Season 15 Practice #1: 8/29/09
Great turnout at practice today: Cain, Nick, Leo, Jesse, Mark, Carlos, Ricky, Gary, Andre, Biscuits, Matta, Day, and Mark's brother-in-law. A word on this last attendee. He is not joining the game. He's a cyclist who just moved to town and hasn't found a riding group yet. So we are not opening the roster yet.
We also got some good stuff done. Simple 4 on 4 to start with followed by some 4 on 4 with minor line play. We also did a good receiver drill that Mark found but perhaps the most valuable parts were the route and line drills.
Nick pointed out that the 2 most basic cut routes we run are the slant and the out but there is little consistency in the way the routes are actually run. Some people may run one or the other pretty good but many people have never been shown the mechanics of how to plan your cut, explode out of the cut and snap your head around with hands up immediately. So we set up two sets of cones and had everyone run crisp 2 yard slants and 10 yard outs with Nick and Cain serving as coaches to critique routes - they did it really well. Then we had 2 QBs throwing to receivers running those same routes with a corner backpeddling and not knowing whether it was a slant or out so the receiver could run the corner back before making the cut. Great drills and I think lots of people got something out of it.
After this, we ran a good line drill with players taking turns one at a time rushing the QB and then defending the QB. We set up a box that was about 3 yards wide by 5 yards deep and put the QB at the back of the box. The rusher had to touch the QB within 3 seconds and the O-lineman had to keep the defender off for 3 seconds. This was probably the BEST drill we ran and the one with the most value. First, it gave us time to really coach players to play O-line where people could watch and critique. Second, it put more pressure on the lineman to perform. It was one-on-one and everyone was watching. I saw people working hard at it. The only suggestion I have for next time is that I think we should have people like Mark and Matta do most of the rushing because they are who people really need to defend against. I also think that after we do some one-on-one drills like this, we should change it to 3 on 3 drills becasue that is the most common line we have in our games. We should still the QB lined up but not running and counting 3 seconds to see if the line can protect. This will help line practice communicating and we can make suggestions on technique for protection vs. different types of rushes. The one-on-one rush was pretty much center vs defensive tackle. Obviously we need to work on offensive tackle vs defensive ends too and a 3 on 3 drill will do that.
I would also suggest that for the real season, instead of having people standing around before the game just throwing the ball around, we run at least the one-on-one drill some as a warmup and to help players continue to improve. When people can watch and coach the lineman has a better chance to improve. During the real game, the only person who can help the offensive lineman is the defensive lineman (because the other members of the offense are busy blocking their own guys or running routes/looking to throw) and it's not really fair to expect the defense to coach the offense during the game other than maybe a newbie at the beginning of the game or if the score is really lopsided (which we don't want to happen anyway).
Big thanks to Mark, Nick, and Cain for stepping up with some great ideas today and thanks to everyone else for their attendance and great participation and coaching. Everyone was trying to help others get better as well as themselves. And thanks to the weather gods for keeping the temperature so low all morning and providing a nice breeze.
See you next week.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Season 15
This is the start of the 15th full year of this flag football game. It is not the same game that it was when it was formed but that's a good thing. While it has always been a good game due to the attitudes of the players and the type of game we've tried to make, the actual quality of the game play has gone through the roof, particularly in the past 4-5 years. The larger games, the incorporation of meaningful line play, the addition new players who bring new experience, ideas, and skills to the game.
Here's what we're looking at for the new year. We will be running practices on the 29th and 5th at 8:30 in Paterson Park - (off Airport, just East of 35). For those of you who attended practice last year, you know that they can be fun. There are several goals for practices:
1) Get people used to running in cleats again - you know how sore your normally are when you first start playing? Well practicing for 90 minutes for a couple weeks will help reduce that initial soreness you'll feel after the first few games.
2) Get QBs used to hitting receivers running real routes. While some of the QBs may have thrown the ball around some this summer, I'm sure that they'll appreciate the chance to practice without the rush in their face for a couple weeks.
3) Let people knock some rust off. Even if many routes are on 3/4 speed, it's good to get some get used to cutting, covering, and catching again.
I would also really like to see some offensive line work for players who need it. Biscuits says he has some things he learned in HS football that could help people how to better play line and I think our games will be much more fun for everyone if we improve offensive line play - there have been lots of debates about whether the defensive line rules need to be modified this summer but for now, I want to focus on improving line play.
Most people may not enjoy offensive line but if you want the QB to have time to get you the ball when you're in a route, you're depending on the other guys to buy the QB that time and you should work hard to try to do the same when it's your turn on the line. It's part of the social contract of the game.
Obviously practices, like games, are not mandatory but they do help and they are fun, particularly when we do our version of the 7 on 7 passing drills (4 on 4). We rotate guys in and out of positions to keep them fresh and keep the tempo up. We want to squeeze in as much passing as we can in 60-90 minutes without killing ourselves so ideally we get 12 guys or so out there.
After our 2 practice weeks are out of the way, we start Season 15 games at 8:30 at McNeil. Our season starts with early games for several reasons:
1) It's hotter out so starting earlier helps
2) College football is on and there are often early games that people want to see so starting at 8:30 allows us to play until 11-11:30 and still people home early enough to jump in the game without missing anything if they were smart enough to DVR it and then skip commercials.
After temperatures start to get more, we'll move the game back to our normal 9:00.
In addition to looking for improved offensive line play this year, I'm hoping we see better participation. While last year was great in terms of game sizes (we only had two games with less than 12), we had to get a lot of new players who did not stick it out to keep our numbers up. We certainly found some great new players who should be regulars this fall (BB, Gary, Charles, and others) but I'm really hoping that this year we'll have less turnover. Bringing in new guys who are going to stick it out is great but it sucks to play with someone who seems like a good fit and blows us off for the most part after that.
By my count we have about 25 guys who are likely to attend at least half the games this year. We never seem to have trouble with attendance early in the year (other than sometimes having too many people show up) because people are really excited to be playing again and seeing it on TV helps inspire people to play as well. However, I'm sure we will be eventually looking for some more regulars this year. As we look for them, here are some things I'd suggest we consider:
1) Guys who, if they are still into hitting the town and the bars, will still get up to the field on time the next morning;
2) Guys who are should be able to play offensive line (don't mean huge, just means of average size and willing to do it); and
3) Friends of people in the game. While I found a couple great new players last year via Craigslist, bringing in friends helps new guys fit in faster and extends their connection to the game.
Of course, I'm sure that we won't have problems to start the season and it will be some weeks before we're looking to add players (once we see who moved away or had other conflicts arise) but keep people in mind.
Look forward to seeing you at practice or games this fall.
This is the start of the 15th full year of this flag football game. It is not the same game that it was when it was formed but that's a good thing. While it has always been a good game due to the attitudes of the players and the type of game we've tried to make, the actual quality of the game play has gone through the roof, particularly in the past 4-5 years. The larger games, the incorporation of meaningful line play, the addition new players who bring new experience, ideas, and skills to the game.
Here's what we're looking at for the new year. We will be running practices on the 29th and 5th at 8:30 in Paterson Park - (off Airport, just East of 35). For those of you who attended practice last year, you know that they can be fun. There are several goals for practices:
1) Get people used to running in cleats again - you know how sore your normally are when you first start playing? Well practicing for 90 minutes for a couple weeks will help reduce that initial soreness you'll feel after the first few games.
2) Get QBs used to hitting receivers running real routes. While some of the QBs may have thrown the ball around some this summer, I'm sure that they'll appreciate the chance to practice without the rush in their face for a couple weeks.
3) Let people knock some rust off. Even if many routes are on 3/4 speed, it's good to get some get used to cutting, covering, and catching again.
I would also really like to see some offensive line work for players who need it. Biscuits says he has some things he learned in HS football that could help people how to better play line and I think our games will be much more fun for everyone if we improve offensive line play - there have been lots of debates about whether the defensive line rules need to be modified this summer but for now, I want to focus on improving line play.
Most people may not enjoy offensive line but if you want the QB to have time to get you the ball when you're in a route, you're depending on the other guys to buy the QB that time and you should work hard to try to do the same when it's your turn on the line. It's part of the social contract of the game.
Obviously practices, like games, are not mandatory but they do help and they are fun, particularly when we do our version of the 7 on 7 passing drills (4 on 4). We rotate guys in and out of positions to keep them fresh and keep the tempo up. We want to squeeze in as much passing as we can in 60-90 minutes without killing ourselves so ideally we get 12 guys or so out there.
After our 2 practice weeks are out of the way, we start Season 15 games at 8:30 at McNeil. Our season starts with early games for several reasons:
1) It's hotter out so starting earlier helps
2) College football is on and there are often early games that people want to see so starting at 8:30 allows us to play until 11-11:30 and still people home early enough to jump in the game without missing anything if they were smart enough to DVR it and then skip commercials.
After temperatures start to get more, we'll move the game back to our normal 9:00.
In addition to looking for improved offensive line play this year, I'm hoping we see better participation. While last year was great in terms of game sizes (we only had two games with less than 12), we had to get a lot of new players who did not stick it out to keep our numbers up. We certainly found some great new players who should be regulars this fall (BB, Gary, Charles, and others) but I'm really hoping that this year we'll have less turnover. Bringing in new guys who are going to stick it out is great but it sucks to play with someone who seems like a good fit and blows us off for the most part after that.
By my count we have about 25 guys who are likely to attend at least half the games this year. We never seem to have trouble with attendance early in the year (other than sometimes having too many people show up) because people are really excited to be playing again and seeing it on TV helps inspire people to play as well. However, I'm sure we will be eventually looking for some more regulars this year. As we look for them, here are some things I'd suggest we consider:
1) Guys who, if they are still into hitting the town and the bars, will still get up to the field on time the next morning;
2) Guys who are should be able to play offensive line (don't mean huge, just means of average size and willing to do it); and
3) Friends of people in the game. While I found a couple great new players last year via Craigslist, bringing in friends helps new guys fit in faster and extends their connection to the game.
Of course, I'm sure that we won't have problems to start the season and it will be some weeks before we're looking to add players (once we see who moved away or had other conflicts arise) but keep people in mind.
Look forward to seeing you at practice or games this fall.
What I did on my Summer Vacation
Big changes this year. Normally, my off-season has consisted primarily of riding my bike once or twice a weekend. This year, I had planned on doing just that and had even picked up a new carbon fiber bike to enjoy but things didn't quite work out.
Chris and Chenault had been talking to be about trying basketball all spring and I had considered it but had never really gotten around to it. Saturday football usually wiped me out pretty good and I work out on Sunday mornings during football season so by the time that was all done, the last thing I had was motivation to go out on Sunday afternoon to play basketball, particularly when playing in the afternoons in late April or May meant playing in much hotter temperatures than is my preference.
I'm really glad that I didn't go out and play with them this spring but I'm even more glad that I did go out to play this summer. I was horrible at basketball for my first several weeks and had I tried playing in the spring, I would have never stuck with it. But without football to focus on as my primary activity, when I started playing in June, I was able to keep playing and get passable. I say passable because even though I am still only good for 4 points per day (as in, over the course of 5-6 games), my defense got good enough that I felt I was able to contribute (thought probably not enough to make up for my poor offense as of yet). During my last games yesterday, I found myself getting much more comfortable with the whole court while on defense - able to slide over and stick a hand in on a drive by another man's player - little things to try to do more than just mindlessly follow my man around the court.
In any case, I'm thrilled to have found another sport so that when that day finally arrives that I can't play football anymore, I'll still have a competitive sport that is a hell of a lot of fun and that I can continue to learn and hopefully get better at.
And then I'm hoping that there are some benefits to playing basketball during the summer. I am famously heat intolerant - in fact, my football season pretty much normally doesn't begin until week 6 or so when it starts to cool down a bit. I'm hoping that playing basketball in 90+ degree heat for 3+ hours on Saturdays and cycling on Sundays will give me a better heat acclimation than just cycling has in the past.
I'll find out soon because football season is upon us.
Big changes this year. Normally, my off-season has consisted primarily of riding my bike once or twice a weekend. This year, I had planned on doing just that and had even picked up a new carbon fiber bike to enjoy but things didn't quite work out.
Chris and Chenault had been talking to be about trying basketball all spring and I had considered it but had never really gotten around to it. Saturday football usually wiped me out pretty good and I work out on Sunday mornings during football season so by the time that was all done, the last thing I had was motivation to go out on Sunday afternoon to play basketball, particularly when playing in the afternoons in late April or May meant playing in much hotter temperatures than is my preference.
I'm really glad that I didn't go out and play with them this spring but I'm even more glad that I did go out to play this summer. I was horrible at basketball for my first several weeks and had I tried playing in the spring, I would have never stuck with it. But without football to focus on as my primary activity, when I started playing in June, I was able to keep playing and get passable. I say passable because even though I am still only good for 4 points per day (as in, over the course of 5-6 games), my defense got good enough that I felt I was able to contribute (thought probably not enough to make up for my poor offense as of yet). During my last games yesterday, I found myself getting much more comfortable with the whole court while on defense - able to slide over and stick a hand in on a drive by another man's player - little things to try to do more than just mindlessly follow my man around the court.
In any case, I'm thrilled to have found another sport so that when that day finally arrives that I can't play football anymore, I'll still have a competitive sport that is a hell of a lot of fun and that I can continue to learn and hopefully get better at.
And then I'm hoping that there are some benefits to playing basketball during the summer. I am famously heat intolerant - in fact, my football season pretty much normally doesn't begin until week 6 or so when it starts to cool down a bit. I'm hoping that playing basketball in 90+ degree heat for 3+ hours on Saturdays and cycling on Sundays will give me a better heat acclimation than just cycling has in the past.
I'll find out soon because football season is upon us.
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