One of the most important aspects to building a program is developing your middle school athletes. Depending on where you coach, this is going to look very different. There are some places that have well-funded middle school programs that are aligned with the high school, and some places that do not fund middle school sports or have dedicated feeder schools. In my career I experienced both. I spent 8 years coaching in the Bronx, New York, where we did not have middle school athletics or dedicated feeder programs. I have been in Texas for 12 years, where middle school athletics tend to be very well-funded and in some places, are vertically aligned with dedicated feeder schools for the high schools. I am going to address both.
In the Bronx, there were no athletic programs in the middle schools. Most kids did not play organized football until high school. We invited Pop Warner teams of junior high age kids to use our facility, and to be a part of our program. This helped us to build relationships with the players and coaches. When I got to Texas, I was amazed at how well the middle school athletic programs were funded. I was at a 5A school (Now 6A) at the time, and we had 3 middle schools feeding our high school. Each program was aligned with our high school. We had 5 coaches at each middle school, and they had athletic periods just like the high school.
Regardless of whether you are in a situation with vertically aligned middle school programs, or you are in a place with no school sponsored junior high sports, there are four things you need to do.
First, you need to invite youth programs to be a part of your high school program. You want the kids at your games. You want their coaches to promote your program to kids and their parents. In many communities where kids can go to any high school they want, this is vital. You want kids to want to be a part of your program. You need to build relationships.
When I was in the Bronx, we had a Pop Warner program practice at our field. They practiced after our practice finished, so we had our players hang around for a few minutes before heading in to change. We spent time with their coaches and kids on the field. This built relationships that helped steer kids to our school. When I was in Texas, we had youth teams practicing at our facility. These were 4th, 5th, and 6th graders. I made it a point to spend time at their practices. If you are in a multi-school district, this is a vital part of your plan to get his into your field house.
