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Post by snakeyes on Oct 23, 2014 7:35:40 GMT -6
I am looking for any suggestions on things that can be done to recruit high school football players. I am in a school district where the football program is struggling to get some of the top athletes in the school to play football. I hear the same excuses every time..."my parents won't let me play because they are afraid I will get hurt for basketball season, or baseball season." How do you counter this?
I think some of the time when I hear this excuse, it's the kid not wanting to play...and they are just placing the blame on the parent. However, I believe a lot more time than not, it is the parent preventing their kid from playing. I so badly want to tell them their kid has no shot playing college basketball or baseball, but I don't think that would be an effective reply!
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Post by coachcotner on Oct 23, 2014 9:20:49 GMT -6
I am looking for any suggestions on things that can be done to recruit high school football players. I am in a school district where the football program is struggling to get some of the top athletes in the school to play football. I hear the same excuses every time..."my parents won't let me play because they are afraid I will get hurt for basketball season, or baseball season." How do you counter this? I think some of the time when I hear this excuse, it's the kid not wanting to play...and they are just placing the blame on the parent. However, I believe a lot more time than not, it is the parent preventing their kid from playing. I so badly want to tell them their kid has no shot playing college basketball or baseball, but I don't think that would be an effective reply! I am willing to bet that these parents who do tell their kids they can't play believe that their son is going D1 for basketball because he has a decent jump shot even though he is 5'10 on a good day, huh? |
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Post by snakeyes on Oct 23, 2014 9:56:14 GMT -6
CoachCotner, How did you guess?!! We have more kids in our school that are going D1 than any other school in the U.S., or at least that's what it seems like!
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Post by bleefb on Oct 24, 2014 0:02:01 GMT -6
Cash Money works best!  |
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Post by olcoach53 on Oct 24, 2014 5:04:53 GMT -6
Show them the numbers. let them know how many student-athletes get scholarships for football as compared to basektball and baseball. Some of them will be quite alarmed by that.
Also try working with the other sports coaches and see if THEY can persuade some kids to go out to "stay in shape" and help the school.
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Post by coachcotner on Oct 24, 2014 11:27:10 GMT -6
CoachCotner, How did you guess?!! We have more kids in our school that are going D1 than any other school in the U.S., or at least that's what it seems like! Similar problem in the school I coach at......not the as big as an issue as it was 2-3 years ago but still an issue |
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Post by rsmith627 on Oct 24, 2014 13:12:13 GMT -6
Every school I have ever coached at has had this issue, even when we won a state title. Basketball and baseball teams always had guys who could contribute, but they were concerned with getting hurt. Just today I was working a baseball player and he was concerned with injury. I have also dealt with basketball, baseball, and even wrestling coaches who didn't want their guys lifting.
We just keep working those kids. A lot of then actually want to play, sometimes you just have to be persistent. Sometimes you get then out and they contribute as expected or more, other times you wasted months spinning your wheels for nothing at all.
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Post by dytmook on Oct 24, 2014 13:23:03 GMT -6
Our only d1 guy last year who was a basketball guy. Came out his senior season and lit it up. Now on a full ride to the Air Force Academy. I mean considering he would have been at best D2 basketball player. Our basketball coach isn't helpful. Baseball isn't really an issue with us. That being said we just talk to kids, sometimes they wear down and decide to play. Some of them find out quickly they weren't the bad man they thought they were.
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Post by coachfloyd on Oct 24, 2014 13:45:30 GMT -6
if you play sports for scholarships then you are wasting your time. Football, basketball, or anything. So sick of hearing about scholarships.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Oct 25, 2014 14:41:49 GMT -6
Your #1 recruiting tool will always be the kids on your team. Encourage them to get people out who can help the team. They can do far more than you can.
Then you make football the cool, fun thing to do. This can be harder than it is in many sports, but emphasize all that as you plan your practices and hold kids accountable.
After that, you can do everything in your power, like going to basketball games and building relationships with the kids' parents and stuff, to address the "my mommy won't let me" syndrome.
The thing is, even if you get them put, you will likely soon find that there were reasons a lot of them weren't playing already, or you'll see that they are so inexperienced and fundamentally unsound they don't help as much as you'd hoped.
Long term, focus on building up the Ms and youth programs so kids fall in love with football and want to stick with it in HS.
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Post by coachd5085 on Oct 25, 2014 15:00:01 GMT -6
Our only d1 guy last year who was a basketball guy. Came out his senior season and lit it up. Now on a full ride to the Air Force Academy. Every student attending the USAF Academy goes tuition free. Obviously playing ball may distinguish a nominated candidate and help him receive an appointment over other candidates, but is still a different situation than being offered an athletic grant-in-aid to an institution like Penn State or Kentucky etc. |
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Post by spartan on Oct 25, 2014 18:52:41 GMT -6
IMHO your recruiting the wrong kids. Those are the varsity kids, you need to get them by 8th grade moving toward your program. We do free 8th grade camps and we recruit the heck out of 9th graders to play. We just swarm the halls looking for the mavens they get the others to come. This is the life blood of the program, JV football.
Get out to the Pop Warner leagues too and make sure your around them.
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Post by JVD on Oct 26, 2014 6:11:36 GMT -6
I agree with Spartan.
Teaching 6th grade is the best recruiting tool ever!!!
All fall those kids have to listen to me talk football.
All year varsity kids come to see me (they are a BIG DEAL when they come to the elementary.)
Then...when they are playing as 7th graders I am able to jog over during a break and talk with them.
My favorite is early in the season say, "Hey...raise your hand if you know how to run <<INSERT BASE PLAY HERE>>>"
All the hands shoot up.
Then I hook 'um, "Yeah...you guys know <<INSERT STUD RUNNING BACK HERE>>?" I hear a bunch of, "YEAH!?"'s....
"Well...that's his favorite play!"
BAM! HOOKED!!!
I'm sure they go to class the next day saying, "Yeah...I'm practicly just like <<Varsity player>>.....I mean, heck...we run the same plays...."
HAHA!!
Recruit the youngsters!
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Post by snakeyes on Oct 29, 2014 9:06:56 GMT -6
Thank all of you for replying to this post...it has got my wheels turning!
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bison37
Probationary Member
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Post by bison37 on Oct 29, 2014 9:52:30 GMT -6
One big thing I did this past spring was I looked up every kid that won an award for other sports at our school (Junior Male Athlete Award, Track MVP, etc). I went to some basketball games and looked for kids with good hands, body control, awareness, etc.
I made a list of "most wanted' athletes for my school and included returning players from my varsity team the previous season. Every kid on that list got a letter from me, signed by the Athletic Director and Principal that stated "as a returning player...you can contribute to our success...look forward to your return" or "...we've identified you as a top athlete...your skills can be an asset to our football program..." then I would highlight the new things happening. This was my first year as Head Coach, taking over an abysmal program, so it was a challenge. I highlighted exhibition games, new helmet decals, new unique offence (A-11 super spread variant), etc.
Our teams play Varsity or mixed grade teams...meaning I coach Grade 9-12 on one team. Obviously that has some challenges...one being that Grade 9s don't bother coming out for football teams in our area because they never play. They do on our team, but not on any other teams in our 7 team league.
So to gain interest form our younger grades I created a Junior Varsity Camp for Grade 8 (from our feeder schools), 9 and 10 only. We went 4 weeks and had our local university team put on a clinic for the kids free of charge. We ended with a controlled scrimmage game against another school who joined in three days prior and were comprised heavily of Grade 10s. This gave kids an opportunity to play against other kids their own size and skill level. It was an education based camp that went from the bare basics of blocking and tackling to the basics of our offence and defence.
With JV and our recruitment letters we got a roster of 68...the defending champs in our area had 50, everyone else was below that in roster size. We ended our season this week with 54 (other sports, kids cut themselves, injuries, etc) which is huge considering our previous 10 years averaged 20-30 kids total and averaged only 15 at practice. Biggest challenge we had was we ran out of equipment....so we worked out a deal with a minor football program in our area to borrow some.
This coming year I am going to continue the JV camp in spring, re-recruit a little earlier, take players in jerseys to speak at elementary schools, and and start our merchandising of t-shirts, hats, etc. I am also working on a parent info-session where I can speak about some of the unique features of our program (we have a new concussion management program and return to play policy that is way beyond anything currently in our area) and allow parents to ask questions concerning safety, playing time, program structure, etc.
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Post by spartan on Oct 30, 2014 21:18:10 GMT -6
One thing you must do is crush all other sports recruit every basket ball player, and ugh if you have volley ball recruit them too. Make your sport the cool sport. up the profile every day with announcements in the AM on the practice player of the day and of course a game recap and glimpse of the upcoming game and who will be having a great game. recruiting is simply building relationships and out working other coaches.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 30, 2014 22:06:41 GMT -6
One thing you must do is crush all other sports recruit every basket ball player, and ugh if you have volley ball recruit them too. Make your sport the cool sport. up the profile every day with announcements in the AM on the practice player of the day and of course a game recap and glimpse of the upcoming game and who will be having a great game. recruiting is simply building relationships and out working other coaches. Does your admin actually give you that much time to take over the announcements and make them all about football? I've coached at 3 different schools now and we've been lucky if we even get a mention of the upcoming game at all 3. The one I'm at now has tons of tradition and support for football, too. I also don't see why you need to "crush all other sports" at the school to get kids out for your own. With all respect, I've dealt with 2 different basketball coaches who had that mentality and it didn't accomplish much besides alienating the other coaches and talking some kids out of playing sports they were good at. |
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filmjunkie
Sophomore Member
[F4:@AlexJKirby]
Posts: 160
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Post by filmjunkie on Oct 31, 2014 1:32:56 GMT -6
When I was a HS coach, one of the things I really thought was helpful was hold annual middle school skills camps in the spring that amounted to about a week of practices for those kids who would soon be 8th and 9th graders. In our township we had two middle schools, so we'd have 4 days, Monday-Thursday, and all the varsity assistants would split the kids up, take them through position-specific drills, teach them a few plays, and try to make it fun while actually teaching them a few things as well.
At the same time, we were actively looking for the kids who were future varsity players, and making sure that we knew their names and they knew ours. We had a huge school district, and there was always the issue of a few parents taking their kids out of our middle school and taking them to a private school feeder system instead, so establishing relationships early with the kids and parents helped with that I think.
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Post by spartan on Nov 1, 2014 21:24:27 GMT -6
One thing you must do is crush all other sports recruit every basket ball player, and ugh if you have volley ball recruit them too. Make your sport the cool sport. up the profile every day with announcements in the AM on the practice player of the day and of course a game recap and glimpse of the upcoming game and who will be having a great game. recruiting is simply building relationships and out working other coaches. Does your admin actually give you that much time to take over the announcements and make them all about football? I've coached at 3 different schools now and we've been lucky if we even get a mention of the upcoming game at all 3. The one I'm at now has tons of tradition and support for football, too. I also don't see why you need to "crush all other sports" at the school to get kids out for your own. With all respect, I've dealt with 2 different basketball coaches who had that mentality and it didn't accomplish much besides alienating the other coaches and talking some kids out of playing sports they were good at. Yes the admin did and I didn;t ask them. Keep the announcement under 2 mins and your fine. As for crushing all other sports we don't conflict with basket ball it starts after Football is over and they end before spring ball. We deal with ugh Volley ball, and we just target all the volley ball players. Make it a cool sport, every day we have an announcement whether its in season or out. Heck In the off season I announce who had a good day in agility ladder or weight room. End the announcement with your football theme. Get them use to this is how it is we are a football school. Make it known all the wonderful thngs your football kids are doing in the class room and out. |
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Post by rbcrusaders on Nov 2, 2014 0:58:31 GMT -6
their parents?! their parents are not afraid. THEY are afraid, because they are being raised in these school systems that stresses all the importance on how to be a girl. That is what I try to get across.
Raised by women, raised into women. Why are so many girls getting better grades? Its tailored for them! Be complacent, docile. Sit still, pay attention, regurgitate what I tell you. Don't be a leader, don't stand up for what you believe in. It is why all of you great men have such important jobs. We need as many men like you all that we can to teach these young kids how to become men! Take risks, speak the truth no matter who it may offend, lead, be active, hell even be controversial as long as you are speaking the truth and doing whats best for the corps.
And NO i don't mean I tell them "don't be such a girl"! but that rather I challenge them, let them know they can be great if someone were to push them.
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Post by gammelgaard on Nov 2, 2014 5:19:07 GMT -6
their parents?! their parents are not afraid. THEY are afraid, because they are being raised in these school systems that stresses all the importance on how to be a girl. That is what I try to get across.
Raised by women, raised into women. Why are so many girls getting better grades? Its tailored for them! Be complacent, docile. Sit still, pay attention, regurgitate what I tell you. Don't be a leader, don't stand up for what you believe in. It is why all of you great men have such important jobs. We need as many men like you all that we can to teach these young kids how to become men! Take risks, speak the truth no matter who it may offend, lead, be active, hell even be controversial as long as you are speaking the truth and doing whats best for the corps.
And NO i don't mean I tell them "don't be such a girl"! but that rather I challenge them, let them know they can be great if someone were to push them. Saw this video some time ago, found it again and thought it was relevant to what you're talking about. |
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Post by coachdawhip on Nov 2, 2014 8:53:18 GMT -6
if you play sports for scholarships then you are wasting your time. Football, basketball, or anything. So sick of hearing about scholarships. True coach. But I take pride in helping my players get a chance at the next level, only 6 schools in our state can win rings. My school sends at least 6 to college with some type of aid each year. |
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Post by coachdawhip on Nov 2, 2014 9:30:10 GMT -6
Just keep stoping them in the hallaway and asking them to try it.
We have spring ball so I ask them for Spring Ball to try it out, if they don't like it then it's an easy quit.
Got to work the younger kids and put a lot of emphasis on them 8th and 9th graders.
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