball to the people that can score. If you aren't able to get your scorer the ball - make adjustments.

Sponsored By: Schutt Sports
www.schuttsports.com

Finance: Thinking About the Finances of the Coach

Career coaching families seldom earn a great deal of income. They also endure more than the average number of family moves and the many job related dislocation costs. To end up being able to fund college for the children as well as their own graduate school and continuing educations, live a reasonable standard of living and then to retire comfortably suggests that being well informed and most intelligent about your financial choices is very important.

There is no margin for waste. The spouse must get involved since the coach is so busy consumed with coaching that such topics are often neglected. They must have a team of trusted professional advisors. Work together and focus now on your finances!

Starting your planning process requires that you know where you are today. Every family should be able to reproduce on short notice a snapshot of their net worth, neatly showing every asset they own by categories, such as home and real estate, retirement plans at present value, all financial assets, total appraised or estimated personal possessions for insurance, life insurance values, special business assets, cars and all indebtedness with amortization schedules. This one page summary added up with all assets minus liabilities to equal family net worth shows where they are today.

From this point with a budget, a coaching family can review this “net worth at a glance statement” every year to see their progress on “savings” growth. Remember that “savings” comes in many forms. Planning from your family balance sheet is the beginning. Know where you are to focus on where you are going. Make progress every year and get secure slowly like the tortoise.

- Thom Park, Ph.D.
President, Thom Park and Associates, Inc.
Consultants to the Football industry

Media: Making the Media Work for You

Coaches -
Media Relations Tips:

Media attention can be a tremendous public relations tool or be as deadly as a knife in the back - So, how do you get the media to work for you?

• Understand the media - they aren’t the enemy, but their job often is in direct opposition to yours.

• It’s important to maintain control of both the timing of the exposure and influence the content of the story. Affect the timing by monitoring media interest and choosing to be proactive rather than reactive when it serves your interest best. Influence the interview by understanding the angle of the story and guiding its direction.

• Have a specific agenda and communicate it clearly, succinctly and repeatedly. When necessary, bridge to your point of view.

• Don’t be baited - even if you’re peppered with rapid fire questions. Take time, maintain focus, and control the pace. Losing your cool means losing control.

• Be quoted - not paraphrased by making your point in 20 seconds or less. Add details only if there’s time, interest or need.

• Speak in complete sentences - not fragments.

• Never use or repeat negative words or phrases - it reinforces them.

• When you’re wrong - admit it. Admitting mistake makes you human and ultimately more credible.

• Paint pictures with your words - make yourself more memorable.

• Don’t hand over all the power to the media. Intentionally guide the direction and tone of the interview.

- Kathleen Hessert
President and CEO, Sports Media Challenge & New Game Communications
www.preptowin.com

Four Ways to Save Time Using a Digtal Video Editing System

Time is a precious commodity, especially if you are a football coach.

Finding ways to save time is essential for overall efficiency and ultimately more effective coaching on the field.

One of the most valuable of these time saving tools is the use of the latest state-of-the-art video editing equipment. Here are a few simple ways to spend less time editing videotape and more time on the practice field.

1) Immediate recall of video or data - No more hours of fast forwarding and rewinding to find that certain play. An integrated digital video editing system can provide instant access to any and all video and data.

2) Grouping tendencies - With modern video editing equipment, coaches can group not only offensive and defensive plays and schemes, but also situation-specific tendencies. For instance, now you can create video cut-ups of your opponent’s short yardage or third and long plays with the simple click of the mouse.

3) Portability - With modern advances in technology, coaches can now access practice and/or game footage instantly on a laptop computer. Now, precious time on lengthy bus rides can be spent analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of both your team and your opponent.

4) Simplicity - Digital video editing systems have become so simple that even an individual not necessarily skilled in football terminology and experience can use the system to edit video footage and enter data. This can allow the coach to spend more time analyzing the video and reports and also coach the players more effectively on the field.
Send questions on video editing to aslee@lcclark.com

Sports Psychology Six Ways That Sport Psychology Can Help Your Program

Sports psychology or mental game coaching is not new to coaches. Many great coaches have learned through experience how to use the same mental skills I teach to athletes, such as how to play with confidence, stay composed under pressure, and set manageable goals. In fact, many experts in the field of sports psychology study great coaches to learn how they get their players to perform their best every day. Here are six ways that I as a mental game expert help teams develop mental toughness and improve performance.

1. Helping coaches and players develop a team philosophy and goals. This is an important step for the coaching staff in order to make sure everyone is on the same page and is working towards the same goals.

2. Developing a championship attitude among coaches and players. Athletes and coaches first have to think like champions to become one.

3. Improving communication skills that can help build cohesion and teamwork. Every successful team has had great coach-player rapport and player-player communication skills.

4. How to get athletes mentally prepared to play their best on game day. The best coaches know how to get the team motivated and intense on game day without the negative influence of pressure.

5. Improve athlete mental game skills for athletes and coaches. What team would not want focus, confident, and composed athletes?

6. Improving practice efficiency and transferring practice to games. Great athletes train hard and can perform well during crunch-time.

- Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Note: Dr. Patrick Cohn is a mental game coach, author, and professional speaker.
www.peaksports.com.