Bill Parcells: My wife said to me once, “Explain to me why you continue to do this? The times that you enjoy it are so much fewer than the rest of the other stuff. What kind of ego do you have that you have to keep proving things to yourself? Why do you do it? You’re not happy, so why do you keep doing it? I told her she didn’t understand. I told her it’s just about competition because my whole life, since I was seven years old, you went to the gym or you went to the playground. It was always ‘who are we playing and where?’ I’m still doing it. Nothing has changed. It’s still, Who are we playing today?
A few short hours ago I sat down and looked at the clock: it read 4:02 pm. I shook my head and then wondered where the heck the day went. This was supposed to be a day "off". Well, as it turns out, there is no off day when the football season is in full swing. It is a never ending cycle of planning, preparation and competition. For those that may not know what coaching high school sports entails, this blog is for you!
Sunday (9/8): After teaching a fitness class I drove down to the school for a meeting with the football coaches. The meeting touches on the previous game, where we need to make improvements, and how we will go about approaching the upcoming week/game. After a few hours of discussion, the meeting ends and we all go home feeling good about the upcoming week.
I coach at a small school where the coaches have multiple roles. I act as an assistant Varsity coach (I coach the quarterbacks and cornerbacks), Junior Varsity head coach/offensive coordinator, and serve as the strength and conditioning coach. With that being said, our first JV game is the following day and I need to get a game plan together for it. 90 minutes later the game plan is set and I am ready to go!
Day Total: 3 hours
Monday (9/9): Game 1 for Junior Varsity. This is one of my favorite days during the season. The young kids get their butts whooped all week at practice and this is their day to shine. I leave for the school at 2:00 pm. From 2:30-3:00 the varsity kids watch film, then it is time to get everything together for the junior varsity game. We depart for Bangor with high hopes for the upcoming season. At half time we have a 26-0 lead and go on to win 40-0. This is the first time in awhile that we not only got a shutout but also hung 40 points on the opponent. I arrive home at 9:30 exhausted and pleased with how well the kids played.
And I will share one thing with you, calling plays on the sideline has to be the toughest thing to do in football. Stress levels are jacked up and you get 100% locked into each and every call. There are so many variables that you have to take in and the 20+ seconds you have to make a decision feels like 5 seconds. You can't even watch the play you called because you are busy getting your next call ready. This is why preparation is key and why you see all these coaches with huge play call sheets on game day. It is much easier planning what you will do on 3rd and 13 in your office than it is on the sideline. And to those "expert play callers" who criticize play calls from the stands or their couch, just remember the coach knows his team a hell of a lot better than you do. Give him a break!
Day Total 7.5 hours
Weekly Total: 10.5 hours
Tuesday (9/10), Wednesday (9/11), Thursday (9/12): Tuesday and Wednesday are our big practice days. Thursday is used as a "walk-through" to go over situations that may arise in the upcoming game. So one day after the JV kids are the stars of the show, they come back to practice with the Varsity and accept their role as getting the older kids ready for the upcoming game. I get to the school around 2:30 for lifting. The JV lifts on Tuesday and Thursday, Varsity lifts on Monday and Wednesday. We then hold practice and leave the school around 6:00 pm. These days fly by and it never seems that we have enough time to get in everything we need to. Our work is done for the week, the following day is game day.
Day(s) Total: 10.5 hours total
Weekly Total: 21 hours
Friday (9/13): So it is Friday the 13th and we are hosting our third game of the season. I get to the school around 4 pm to workout before the game. Around 5:20 our warm-up begins. We run through a variety of things during pregame and before you know it, it is time to play. After a game that felt like a roller coaster ride, we get our second straight win and feel fortunate to leave the field victors. We haven't played our best football yet and I look forward to the day when we put it all together. After the game the coaches go out for a bite to eat, check the scores of the other games in the league and talk about the good and the bad that just happened during the game.
For example, with a little over three minutes to go we are on defense and our opponent is putting themselves in a position to score. A timeout was called and some of the coaches are out there talking things over with the kids. Our head coach is telling them how we are going to defend the next couple plays and one of the kids taps me on the shoulder and says "hey coach, check it out" while pointing at the ground. I look down and see an enormous butterfly lying on the field. I couldn't help but laugh. Instead of listening to how we plan on defending, he finds a butterfly on the ground and makes sure no one steps on it as we break the huddle. Needless to say a few plays later they score and our lead shrinks to 5 points.
I got home around 11:30 and went straight to bed.
Day Total: 7.5 hours
Weekly Total 28.5 hours
Saturday (9/14): Today is used as a day to watch our film from the previous night and also watch film of our opponent. After viewing our game and three of our opponents games I am finally ready to relax. Before you know it, it will be time for bed and the process begins all over again!
Day Total: 4.5 hours
Weekly Total: 33 hours
As you can see, coaching football is a job in itself (albeit a fun one). I am fortunate to have the flexibility in my schedule to do something that I enjoy. It is a job that you can never take for granted and important to enjoy the process as you prepare for the upcoming challenges (injuries, illnesses, academics, discipline, and any other things that high school kids get themselves into). As Bill Parcells said, competition has defined my life since I was 5 or 6. It is still, "who are we playing and where?".
Chris Fluck
No comments:
Post a Comment