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Coach to Coach: Making Your Off-Season Count, Part IIby: Bryon HamiltonHead Coach, Foothill High School, Palo Cedro (CA) © More from this issue Last month, I wrote about some simple steps in evaluating a season that does not meet expectations. I touched on a few of the areas that I feel are critical in assessing these types of seasons. The areas include communication, off season training programs and evaluating returning players’ strengths and weaknesses and adjusting schemes accordingly. But what about the seasons that exceed our expectations? The seasons when things went right. Seasons when players and coaches came together to produce excellent results. As coaches, we must dissect and evaluate the reasons for success with the same vigor and resolve as we did the unsuccessful season. When success is achieved, it is easy to fall into the trap of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. To some extent that is true, but I like the following quote by Robert Collier “The great successful men of the world have used their imagination. They think ahead and create their mental picture in all its details, filling in here, adding a little there, altering this a bit and that a bit, but steadily building - steadily building.” Even after success, we must continue to build, adjust and strive to do things better. The only difference between evaluating the reasons that we are successful as opposed to when we are not is the removal of the critic’s voice echoing in our ear. Upon the completion of a season of success, I ask the following questions of myself. Were the results simply a case of an improvement in talent? Or were there factors not as obvious that made the difference? My experience leads me to believe that even though talent plays a huge role in success, it is certainly only one of the many factors that produce seasons that exceed expectations. In my coaching tenure, I have had teams loaded with talent that have achieved less than what they were capable of and others that lacked great talent but achieved great things. In evaluating exceptional seasons, I find that several underlying ingredients are always present. These ingredients are numerous but I want to share the four that I think are the most vital. At Foothill High School, we are fortunate to have a very good strength coach. His work in the weight room allows me to observe our players in the early months of each new season. I can tell within a few days what our team’s natural identity will be in the area of their work ethic. Without fail, my teams who achieve the greatest success on the field have a great work ethic off the field. One of the strategies that I utilize to set the standard in this area each year is to put our hardest working players in charge of lifting and conditioning groups regardless of their status on the playing field. Hard work is contagious and unfortunately so is laziness. As a coach, it is vital to our success that I identify the hard workers early on and allow them to mold the identity of our team in this area. If you are looking to improve your team’s success on the field, identify players on your roster who best model the work ethic you would like your team to possess. Allow those players to set the tone and to lead by example. Let the other players around them catch their enthusiasm and reward those who do with prominent roles on your team. Competition is fun. Teams that exceed expectations are full of players and coaches who love to compete and hate to lose. As a head coach, I try to build competition into every aspect of our team’s preparation. We compete when we lift weights. We race when we run. We keep score during 7-on-7 drills, during goal line challenge periods, during 3rd down periods, etc. We end practice by playing crazy games where the winners get out of conditioning and the losers pay a price. The kids love it and it keeps things exciting. No one wants to just “shoot”. They want to play and compete. Teams that win consistently are teams that compete and try to win on every play. On successful teams, the coaches and players understand that the game of football is made up of 60-70 individual games and competitions and they strive to win every one of them. Successful teams are filled with competitive people and as coaches we can help develop a competitive attitude among our players by incorporating competition into their daily lives. It’s just not the coach and the quarterback who possess great mental skills. Many of the Patriot players (take Wes Welker, for example) would be listed as over-achievers who employ brains over brawn. The Patriots are a great example of what role intelligence can have in making a good team great. I constantly strive to increase the football knowledge of our entire team. I think it’s important that we take the time to do that. As I often say (and write), the fastest way to become a better player (and team) is to become a smarter player. 2010 was one of those seasons where my team exceeded my expectations. We finished with a 10-2 record, won a conference title, beat both of our cross-town rivals, won in the playoffs and eventually made it to the NSCIF Championship game. Not only did we win, but our young players on offense increased our scoring average by 17 points per game and our inexperienced secondary set a school record with 21 INTs in a single season. If you, too, had a great season, take the time to evaluate the reasons behind your success. Take inventory of the crucial components and keep them close by. If you coach long enough, you will undoubtedly experience seasons of great success and others that don’t meet your expectations. You can learn a great deal from each and both circumstances will make you a better coach if you allow them to. |
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