Y.A.F.L. Anyone?

[JesterBlaze]

Anyone here involved or was involved in YAFL (Young Americans Football League)?

I just signed up with intentions of being a clueless assistant and walked out as Clueless Head Coach... And I mean clueless about EVERYTHING including the geographic area that I'll be coaching.

I have a roster of 12 kids, a link to the NMYAFL website, and a boatload of determination at the moment. If anyone on here is knowledgeable about this stuff I'd love to be able to send ya some PMs as I figure everything out.

Thanks,
Coach JesterBlaze

[Matt]

haha!!!

that's great.

I think it's great when people volunteer their time, especially when you don't have a kid on the team.

[GGill]

You didn’t mention age but will assume not in high school so here are my recommendations.

1. NAVY never again volunteer yourself.

2. If you ignore number 1 then coach girls. A whole lot easier. [just can’t yell at them]

3. Get a bottle of Old Granddad [ the best straight sipping whiskey]

4. Get a prayer book

5. Get a basketball officials whistle [very loud]

6. The smartest kid is your QB even if someone else has a sronger arm.

7. RUN,RUN,RUN [think Ohio State and Woody Hayes]

8. KISS KEEP IT SIMPLE

9. Pick a point at practice far away, every mistake and when they aren’t listing tell them to take a lap around the _______ monster. Makes them pay attention, builds esprit de corps, installs team discipline, you find out who your team leaders are. Gives YOU time to calm down and think.

10. Have fun, make it fun, and after practice when alone in car go back to step 3!

[Matt]

You didn’t mention age but will assume not in high school so here are my recommendations.

1. NAVY never again volunteer yourself.

2. If you ignore number 1 then coach girls. A whole lot easier. [just can’t yell at them]

3. Get a bottle of Old Granddad [ the best straight sipping whiskey]

4. Get a prayer book

5. Get a basketball officials whistle [very loud]

6. The smartest kid is your QB even if someone else has a sronger arm.

7. RUN,RUN,RUN [think Ohio State and Woody Hayes]

8. KISS KEEP IT SIMPLE

9. Pick a point at practice far away, every mistake and when they aren’t listing tell them to take a lap around the _______ monster. Makes them pay attention, builds esprit de corps, installs team discipline, you find out who your team leaders are. Gives YOU time to calm down and think.

10. Have fun, make it fun, and after practice when alone in car go back to step 3!

excellent advice!!!

[JesterBlaze]

I'm gonna say (from my experience) useless/wrong advice aside from a pointer on #6 and a full #8.

So far I'm floundering but my kids are definitely focused (on me at least). Finally got 10 of 12 on schedule for tomorrow. Gotta go "iron man" but as I'm treating everything thus far: "nonetheless".

Coming from a Thinking Man's background I've so far found this to be "idiot's promised land" as I somewhat expected and as soon as we get legs under us (got the team 14 hours INTO the first day of the season, most teams get weeks of preparation) we're going to "technique them to victory".


I've been a fan of "Coach! Don't cheerlead!" for a long time and am def bringing this to the table. I don't want to hear that outdated-fat-asshole-found-a-way-in-life-Bull-Shit that I've been all too accustomed to...

"Don't get beat", "he's running by you", etc... are BS terms that adults use when they can't even compete as adults and need to make space between their comfy job and an exit.

"Put your elbows in, hands upright and to the chest, toe to toe while balancing and enjoying the rythym... while leaning forward and balancing position", "follow him with your eyes, recognize that he's faster than you in the first 3 yards, turn and sprint to his location, then fall back into back-pedal stance while always watching the QB" - these are in fact only partial good advice as I have plenty to learn but know that I'll remain silent other than be a cheerleader.

[JesterBlaze]

So we got beat worse than any team in history and yet I'm in love with the whole thing. "I've found my niche. You gonna hear my voice!"

My IFL days might be dwindling.

[Kobeck]

sucks for IFL

[Matt]

So we got beat worse than any team in history and yet I'm in love with the whole thing. "I've found my niche. You gonna hear my voice!"

My IFL days might be dwindling.

glad to see that you're bright eyed about this thing. I enjoy coaching, but having done it for a few years, i'm less excited about it for sure. I do it because I know my daughter wants me to do it.

[JesterBlaze]

I feel as though I see a big part, if not the whole, picture though I haven't hit immediate success.

While trying to not sound cocky it seems very similar to FOF. I'm not immediately successful but I know that I will be at some point. Coming from a Physics background and going up against the competition that I am I feel confident in my humbleness to study the simply facts and respond. I'm tempted to say "it ain't rocket science" but rocket science wasn't "rocket science" to me... it just didn't end in cheerleaders/groupies doing oral things to me that seemed the only real reason to live for my first 38 years.

[JesterBlaze]

So the "Bad News Bears" went from no 1st downs and having trouble simply getting plays called in time for the 25 second youth clock in our first game to scoring 4 TDs in my absence (and team doing their best to run our offense as I'm also the OC) due to a family emergency during our 2nd game. Of course this is "apples-to-oranges" since the two opponents weren't equal but the league commissioner came up to our team and said we were obviously the most improved team!

Also found out that our 1st opponent and most teams in the league have been together for up to 7 years while we're a bunch of rag tag first timers from the coaching "staff" (2 compared to other team's 5-6) down to the players. I think we've got 4 players who have played before and that's our team's previous experience.

Just like our team motto we're starting to "Practice hard! Study hard! Earn the right to win!"

[Kobeck]

left off 'wear glasses if you need'em'

[JesterBlaze]

So the rag-tag bunch of 1st timers lost every game of the season but in an "everyone's invited" post-season we actually got our first win by 1 point in the final 2 minutes as fortune favored the bold when we went for 2 instead of the 1pt conversion to tie (in Youth you get 1 point for running/passing it in and 2 points for the kick to encouraging teaching them to long snap/hold/kick) on Saturday. We lost again on Sunday but all the kids want to play for me (some only if it's for me) in the Fall so we'll be back again with a fairer shot this time - if even still against teams/coaches who've been together for 6-7 years.

I love this shit!! But just to give some insight to those who don't like filling out the FOF screens: Real football involves shit like:

How far apart do your guards stand from your center? How far back, if at all? How far do your Tackles stand from your guards? How far back, if at all? How should your center's stance be? How should his grip on the football be? How should he hand it off to the QB? How should the QB receive the snap? Who should drive block, angle block, or reach block on each play? What the hell's the difference between them? Why won't the unathletic accept that they're not ball-carriers? If "There's no crying in baseball" then why are my players crying in football!?!?! Why won't the ADD kids stop walking over to their friends when I'm trying to separate my special teams groups to make sure I've got that covered? Why do the refs get paid for a couple hours per week when I've done more than 30 hours per week for weeks for free before they showed up?

And that's just a sampling of the many Q's I've had to answer this season along with scheduling/rescheduling practices on a total of 3 fields, creating and printing team TShirts and posters, getting shit from parents for ordering the wrong size and then blaming me and forcing me to go back to the emails to prove I had it right, referees calling fumbles on clear forward passes so that they could end the game "mercy rule" style and go home early with pay, etc., etc., mickyfickin' etc.!!!

But again, I love this shit and instead of creating my own team, which I thought was the only way into the Fall, it looks like I'll be taking over for a coach who went on to coach Semi-Pro this season so hopefully I'll be able to get a word in with him for insight into "his kids" who will be combining with "my kids" and a chance to hear (resume, interview, etc.) how he made a great jump to Semi-Pro skipping High School altogether.

[Matt]

there's really not much more rewarding than working with kids for me. I love kids. love the dynamic of them and how everyone is so different yet trying to all fit in and be the same "normal" person.

to me it's about trying to be a good role model. give them something to look up to. hell, if i can make it out, surely they can also. I don't know if i can do the young kids like you. i enjoy working with teenage kids (13-19). I feel that kids that age are so impressionable. I love seeing kids exceed in athletics....and not just doing well, but seeing them grow individually. who cares if you're better than jimmy or sally, how have you gotten better at your skills. I had one girl on my team who i started working with last year. she couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time last year. our last 6 games, she was an absolute beast defending and rebounding. i loved hearing from the other parents about how much she improved. i really had to challenge her, but she did the work and she was the one who made the mental decision that she belonged.

[JesterBlaze]

Turns out that I don't think youth coaching is for me but I do want to see this specific group succeed so I'll be back for the Fall Season with them.

I got a genius who's currently not very athletic that I'd love to see get a growth spurt or "coordination/athletic spurt" to end up like the girl you speak of. In our win he came up to me (at all of 12 years old) within 4 minutes of the game and told me "anything 'black such and such' means a QB run. Anything odd means a run left and anything even means a run right"!

[Matt]

within 4 minutes of the game and told me "anything 'black such and such' means a QB run. Anything odd means a run left and anything even means a run right"!

love this stuff.

I've got another on my team that can do the same thing.