CoachF
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Post by CoachF on Apr 23, 2014 12:44:32 GMT -6
This may sound weird at first but here me out. I love football but lately I've been wondering if it's a little unhealthy. I am honestly thinking about football or something related to it more than half of the day. If I have paper in front of me I need to be drawing stuff out. Does anyone have anything to add or experience? Maybe some tips to distract myself from it for awhile or be more constructive with my thoughts? Thanks I'm advance
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Post by coachphillip on Apr 23, 2014 12:47:43 GMT -6
You're asking a bunch of coaches who don't play a game until August but sit around and talk ball in April about how they distract themselves from thinking about football too much?
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CoachF
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Post by CoachF on Apr 23, 2014 12:57:06 GMT -6
Is that supposed to be sarcasm? I understand the study of the game and I think about football a lot like I said but I just don't know if thinking about it all day everyday is healthy.
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Post by veerman on Apr 23, 2014 12:57:14 GMT -6
lol...I draw the same 6 freaking plays over and over and over and over again LOL.
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Post by M4 on Apr 23, 2014 13:00:03 GMT -6
this about this... there's things worse then football to be day dreaming about all winter
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CoachF
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Post by CoachF on Apr 23, 2014 13:00:50 GMT -6
This is what I'm talking about: I can draw power against every front all day, just not that constructive
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Post by coachphillip on Apr 23, 2014 13:01:41 GMT -6
Is that supposed to be sarcasm? I understand the study of the game and I think about football a lot like I said but I just don't know if thinking about it all day everyday is healthy. Just joking with you, bud. I'm not sure it's healthy either. I try my best to keep a separate time for my girlfriend where it's just all about her. Outside of that, I don't think about anything but football. I listen to coaching podcasts on the way to work. I'm on the board all day. I go to every workout in the offseason. I play NCAA at home. It's ridiculous. |
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CoachF
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Post by CoachF on Apr 23, 2014 13:03:46 GMT -6
Well that's how I am as well; I guess it's better to be passionate about something rather than nothing
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Post by coachphillip on Apr 23, 2014 13:08:19 GMT -6
That's been my opinion as well. I'd rather be passionate about winning games and helping kids than miserably drag through life.
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Post by rsmith627 on Apr 23, 2014 13:33:37 GMT -6
I would imagine most of us on this board think about it as much as you do, if not more. I think the offseason is the time to spend thinking about it. It's important to learn, none of us will ever know it all. During the season you better know what you need to because it's time to go to work.
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Post by wingtol on Apr 23, 2014 17:49:28 GMT -6
Mike Tomlin said "I don't have any hobbies. Football is my hobby. They just pay me to do it". Nothing wrong with having football as a hobby  |
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Post by tango on Apr 23, 2014 17:56:55 GMT -6
I hate to say it but I was afraid the preacher was going to ask me a question on Easter Sunday. I was running veer in my head for about 30 minutes before he asked the guy in front of me a question.
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Post by fantom on Apr 23, 2014 19:14:59 GMT -6
Is that supposed to be sarcasm? I understand the study of the game and I think about football a lot like I said but I just don't know if thinking about it all day everyday is healthy. It might be. It happens around here. I don't know if it's healthy. I think about football a lot. I come up with some of my best ideas at some weird times. You have to think about something. |
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Post by 4verts on Apr 23, 2014 20:54:30 GMT -6
I don't understand the problem. What else am I suppose to care about?
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Post by Underdeveloped on Apr 23, 2014 21:06:03 GMT -6
I read an article about being a "Type A Personality" and it basically goes on to say that if you are "type a" you become your work and relationships take the backseat. I am assuming This really sums most of us up... We are passionate about the game, about kids, about being the best... Nothing else really fills the void in our lives that football fills.
To answer your question i think this is extremely unhealthy for your kids (If you have any), for your wife (if she isn't on board)... But I think denying yourself of your passion would be "unhealthy" for you ! I know I feel accomplished in a day when I gain one bit of knowledge about this game or how to motivate my kids etc...
Enjoy the grind my friends
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Post by coach2013 on Apr 23, 2014 21:17:41 GMT -6
Its called OCD, you are obsessed and have a compulsion to draw plays or talk football. I think its a requirement to be a great coach. The guys who lack the obsession have no issues going off to coach girls basketball or lacrosse. If I were to try and do that, I am sure Id be drawing football plays while coaching on the bench.
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Post by s73 on Apr 24, 2014 5:57:57 GMT -6
This may sound weird at first but here me out. I love football but lately I've been wondering if it's a little unhealthy. I am honestly thinking about football or something related to it more than half of the day. If I have paper in front of me I need to be drawing stuff out. Does anyone have anything to add or experience? Maybe some tips to distract myself from it for awhile or be more constructive with my thoughts? Thanks I'm advance Coach, I have been coaching for just shy of 20 years. When I first started I didn't know what I didn't know. So I would only think about the plays that the program I was assisting was running. Then I went to my first clinic and the OCD began. I could not believe how many frickin' ways their was to run or pass or try to defend this stupid looking oblong thing. But FOR ME... the OCD started to calm itself (not leave mind you) as I became a HFC with my own identity. I still have it (OCD), just more controlled now b/c it is pointed in one direction. I am not the "kid in the candy store" any longer searching for stuff. I know what I want to do and now I am just trying to improve on it. So my focus has narrowed a great deal. I suspect their are others who have followed this same path, I also suspect that's why guys who have been doing this for a long time don't like to change or jump on the next fad b/c they know how tedious and "OCD" the process is to finding your identity. This has been the case for me anyway. |
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Post by joris85 on Apr 24, 2014 6:22:56 GMT -6
This may sound weird at first but here me out. I love football but lately I've been wondering if it's a little unhealthy. I am honestly thinking about football or something related to it more than half of the day. If I have paper in front of me I need to be drawing stuff out. Does anyone have anything to add or experience? Maybe some tips to distract myself from it for awhile or be more constructive with my thoughts? Thanks I'm advance Coach, I have been coaching for just shy of 20 years. When I first started I didn't know what I didn't know. So I would only think about the plays that the program I was assisting was running. Then I went to my first clinic and the OCD began. I could not believe how many frickin' ways their was to run or pass or try to defend this stupid looking oblong thing. But FOR ME... the OCD started to calm itself (not leave mind you) as I became a HFC with my own identity. I still have it (OCD), just more controlled now b/c it is pointed in one direction. I am not the "kid in the candy store" any longer searching for stuff. I know what I want to do and now I am just trying to improve on it. So my focus has narrowed a great deal. I suspect their are others who have followed this same path, I also suspect that's why guys who have been doing this for a long time don't like to change or jump on the next fad b/c they know how tedious and "OCD" the process is to finding your identity. This has been the case for me anyway. This makes perfect sense! I feel like I'm the kid in the candy store, wanting to grab everything I can. Problem is, the deeper I'm digging, the more I know there aren't enough hours in a day to learn everything I want to learn. I'm starting to realize that at some point I will have to choose a direction, or find my identity, as you called it, but for now I prefer to be the OCD candy store kid. |
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Post by IronmanFootball on Apr 24, 2014 6:34:12 GMT -6
I told my fiance I was glad I have other interests and can step away for a few weeks and just relax, she laughed at me and said "what other interests?!"
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Post by veerman on Apr 24, 2014 8:11:58 GMT -6
I guess to answer the question then depends on your marital status and then more importantly the kid status. IMO if you spend more time with football in the Off Season then your kids that's just PLAIN STUPID sorry no excuse. We take away from our families so much during the season that the off season it should be swayed the other way..I always find it funny when coaches get on here and complain about commitment and not wanting to do this and that, then we do the same thing when we fail to be committed to our own family. One of the winning-est football coaches in our state made a great statement at a clinic he spoke at. "Never do football work at home while your kids are awake" he went on to say "you may have to stay up really late or wake up super early, but you make the sacrifice not your kids"
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Post by fantom on Apr 24, 2014 8:27:44 GMT -6
I guess to answer the question then depends on your marital status and then more importantly the kid status. IMO if you spend more time with football in the Off Season then your kids that's just PLAIN STUPID sorry no excuse. We take away from our families so much during the season that the off season it should be swayed the other way..I always find it funny when coaches get on here and complain about commitment and not wanting to do this and that, then we do the same thing when we fail to be committed to our own family. One of the winning-est football coaches in our state made a great statement at a clinic he spoke at. "Never do football work at home while your kids are awake" he went on to say "you may have to stay up really late or wake up super early, but you make the sacrifice not your kids" Thinking about football and working on football are two different things. When your four year old is watching Disney Tunes for the fifth straight time it's tough to stay tuned in to the words of "Zippaty Do Da". Maybe my son was different from most but I found that he was NOT interested in playing with me every minute that he was awake. I found that I was able to get a lot done while he was playing with his friends. Now, you do need to be willing to drop what you're doing when he needs you but I don't think kids expect. want, or need to be our entire focus every second that you're home. |
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Post by veerman on Apr 24, 2014 9:51:14 GMT -6
I agree you don't have to play with them 24/7 they are awake. And thinking about football is different than doing football work. but good points were made.
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Post by coach2013 on Apr 24, 2014 9:57:08 GMT -6
I am a HC. In the summer I am at the school from 7am until 10 or 11. I get home and my wife and I take the kids to the park/playground or Lake or pool. That's just about every day. If the weather is bad we get some Netflix movies and popcorn and do a sleepover in the living room. sometimes we pitch a tent in the backyard and build a fire and roast marshmellows. I find a way to continue to watch hudl, coachflix and glazier clinic stuff.
every Wednesday, sat and sun I do not go into the school so that's three days a week just for the family and church on Sunday.
The thing is we are already in the "we do what we do" stage and theres really no need to go crazy with new formations and xs and os and all that. It took years to get that point as a coach.
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Post by larrymoe on Apr 24, 2014 9:58:09 GMT -6
Coach, I have been coaching for just shy of 20 years. When I first started I didn't know what I didn't know. So I would only think about the plays that the program I was assisting was running. Then I went to my first clinic and the OCD began. I could not believe how many frickin' ways their was to run or pass or try to defend this stupid looking oblong thing. But FOR ME... the OCD started to calm itself (not leave mind you) as I became a HFC with my own identity. I still have it (OCD), just more controlled now b/c it is pointed in one direction. I am not the "kid in the candy store" any longer searching for stuff. I know what I want to do and now I am just trying to improve on it. So my focus has narrowed a great deal. I suspect their are others who have followed this same path, I also suspect that's why guys who have been doing this for a long time don't like to change or jump on the next fad b/c they know how tedious and "OCD" the process is to finding your identity. This has been the case for me anyway. Pretty much my thoughts. I don't really "think" about football outside of our stuff or program and how to make it better. I probably think about it more than I like to admit, but I'm not obsessed with it. Outside lifting, I probably only spend 2-3 hours even somewhat actively involved in the game during the off season. I too noticed that this started to slow down when I became an established HC. Now when I go to clinics I don't go listen to every radical idea under the sun and want to implement it right away. I either go to things specific to our system or program management stuff or weight room stuff. I've always sort of detested chalk talk Xs and Os stuff anyway. I've got an assistant that is obsessed with it. Guy doesn't teach, doesn't come to weights, really the only involvement he has with the program is he comes with us to clinics and then tries to get me into chalk talk arguments about how he's going to stop blah, blah, blah. I don't give two craps about what you can do with a dry erase marker. Games aren't won on a white board. They're won in the weight room. |
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Post by craines10 on Apr 24, 2014 10:08:40 GMT -6
Mike Tomlin said "I don't have any hobbies. Football is my hobby. They just pay me to do it". Nothing wrong with having football as a hobby Easily the greatest quote EVER!!!!! |
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brcoach
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Post by brcoach on Apr 24, 2014 10:32:19 GMT -6
This may sound weird at first but here me out. I love football but lately I've been wondering if it's a little unhealthy. I am honestly thinking about football or something related to it more than half of the day. If I have paper in front of me I need to be drawing stuff out. Does anyone have anything to add or experience? Maybe some tips to distract myself from it for awhile or be more constructive with my thoughts? Thanks I'm advance I don't see a problem here? Nothing wrong about thinking about football all day. I'm a head basketball coach and I think about football during basketball season. |
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Post by 33coach on Apr 24, 2014 10:34:39 GMT -6
This may sound weird at first but here me out. I love football but lately I've been wondering if it's a little unhealthy. I am honestly thinking about football or something related to it more than half of the day. If I have paper in front of me I need to be drawing stuff out. Does anyone have anything to add or experience? Maybe some tips to distract myself from it for awhile or be more constructive with my thoughts? Thanks I'm advance ive gotten that way as well, for example here i am at my desk at work...on the forums  . |
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coachgrob
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Post by coachgrob on Apr 24, 2014 10:48:59 GMT -6
Obsession, it has recently become a dirty word. But all great things are built on it, including great football programs.
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Post by breakerdog on Apr 24, 2014 11:14:12 GMT -6
At least I am in the right place.
I am constantly leaving little play drawings all over my desk at work and at home. My wife has a bin she just puts them in. I occasionally go through the bin and get ideas from myself. Sometimes I set my 4 year old daughter with some paper and pens at the kitchen table while I draw up inside zone read vs. different fronts. She has started drawing little circles, triangles and lines on the paper just like daddy. It sort of looks like the Run'n'Shoot to me.
It gets a little bit weird at work when I am taking notes in meeting with my peers and upper management and the other side of the page has Seam/Sluggo vs. Cov3 drawn on it. I once sent a work related excel spread sheet via email to a coworker that had my play calling script on another tab.
I used to play a lot of online poker and study the game. There is a guy named Phil Laak (The Unibomber) who wrote an article that I really found interesting. I am paraphrasing.
He said that when you begin your journey in poker it's really easy to learn. Every thing you read, every conversation is a new concept. Your learning curve is exponential. Your mind is opening to new thoughts and ideas but then it soon plateaus. You become hungry for more learning, but you have to search harder to find it. You begin to search out experts in the field and attempt to learn just small intricate details about your craft. You get really excited when you can find those small nuggets of information or when you have an AHA moment because just the act of searching for nuggets becomes difficult. He referred to it almost like panning for gold.
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CoachF
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Post by CoachF on Apr 24, 2014 13:41:14 GMT -6
Thanks for the responses guys. I am glad I am obviously not the only one who thinks tirelessly about football. It is my passion and I have other hobbies but coaching and football is without a doubt my passion, and I do think it's okay to have a couple obsessions in life. For instance, my uncle is obsessed with farming and John Deere Tractors, he brings it up at every reunion, he could run your ear off about every model, especially the 4440. I guess my passion is football, if someone asks me about it im more than likely going to give them all they wanted to hear and slightly more.
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