Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #17

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It’s been a fantastic football season, and I can’t believe Super Bowl week is upon us. While I will be sad to say goodbye to the 2016 / 2017 football season, I am looking forward to a break from these weekly posts and I am sure you are too!

So for the 17th and Final Tip of the week I will keep it short and simply offer a quote from the late, great Muhammed Ali…

“There’s only one way to cultivate the heart quality, and that is to become more and more selfless, not selfish, but selfless!”

See you next season!

As a quick reminder, the book Tackling Dummies is now available at Books and Books in Coral Gables, FL and other S. Florida locations. The book signing event on February 2, 2017 was a huge success and we raised over $1,000 to help Miami Palmetto Football provide more financial assistance to football players looking for more exposure to colleges and universities.

To learn more about how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #16

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Tip #16 – A small college football program may in fact be better for you.

There are currently 128 Division 1 football programs in the U.S. These are the teams seen on television each week, playing in games that often draw more than 100,000 fans to their stadiums. These programs are worth millions to their universities in revenue and marketing. If you are one of the top 2,500 or so high school prospects in the country and have maintained a minimum grade point average of 2.3 (a C+), you will more than likely be offered several football scholarships to attend one of these schools.

Becoming one of these top high school prospects is extremely difficult, though, and as discussed, once you get to the university, football becomes a full-time job requiring more than forty hours per week and leaving very little time for education or anything else. Yet, even in the face of these facts—that football becomes a full-time job, and there’s a good chance you’ll never actually receive a useful college education or degree—players, parents, and their coaches look upon the Division 1 college football experience as the gold standard.

For most players, there is a better way, a way to continue to play football and achieve a meaningful college education—not to mention a rewarding college experience that includes friends, clubs, and activities outside of football. Many people don’t know this, but there are lots of smaller college football programs at the Division 1AA, Division 2, and Division 3 levels.

How many? More than 500!

To learn more about college football programs and how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #15

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Tip #15 – Big Time college football programs need to give their players more time to get a proper education.

The real reason that big time college football players are not receiving the education they are promised is a very simple one: time. There isn’t enough of it.

Many college football players have less college preparation than average students. They are operating at a deficit from the start. Then, these players are expected to spend the majority of their working hours practicing or studying football. According to Brad Wolverton’s 2008 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, an NCAA study found that college football players spend on average 44.8 hours per week on their sport. This includes film study, training-room time, and “voluntary” workouts. How is a student athlete playing football supposed to pursue a meaningful education when he already spends more time on football than most people do on their full-time jobs?

So, what needs to be done? Understanding the tremendous time demands on football players, the NCAA should allow universities to offer its football players an additional two years of full scholarship (tuition, room, board, fees, healthcare, tutoring, etc.) to be used exclusively for academic study. By doing this, the NCAA and its member universities would accomplish several things.

First, the argument that players are exploited would be diminished greatly as the athletes would now have every opportunity to secure meaningful college degrees that would serve them for their entire lives.

Second, this would go a long way toward silencing those who propose paying players, a solution that provides only a limited, short-term financial benefit and threatens the amateur status of the sport, a trait central to its popularity.

Third, it would provide an answer to critics who point to low academic achievement among college football players as a way of questioning football’s place in institutions of higher learning.

To learn more about how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #14

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Tip #14 – Parents and players at the youth and high school levels must understand that playing football in the NFL is not a very good job for most.

You may ask why?

Most of us know the NFL stands for the National Football League, however a common joke among players is that it really stands for ‘Not for Long’, meaning ‘careers’ playing football do not last for very long.  For all but a very small handful of players, their careers will end before they want them to and the professional football experience will NOT provide lasting financial security.

A 2009 Sports Illustrated article reported that nearly 4 out of every 5 “retired” NFL players goes broke or is under financial distress within 2 years of retiring.  That’s nearly 80%!  When you consider the long odds of simply making it to the NFL, it is just not a dream worth sacrificing much for.

Just to be clear, I’m not discouraging players from dreaming of playing in the NFL or having a professional football experience. I am saying that kids should understand that it is highly UNLIKELY that playing football as a career will provide long-term financial stability or security.

Football is the ultimate team sport and there are many benefits to playing.  So play for fun.  Play for your teammates.  And enjoy the game.  But remember football is best played for fun, not money!.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #13

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Tip #13 – Winning is just an outcome so focus on the Process instead! 
A million factors beyond the control of the players or the coach can affect whether a team has more or fewer points at the end of the game. How the ball bounces, the officiating, the weather—these are all factors that no coach or player can control. Size, strength, and speed of the players also impact a team’s win-loss record. Take any of the greatest coaches in football and give them the smallest and slowest team in America and match them up against the biggest and fastest team and the talent gap will be too great to overcome. No amount of preaching about the importance of winning or time spent in preparation will change that. Therefore goals should be made around things coaches and players can better control.  For example developing a sounds game plan, reducing mental mistakes, and precise play execution,

An example of how setting an outcome based goal can be counter-productive is when a kicker dreams of watching his ball sail through the uprights at the last second, securing the win for the team. In this fantasy, his teammates and the hometown fans rush the field and hoist him up on their shoulders as he is ushered into the locker room and presented with the game ball. So what’s wrong with this goal or dream?

The problem is, by focusing on the outcome—the ball sailing through the uprights and everything that happens after—the player is ignoring the most critical component of making it all happen: the kick! If a kicker is focusing all of his attention on making the ball go through the uprights, he will very often fail in the execution of the kick itself. Focusing entirely on the result overlooks the most critical part: actually playing well enough to win.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #12

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Tip #12 – Parents and coaches should encourage players to play multiple sports.

Many parents and coaches today are encouraging kids to forgo other sports and focus on football year round, out of the same outdated belief that more time equals better results. . The truth is, most athletes would be much better off playing a variety of sports in order to develop additional athletic skills, instincts, and muscles. Not only will this help them play better football, but they’ll have more fun. Remember that idea?

Gaining experience as a multiple-sport athlete will also help prevent burnout and the repetitive injuries caused by doing the same thing all year. On top of that, a player never really knows what his athletic future may be, and playing multiple sports provides him more exposure and opportunity.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #11

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Tip #11 – Football coaches should apply the 80/20 principal to their practice schedules and off season conditioning programs. 

Football coaches would benefit from thinking about how often this principal can be seen in football..

  • 20 percent of the offensive plays account for 80 percent of the points
  • 20 percent of the players make 80 percent of the plays
  • 80 percent of the game is played from the hash marks
  • 20 percent of the defensive calls account for 80 percent of the team’s success
  • 80 percent of the penalties are caused by 20 percent of the players

Sound about right? How about one more? 20 percent of time spent produces 80 percent of the results.  If this is true in business and economics. It certainly holds true in football.

Now, I’m not suggesting that players and coaches should simply spend 20 percent of the time they currently spend practicing and training for football in season. However, if 20 percent of the time spent is responsible for 80 percent of the results, think about how little might actually be sacrificed if we were to reduce our time spent in season by just 20 percent. We would be providing our players more time to rest, study, and spend time with their families. What would we lose?

I believe the answer is nothing. In fact, I believe the results would actually improve if most coaches and players spent 20 percent less time training and practicing, as long as the remaining time was optimally spent. I believe that at least 20 percent of the typical time spent by coaches and players is responsible for 80 percent of the injuries, fatigue, and burnout experienced by so many in amateur football today, particularly at the high school and college levels. And the only reason so much time is spent on the game is the ridiculous but deeply rooted belief that time spent equals work and effort, and is directly proportionate to results. In other words, whoever spends the most time achieves the best results.

This just isn’t true—not in business, not in exercise, not in relationships, and certainly not in football. When it comes to time, quality is much more important than quantity.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #10

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Tip #10 – Eliminate Deep Kickoffs at the Youth and lower levels of High School Football.

This single play requires twenty-one players (only one player receives the ball) to sprint for more than 20 yards, building speed and running as hard as they can into the opposing player to block him, run through the block, or crush the man with the ball. The risk of serious injury—and specifically head injury—on this single play is just not worth it.

Most deep kickoffs at the youth and lower levels of high school are sloppy plays in any case, either because the kicker can’t kick the ball far enough or the player receiving the ball (usually the fastest and best athlete on the team) has so much room that he runs it back for a large gain or touchdown as the other players pointlessly slam into one another. By simply placing the ball on the 30-yard line at the beginning of each half and after scores, we can prevent a number of serious and pointless injuries without any impact on the quality of the game.    

In fact, I believe that the quality of the game would improve in the absence of this play. It would force offenses to be more disciplined and patient as they would need to drive 70 yards for a score more frequently. And, since the coaches wouldn’t have to spend time preparing for this play, they could use that time on better offensive or defensive execution, skill development, safer tackling, and game planning. Many high school teams have already recognized that kicking a deep, floating ball to the other team’s best athlete in the middle of the field isn’t a very good idea, and have resorted to squib kicking it or simply kicking it out of bounds. The next step is fully eliminating the play.

Even the NFL has recognized that the kickoff is responsible for a disproportionate number of injures and has moved up the kickoff line by 5 yards. The result is that now only about half of all kickoffs are actually run back. The rest simply go through the end zone and result in a touchback. Let’s do away with this play, prevent some injuries, and spend our time on more productive and enjoyable aspects of the game.   

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #9

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Tip #9 – Add a New Rule to the game – If any player attempts to tackle another player by simply throwing his body and leading with the head and makes no attempt to wrap up with the arms,  a personal foul penalty should be assessed.

This rule exists in the sport of rugby and should apply to football as well.  Before 1955 a runner was not deemed down in American football until all forward progress was stopped.  In 1955 the forward progress rule was changed so that if any part of the players body other than his feet or hands touched the ground he would be deemed ‘down’.  At about the same time plastic helmets were becoming widely used and the combination of these two events began the subtle move away from the boring idea of sound tackling to the massive collisions often caused when players hurl their bodies like missiles at their opponents.  The helmet became a weapon used to knock down the ball carrier since stopping all forward progress was no longer necessary.

By implementing this simple rule change, it will force players back into the habit of sound tackling which if done correctly can be just as physical and exciting.

For more information and suggestions on how to improve both the sport and culture of American Football, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football Smarter!

Seventeen Tips to Improve American Football – Tip #8

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Tip #8 – Assign an unbiased spotter, such as an administrator or parent leader, to sit in the stands and report any suspected head injury to the athletic trainer.

Concussions and head injuries occur in many sports, even from simple slip-and-falls at home. But when someone suffers a concussion from tripping over a toy or falling off his bike, it is unlikely that he’ll get another one soon after. In the sport of football, this is too often the case. More needs to be done to prevent avoidable concussions: those resulting from the intentional use of the head or the targeting of another player’s head in the heat of the game. Better tackling technique is a good start. Getting the information out is important. But what will make a huge impact on this problem is an increased focus on concussion treatment and the prevention of a second concussion at the high school and youth levels.

What every high school and youth football team needs, in addition to a certified athletic trainer, is one or two people specifically appointed to watch the field for significant hits to the head and immediately report them to the medical trainer. Besides the fact that they are preoccupied with their many duties, it is impossible for coaches and trainers to see everything from the sideline. A non-coach, perhaps a school administrator or even a parent leader, should be watching from the stands and alerting the medical trainer and coaches immediately when a player is observed to have sustained a direct hit to the head that may have caused some trauma.

For more information on concussion awareness and prevention, check out our book Tackling Dummies, Playing Amateur Football

Please share these tips with coaches, parents, players, and any fan of the game!