re: Parents who can't handle their kids getting cut

quote:

---

Some parents are stupid.

---

understatement of the millennial

quote:

---

Some parents are stupid.

---

Prepub and teenage boys are dumber

In the parents somewhat defense, why is there not a 6th grade league like freshman football. Why waste the developing years, yeah they are 12, but why waste a year coaching technique and developing footwork. Of course a 12 year old can’t hang with a 14 year old, but don’t discourage them and let them lose interest, just have a 6th grade 7v7 league and a 7-8th grade traditional league. I knew a person who never started for a 2 time state champion team, never played a single down when it mattered, never gave up, went to JUCO and then eventually played SEC football at Tennessee. Kids develop differently, don’t waste an opportunity to be a good coach.

I coached football at a very high level in La. back in the late 90’s, early 2000’s (we pumped out Many D-1 and quite a bit of NFL players) from our school.

For players parents that thought their kid or grandkid “should be starting”, I’d take them to the side and say.

1. Braxton isn’t as good as our starters Sir.

2. In-order of good faith to show that he has been given every opportunity to start, We can have some “after-practice tackling drills” between him and each of the players in front of him. We won’t televise what’s going on, but I’ll make sure we get some “one-on-ones” so you can silently analyze your kid getting physically man-handled.

3. But of course, I do not want to mentally embarrass nor physically hurt Braxton. And I REALLY THINK BOTH WILL HAPPEN WHEN lining up head to head in full pads, full speed collisions, would you like for me to do that tomorrow after practice?

4. The choice is yours Mr/Mrs. Parent!
Otherwise, stfu, support the team and don’t question my judgement.

* this only happened a couple of times (& one time, it was a family of 2-3 generations of marines- some tough dudes & good people/great kids as well), but we had a top-tier football program in the State/Country. So it was rare that any of our coaching abilities were challenged because our success spoke for itself.

the couple of times that I had to
Give that offer, the parents always had that dear in headlights, swallowed the canary look on their face and the average response was:

“oh no Coach, we don’t have to do all that, we just thought maybe the competition was closer” blah blah & they crawfish out of their stupidity.

SO, This coach regarding the OP (if He’s under that much scrutiny), he may want to take that approach and silence the idiots. Have a tackling specific practice and break out the starters & just run down the guys that didn’t make the team like speed bumps for all to see.

That’s why I love football, it’s a physical sport, unlike baseball which allows for more of a personal opinion of their kids talents living in fantasy land that Braxton is the next Drew Brees or Urlacher.

Football is a brutal sport, separates the men from the boys, this is much easier to fix from a coaching standpoint versus baseball. And basketball is in-between the 2 sports in regards to using this scenario. But I’d assume a B-ball coach can always allow the kids to play some 1on1 to settle the debate.

For football, It worked every time & Braxton only got in when the game when we secured victory.

quote:

---

I tell my kids (I'm a coach too) if someone ever tells you that you're not ready or that you're not good enough.... don't get discouraged.

Add the word "yet" to the end of that sentence and keep working.

Make the get-back bigger than the set-back.

---

Another good thing to tell your kids (a coach told my sons' team this last week and I wanted to get out there after hearing this) is that football is about when you get knocked down you get right back up for the next snap. It's that way in life too. Sometimes we get knocked down and get right back up the next day.

Still, that being said, at 5th and 6th grade those kids should be at the right age to where it's not so much about wins and losses but it's about finding where you excel on the team and still learning the game. Yeah, it's always about trying to win, but that shouldn't be the sole focus. Anything younger than that and congrats here's a cookie that little Timmy played tackle at 3rd grade. But that's the exception and not the rule. Most kids start out around 5th grade so therefore the 5th/6th grade should be its own team and own league. Then by 7th/8th grade you start real "middle school football". And then JV, and then Varsity.

My son's situation is absolutely perfect. His coaches are excellent. The head coach played for LSU.

Cutting kids from a middle school football team is dumb imo.

quote:

---

Make the get-back bigger than the set-back

---

I like that. Will have to use.

I played Jr High, Freshman/JV, and Varsity football and none of the teams had "cuts". There were 80-100 kids out at each level and all three coaches were basically clones of each other. They would run you to death the first week and have you hit the living shite out of a sled and each other the second week until enough kids quit/got hurt and he got the number of players down to the number of jerseys he had, which was about 50.

Yeah, this was the 1980's. Get off my pasture/practice field.

quote:

---

Gaston

---

What D3 or JUCO/CC is your kid looking at?

quote:

---

How do you get better at football if you aren't playing football?

---

I expect the Saints to sign me so I can get better!