4 Popular Reasons to Have Spring Football Practice

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High School Football Teams across America have some sort of practice during the Spring. Spring Football has two main purposes: (1) prepare the players physically and mentally and (2) gives the coaches an opportunity to see every player for an extended period of time and evaluate how each player can be used to help the team win in the Fall.

As a retired head football coach in Texas, I want to share the 4 popular reasons to have spring football practice, plus I want to share one idea your community will love.

There are many ways to get things done and you need to do what is best for you and your team. But, deep down, it all boils down to these four main objectives:

1. Communicate with Parents

2. Reasons to Practice

3. Purposes of each Practice

4. Evaluation of Players

PLUS 1 idea you can use to ignite community spirit.

Communicate with Parents

After 30 years of coaching there are two things I know for sure:

1. The number one way to get a parent on your side is to keep them informed

2. The number one way to get a parent pissed off is to ignore them

Most of us will talk to a parent but we prefer not to when the parent is not happy. Why is a parent not happy? They do not understand, misinterpret, or have not been told how or why their child is not playing or why their child is playing on the JV.

How can you as a coach avoid these uncomfortable situations?

Communicate with the parents.

Keep the parent informed by organizing meetings before Spring Football, before the Fall Season, and one more before the Summer. Some of the recommended topics to discuss are

• Program Goals

• Player Expectations

• Team Selection Process

• Communication Process

• Team Rules and Policies

You can more ideas what to discuss from my post Exclusive Access To a Team Handbook

Reasons to Practice

This is the main statement coaches say during Spring Ball. The reason the team can get better at what they do is because there is no opponent to prepare for, there is no stress of implementing a game plan, and there are no game week distractions. Spring football practices are so the players can improve technically and fundamentally.

Spring ball is all about individual improvement.

Purposes to Practice

Every practice has a purpose. Each purpose is broken down into practice segments with specific drills to help teach the players how to perform and execute a scheme.

When deciding what to practice, the head coach or coordinators must decide if they want to work on offense, defense, or special teams. With limited time in high school, it is best to have a purpose for each practice.

Examples of practice purposes are:

• Improve on zone blocking vs multiple fronts

• Improve defense gap control vs multiple formations

• Improve quick kicking and no timeout field goals for special teams

Evaluation of Players

There are no depth charts during spring ball because everyone has an opportunity to compete and showcase their talents. But deep down, all coaches are mentally writing their depth chart.

The best thing to do is make sure the players and parents understand how the players are evaluated and what skills they must possess to make a particular team.

Make sure to spend some time on this at the parent meeting before spring ball.

Plus 1

Here is one idea not many teams do. The main reason is the head coach is not confident enough in his ability to communicate with community members on the spot.

This Plus 1 idea will help with

• Community out-reach

• Help create valuable relationships between coaches and community

• The most important item is that the players and family create memories.

Here is PLUS 1!

Have an Open Practice. . . yup, you read that right!

Have a normal football practice on the field and invite all community and family members to attend. Not only do we want people to attend and sit in the stands, we want them on the field with the team.

At the Open Practice, have anyone and everyone on the practice field.

Slow down practice and allow the dads to get next to the huddle, allow the younger children run the chutes and tackle a dummy, and allow pictures and video to be taken.

I’ve done this and it was a great time. Yes, even the coaches had a good time.

With a supportive booster club, maybe everyone can get a slice of watermelon or a popsicle and socialize before heading home for the day.

Summary

The 4 Popular Reasons for Spring Football Practice are:

1. Communicate with parents

2. Reasons to practice

3. Purposes for each practice

4. Player Evaluations

PLUS 1 - Open Practice!

I hope you got confirmation on why you need to have spring ball and got a new idea you can use immediately.

I would like to hear your thoughts or ideas on what you do during spring football. Send me an email with your name, school, and idea so I can add it in next week’s newsletter.