Tag Archives: american football

What Motivates Your Athletes?

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What motivates… inspires… drives your athletes ?

Of course, I cannot answer that question for you…. but I can share a few things that I have learned about motivation.

  • There is no “cookie cutter” approach… every athlete is different.
  • There is no “magic bullet”… it often is a variety and an accumulation of things.
  • What works one year, may not the next… every team is different.
  • You have to develop a relationship with your athletes and team to find out what their “hot button” is.
  • Every athlete has a story… a set of circumstances that make them unique.

And I was made keenly aware of one more things this past week…

Sometimes the best motivation happens daily… it is often tied to the mundane and is in the minutia.

A discussion broke out on Facebook the last couple of weeks among a group of former student-athletes that I had the honor of teaching and coaching 30 years ago in Osceola, Missouri.

It started with a Throwback Thursday photo (thanks Brandon Shelby) showing the cover of our playbook from 1986.

86-playbook

A rapid exchange of posts followed…

More pictures of old playbooks

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Men recalling names of plays in the playbook (Gambler, Kelly)

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A picture of the football we used (USFL ball) that our QB (Paul Carney) had saved.

usfl-ball

And an email to me that included a digital copy of the entire playbook! (Thank you Ryan Self)

I have written about the value of a playbook as a teaching tool MANY times (The Value of a Playbook, The Playbook is dead… Long Live the Playbook, Flipping the Practice Field) but the playbook as motivation?

YES… it is clear to me that it was important to this group.

We were the “Osceola Air Force”… it was our identity.

We were a 1A school… but I wanted our student-athletes to think bigger… I wanted them to have pride in everything we said and did.

It was at the height of the USFL… the Houston Gamblers and Jim Kelly… we were running a “spread offense” in 1986 using “run and shoot” concepts.

  • The mundane… a playbook.
  • The minutia… the name of a play.
  • The daily… the type of football we used in practice and games.

And 30 years later these men (and their sons and daughters) still talk about it… they have saved their playbooks, and their old beat up football.

It is clear that this stuff was important to them… it helped motivate them.

It all matters… It has a cumulative effect.

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Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Drill, Drill, Drill

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The Internet…

You can have your own personal clinic every day.

Earlier this week an online call came from Lee Weber (CSIC and head football coach at Wamego High School, KS) asking coaches to send in their favorite drills so he can compile a “best of” Twitter #fbchat drill guide.

I have become a virtual colleague of coach Weber via Twitter and the various football coaching chats (see post #TXHSFBCHAT… the Fastest 60 Minutes on the Internet) that take place weekly online.

I immediately responded to his collaboration call, and in the process realized that, although I have written many posts regarding football drills, and detailed many of my favorites, they were spread over a time period of three years and nearly 400 posts… not the easiest navigation to find some good ball drills.

Here is a compilation of articles I have written about drills including philosophy, terminology and diagrams… hopefully a little easier for you to navigate.

step-over-dummy-0811Please consider sending one of your favorite drills to Coach Weber (gcwarrior@gmail.com) for inclusion in his drill guide. As you can see from my drills, they were all learned from colleagues in our profession that were willing to share.

The coaching profession benefits when we collaborate.

Remember – You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

Superfans?

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This time of year I get to watch a lot of football games. I am about to go into a rant here, and it may offend some people, but hey, as they say, “I have the chalk.”

Something struck me recently after observing the fans in action live, during a college game, and then watching the TV coverage during a professional game.   When did the concept of being a “good” fan or a “super” fan change? When did the definition of a fan change from “one who goes to the game, cheers for their team, and focuses their attention on the athletes competing”, to “one who goes to the game and tries to draw attention to themselves”?

raiders costumeThe amount of inane antics and silly costumes worn by “superfans” is ridiculous. It really has become all about “hey, look at me” and very little about the competition or the competitors.   Just Google the term “superfan” and see what you get.

Give me the loyal fans who know the athletes names and positions, are intent on being entertained by the action on the field, know when to cheer (or boo) and are doing so to help further the cause of the competitors doing battle… for their team… for their city… or school.

I don’t need or want to be entertained by someone dressed up in a Darth Vader costume with their team’s logo on it…. and I don’t buy the concept that by doing so, they somehow “care” more.

I really don’t want to be distracted from the game that I love.

truman tossI love watching the athletes compete. I love watching the strategy of the coaches unfold. I love the great plays… the great hits… the great catches… the great runs.

For me, that is entertainment enough.

I guess that I am just not a “superfan”

You Can Do More… your brain is lying to you…. Don’t Believe It!

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com