Summer is over and done with. Not to throw an ice bucket on your mood, but it’s true. As I write this, the clock turns to Autumn.
Personally I couldn’t be happier. Fall is my favourite time of the year. You don’t need three guesses as to why. But here’s three answers:
Football. Football. Football.
I just walked off the field from coaching my son’s Pee-Wee team. Week I of the Fall season and the Hamilton Jr. Tiger-Cats squashed us 26-0. But my kids played great.
We dressed 19 players, to our opponents 36, and five of ours had never played before. So more accurately it was fourteen against the world. That’s how they played. Like a spirited band of soldiers, outnumbered on all sides, endangered but unwillingly to wave the white flag.
Exhausted as my charges were their tackling was surprisingly good. Even to the end. Not surprisingly their blocking was quite poor. I find blocking is the hardest thing to coach. It requires selflessness, commitment, and determination. Yet for young players they don’t see the reward. It’s a rare day when you hear kids chirping about a great block they made. You always hear about the runs, catches, kicks, passes, and most definitely the bone crunching tackles. But unless a block went Aunt Jemima for a massive pancake, they go truly unsung.
I’ve got to find a way to make blocking a priority. I need a method to convince my players of its value. It’s the most fundamental key to any offence. No system in the world works if players don’t block. Even the referees from today’s game commented that if we threw a couple of blocks we would have scored a couple of times. It’s that obvious to all at field level, except my would be path clearers.
The unsung, the behind the scenes, the backbone are the key to any team, business, army, government, or community group. Motivating 11 year olds that these roles matter is no easy task. Share with me your thoughts. Your ideas. Your techniques.
Fall Ball is erupting across North America this week. Labour Day classics. NFL, CIS, NCAA kickoffs. First week of practice for my high school team. One thing the winners will have in common. They block, block, block, block.
Fundamentals are never over-rated.