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.
Second, host a youth camp. This is a vital community tool that gives you an opportunity to meet kids and their parents. You have chance to make an impact on a large group of kids, and let them get to know who you are as a coach, and the vision of your program. We hosted two youth camps a year. We didn't charge much money, and some camps we offered were free. It was about being able to meet the kids and their parents more than it was to raise money for our program. When we were in the Bronx, we hosted camps for 3rd through 5th graders and camps for 6th through 8th graders. we wanted to have an opportunity to coach these kids up and start the relationship building process. We also were able to meet their parents, and let them see who we are and what we are about.
Third, create all-access passes. This was something that I loved to do. Young kids look up to the older guys. They see them as celebrities. We wanted to create an experience they wanted to be a part of. At our camps we always had a few prizes. One prize was what we called the All-Access Gameday Experience. We would select a winner for homecoming and have them come with their parents to our pregame meal. They got to tour the facilities, and spend time during pre-game on the sideline. Once we were ready for kickoff, they would go up into the stands. It was similar to a junior day for college prospects. We wanted to roll out the red carpet. Our players and coaches all made sure to say hello and talk with the kid who had the all-access pass.
Fourth, host a coaches clinic for the youth coaches. This was not only a great way to build relationships, but it was community service. There are some youth coaches who have extensive coaching experience, but there are many others that have limited experience. We wanted to help develop them as coaches. We would invite the youth coaches to come spend an evening or Saturday morning with us before the season, and we would clinic them on schemes and skills, with an emphasis on skills. We would show them how to run drills in a position group, and how to maximize the use of your individual team to improve skill. Our position coaches would take them on the field and actually coach them through drills, then have them coach us. We then would invite them to come to our practices and watch us coach drills.
If you have dedicated feeder programs, spend time developing your coaches. Invite them to your game planning sessions on the weekends. Have them at your games and give them responsibilities. Give them a chance to grow so when you have an opening, you can hire them.
Those four things can be done anywhere you coach. Regardless of the situation you have, you can find a way to do those three things. Now let's talk about some specifics.
When I was the OC at a 4A school in a town with one junior high and one high school, the middle school athletic periods were built into the OC and DC's teaching schedule. We had high school athletics in the middle of the day, and junior high athletics were at the beginning and end of the day. We were able to be there for their practices. The head coach didn't teach, so he was also able to be there. The junior high staff led practice, but we were able to be there to add extra hands for them. If you have ever been a 7th grade receiver coach, you know that you are going to have 25 kids with one coach. We were able to help them divide up drills and ensure kids got more quality reps. They were running our schemes, and we were there to support them with the successful implementation.
One thing that I observed was that our head coach never missed a junior high period during the season, except for our game days. In fact, he rarely missed a junior high athletic period during the off-season. He planned his schedule around our the junior high and high school athletic periods. It was very valuable for us to be able to be with those athletes year round. It also helped us to be able to develop our coaching staff. If a coach left for a new opportunity, we could promote a coach from our junior high. The head coach I worked for said the more time we spend with our middle schoolers, the better prepared they will be when they get to us. He said the less time we spend with them, the more we will have to fix when they get to us. It made perfect sense.
This is where I want to make an important point. If you are a head coach, and you have access to your middle school students during athletic periods, go to the middle school every day it is possible. Build your schedule around athletics. Don't sit in your office clicking around on the computer when you could be developing the future of your program. Do everything you can to maximize the time you have with your athletes so you can develop them to be the best they can be.
Not every situation is logistically easy to do. When I was at the 6A, we had three feeder middle schools. They had athletics the first period of the day and the last period of the day. We had varsity athletics first period and frosh athletics the last period. We had our freshman coaches go to the middle schools during the varsity period during the season. We had 4 freshmen coaches, so we would have 1 of them at each middle school, with 1 staying at the high school. They would rotate that duty.
During our freshmen athletic period, our varsity coaches would divide up and go to the middle schools. We had 2 varsity coaches stay with the freshmen, and the remaining varsity coaches would divide up the middle schools. This allowed us to have access to the middle schools every week and spend time with every kid who would come to our program.
If you are in a multi-school district, you may or may not be vertically aligned with dedicated feeders. Even if you have dedicated feeders, we all know that kids and parents find ways to attend the school they want to attend. You need to make sure you are giving kids and their parents as many reasons as possible to attend your school. The best way to do this is to build those relationships with kids and parents. Invite youth coaches into your program. Make every effort you can to invite young people and their parents to be a part of your program.
If you are vertically aligned, make the most of the time you have to develop your players and coaches. Make the most of every opportunity you have with them, and help to prepare them for your program. The more you prepare them before they get you high school, the less you will have to fix later.
A few years ago I was speaking at a clinic about our game planning and an FBS coordinator asked me after the talk to go through what we do. I shared with him our offensive game planning resource and he used it through the spring. He emailed me back that it was a game changer. It was an honor to have him use these documents. After speaking at clinics and hearing that more coaches didn't know where to start, I decided to make these available.
When I was a defensive coordinator we adapted this to our defensive preparation!
A while back I got hooked up with CoachTube and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points!
https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint
The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season.
My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts.
New Book
Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith
Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy.
I would invite you to read the book and discover the possibilities that God has planned for your life.
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