POLL: High School Preparation

[CraigsNews]

Looking forward to these results.

This post was edited on 10/7 11:21 AM by CraigsNews

 

[CraigsNews]

The poll results are exactly what I anticipated. The team I choose to follow, unfortunately is the one that does "none of the above". It's not the only reason they have fallen on hard times, but it sure is a big one

 

[DarkThunder#61]

How does a team not go full pads in practice? Are their numbers that down that they're afraid of kids getting hurt?

 

[Cardinal2012]

Originally posted by DarkThunder#61:
How does a team not go full pads in practice? Are their numbers that down that they're afraid of kids getting hurt?

Go just shells (shoulder pads only). It's actually not bad at all. IMO the lighter weight makes it easier to simulate game speed, and if your team cuts a lot it's friendlier on the lineman to just say cut instead of banging your own guys up. You can still do that if you want for technique, but by not doing it everyday it keeps guys fresh. AND the final psychological aspect where you feel like you can run through anything on Friday.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

Alright. So how well does that translate to Fridays then, for fact-finding purposes?

 

[CraigsNews]

I'm with you DarkThunder, and to answer your question, the numbers are just fine. As a matter of fact, there are about 15 more kids this year than last, when going full pads and incredible intensity were the norm. The new staff makes little to no sense from my perspective.

This post was edited on 10/8 7:35 AM by CraigsNews

 

[setts1984]

Originally posted by Cardinal2012:

Originally posted by DarkThunder#61:
How does a team not go full pads in practice? Are their numbers that down that they're afraid of kids getting hurt?

Go just shells (shoulder pads only). It's actually not bad at all. IMO the lighter weight makes it easier to simulate game speed, and if your team cuts a lot it's friendlier on the lineman to just say cut instead of banging your own guys up. You can still do that if you want for technique, but by not doing it everyday it keeps guys fresh. AND the final psychological aspect where you feel like you can run through anything on Friday.

That sounds great.... and I'm not certainly advocating going full pads M-T-W entirely.... but IMO, you have to be full pads some time. It gets guys used to carry around the pads / wearing them. I also am unsure how it simulates game speed accurately not being in pads...

since during the game people are going to be in pads? So how does that work? Sure, you might be quicker out of pads but that really isn't a game environment since in the game you are in pads. It might increase the tempo but if your slower with pads than practicing without pads isn't really "game speed" in a sense.

You can also just say "cut" in full pads and have a guy drop to a knee if you wanted to do that. Being in full pads does not prohibit you from doing that.

Again, I think going shells is something to be done during the week but I think you need to balance it out. IMO, at least one day you need to be full pads. I'd probably pick Tuesdays... since A) I believe most JV contests are on Mondays with some maybe on Thursday and B) it gives you Sat, Sun, Mon from the past game and Wed, Thurs before the next game.

Depending on the team I might have full pads on Monday as well. But if I were only going to do it the one day it would likely be Tuesday for me.

 

[Cardinal2012]

The intensity on Fridays causes people to rise to an elevated level of play. That's why I think it anticipates game speed better, in that you probably don't have the same adrenaline rush in practice. We'd still go full pads during the week as well and you always had the option to wear full pads on shell days if you felt safer or just wanted to. You could also make the case it keeps people tackling chest to chest and avoiding knee tackles that can cause horrible injuries during the week. Also since you didn't want to trip them up by the legs you developed the tendency to get in front of people and not rely on diving tackles. Sometimes kids forget it's a game and not work and by throwing a twist in, it keeps kids excited. I could be completely off in my viewpoint, just providing my opinion.

 

[ballboy21]

To be doing "none of the above" you are absolutely setting yourself up for failure.

 

[cidhawkeye]

The team I follow doesn't go full pads very often during game weeks and they have done okay so far.

 

[DarkThunder#61]

Originally posted by cidhawkeye:
The team I follow doesn't go full pads very often during game weeks and they have done okay so far.

Okay great. Now we have some semblance of a bar being set. Regina doesn't go full pads "very often" and they've won 4 straight state titles.

So now the next step is finding out how often, or little, they go full pads during the week. Data, people. We cannot make bricks without clay.

 

[cidhawkeye]

I don't know how they do it all the time but it was once a week through week 3 or 4 and then not after that. I know in college my son doesn't do full pads at all after game weeks start.