It is August .......Here We Go!
As we head into August, players and coaches have already poured a ton of time and sweat into preparing for another season.
With the “official” start of the season, I hope it is a time of optimism and excitement about the season ahead. Ever since I began coaching in 1988, I have felt that each new season always brought with it excitement, challenges, surprises and more. The first day of padded practice, first game, first road trip, homecoming game, playoff games all lie ahead in the next few months. I wish you all a great start to the new season!
This edition of the Playbook includes:
· Thoughts on getting the season off to a good start
· Former Gatorade National Trainer of the Year Christina Gray sharing an athletic trainer’s perspective on getting the season off to a healthy start
· Getting the most out of your special teams
· Game Ball Video: One of my favorite screen plays
As we enter the season, my aim will be to put together content and resources that can be helpful and pertinent in the hectic pace of the next four months. Please message me if there are specific ideas or topics that you would like me to speak to…..I would love to make this as interactive a resource as possible. Additionally, all previous editions with all articles and videos are archived and available to paying subscribers. I encourage you to subscribe for $5/month using the subscribe button found a bit further down in the Playbook. I look forward to doing my best to make this a positive and useful resource for all of you!
JM
Getting the Season Off to a Strong Start
Regardless of how long you have been coaching, the beginning of the high school football season is always a time of excitement and anticipation of what lies ahead. Regardless of the expectations for your team, there is always a sense of optimism and positive energy about the challenges to come. I believe it is critical to capitalize on this as you enter Fall camp. Each season and team is unique and develops its own identity and leaders, but I would like to discuss some things that have helped many of my teams get off to a strong, positive start.
Validate Their Efforts
Football is a physically demanding sport, which unlike many other sports has the players fully geared up and practicing outside in the heat of the late summer. The players have to grind through it all: the practices, two-a-days, conditioning periods, weight lifting sessions, etc. I believe it is important that you recognize and acknowledge this with your players, as one of the keys to a good team is having good, spirited practices. I often tell my players, “if it was easy, then everyone would have a good team.”
Another aspect of validating their efforts is recognizing them individually and giving them encouragement and feedback. When I heard Terry Shea speak back in 1992, he had been a head college coach (San Jose State) and was the offensive coordinator at Stanford under Bill Walsh. He shared a story about when his son was a high school football player. He explained how his son had been around football his whole life and loved it more than anything else. He had played some quarterback as a freshman and sophomore, and entering his junior year he had trained all summer and was trying out for the varsity team. Terry told us that he was a bit worried because while his son knew and loved the game, he was a bit more limited physically compared to some of the other QBs. He said that his son came home after the first day all excited and was telling him all about it. Terry asked him if the coach had given him any feedback and his son responded, “ he really didn’t say anything to me”. Terry was told the same story on the second day, and even though his son wasn’t phased by it, Terry realized that even the slightest positive comment to his son by any coach would have made him the happiest player on the field. It also made Terry realize how many missed opportunities he had had over his long coaching career to take a second to notice or praise a player whom that would have meant so much. From that point on, Terry made it his goal to speak to/ interact with every player on his team everyday. While this can be logistically challenging, especially as we get swept up in the game plan and next opponent, it is a great reminder how a simple comment or word of encouragement can mean the world to the players on our team. I believe this is critical all season but especially as you begin a new season.
Be Process Oriented
I constantly reminded our players that the surest way to beat an opponent is to out-practice them each day. Victories in September/October/November are the result of focused practices in which your team gets the very most out of each day. Not only does this require great focus and effort by the players, but also excellent organization and thorough planning by the coaching staff. Have a sound, purposeful plan to build fundamentals and implement offense, defense, and special teams. The start of fall camp is about building the foundation and making sure the players understand and can execute the initial steps of each phase of the game before you move on to the next.
A football season is like a marathon not a sprint, make sure that the team understands the basics before you move on to the next thing. This requires patience and fighting the impulse to always push ahead and put in more volume of scheme, before the players have mastered the basics.
Make it Fun
We all agree that football is a physically demanding sport that requires the players to push themselves through pain and fatigue. Incorporate things into practice that break up the practice routine and allow the the players and coaches to have fun together. Whether it is barbecuing hot dogs for the players at the end of practice, having a slip and slide competition, or having an offensive lineman catch a punt to end practice, find ways to bring the team together with some lighter moments in the midst of all the hard work. As a coaching staff, have a plan for ways to reward your team and allow the players to laugh together, as it will help build morale and give the team more energy and bounce in their step.
One on One Conversation with Former Gatorade Athletic Trainer of the Year Christina Gray
Christina Gray is a graduate of Linfield University and was a part of the Wildcats training staff in 2004 when they won the National Championship in football. Upon graduating from Linfield, Christina served as athletic trainer at North Salem High School for 12 years before coming to Mountainside High School when the school opened in 2017. In 2018 she was named by Gatorade as the Athletic Trainer of the Year for the Western United States. Having worked directly with Christina for the past 6 years, I have witnessed first-hand the expertise and compassion she shows towards all the athletes. She is a tremendous asset to Mountainside High School and the athletic training community as a whole. As we begin a new football season, I sat down with Christina and discussed topics that I hope will be helpful to coaches. Thank you Christina for your willingness to share your expertise!
Question: What are some priorities from a trainer’s perspective that would be important for coaches to consider as we are looking to begin a new season next week?
CG: With any coach, I would start by going over the Emergency Action Plan. Understand what the roles and responsibilities would be in an emergency. While I will be present, the coaches will be my backups in terms of knowing what gates do we use and who gets them unlocked, who flags down EMS, who gets my supplies as needed, who is communicating with parents if that becomes needed, etc. Going over all of these things in a short in-person meeting with the trainer and coaching staff is critical. For me, this includes looking at rosters to see if any athletes have emergency medical needs so we have that medication and information should something happen. Another thing is to make sure the concussion baseline testing is up-to-date as it can be helpful to have this information available so that we can make comparisons and assist with an evaluation if needed.
This review process would include input from the team doctor, the coaches and myself. Since coaches are often on the front lines of these situations, especially in practice, we all need to prepared to respond if needed. Part of this meeting also allows the trainer to explain how they want to function within your program. I always aim to be the person that takes stress off you in terms of injuries, rehab, etc. It is my goal to get the players right back out there as fast as possible.
Question: With the season about to start, are there preventable steps coaches should think about to try to minimize injuries and things that can happen out on the field?
CG: Most football programs do a good job of lifting and conditioning and that is a huge help in injury prevention. As we know, many high school athletes, especially the younger ones, will need a great deal of teaching and demonstrating of proper technique and form in everything from weight lifting and body movement to proper tackling form. Spending time insuring your players are conditioned and schooled in proper technique is one big step in preventing injuries for your players.
Next, there can be some specific areas of focus, for example ACL specific movements, that often can be incorporated into the daily warm-up phase of practice. I know that you began to incorporate band work into warm-ups in the last couple of years which is good. Hip and glute strength is an area that can really help with injury prevention.
Question: How about muscle or soft tissue injuries, any tips in that area?
CG: A starting point is educating the athletes on proper hydration and nutrition. Many athletes today rely on pre-workout energy supplements. However, good old fashioned water and balanced meals provide some of the biggest benefits. You can also get more specific on how much each athlete should drink but starting with 8 cups a day is a good place to start. Since athletes sweat at different rates and temperatures can vary, there may be a need for certain athletes to have even more than that. Cramping is often a combination of lack of conditioning and dehydration.
It is also important that your practice closely resembles the physical expectation of games. Try to mimic the tempo of a game in practice, even if it is without the full contact component. This will help insure their bodies are prepared for game speed.
Question: Are there any trends over the past 20 years that have made it harder to be an athletic trainer than it used to be?
CG: Fortunately, the human body hasn’t evolved dramatically and medicine has greatly improved making bodies easier to treat. However, today the athletes have social media and technology at their finger tips which has led to many athletes now self-diagnosing their injuries. Many athletes now come to the training room and say, “Christina, l have this injury and here is what I need you to do for it”. With self-diagnosis, athletes may feel they don’t need to come in at all. This can result in the true problem not being identified, thus no path to recovery being discussed.
Another change today is the number of athletes that choose to “specialize” in one sport and train solely for that year-round. This leads them to only train their bodies in one way. It is important to diversify your activities to develop your athleticism. I sometimes find specialization can end up hurting their athleticism. Playing multiple sports allows you to remain athletic year-round but in different ways.
Question: What are some things that you would want coaches to know to promote cohesiveness between coaches and the trainer?
CG: Communication and being able to have dialogue is huge. It also helps to build repertoire if this communication is not only about football. Knowing more about each other and making connections strengthens the relationship. Another piece is the logistics of practice times, schedule changes, road trips, departure times, etc. Having this information helps us be organized and coordinated and allows me to be there for you and ready on my end.
Building trust is critical, especially with new coaches. Knowing that I am not here to hold your athletes out……I want to make your life easier and be able to put your focus on football. A big part of establishing this trust is clear communication and time working together.
With on-field injuries, it is often helpful to have a coach come on to the field with me. You can help calm the player down and distract their focus on you rather than what is going on….this can be helpful in allowing me to assess the situation. I may need you to assist me in some manner but at the minimum you are a familiar face for the athlete when they may be in a scary situation.
Get the Most Out of your Special Teams