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AP
New Haven Little Leaguer Jericho Scott mows 'em down.
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Actually, this is what I've learned in my three weeks of coaching seventh graders for the Fairfield Giants football program. Kids are going to cry. They are going to fail and succeed in the same day of practice. The kids I've been helping out with take their football pretty seriously, or as seriously as you would expect a seventh grader to.
They hang their gloves from their facemasks like Randy Moss. They imitate LaDainian Tomlison's stiff arm. They try to yell out audibles like Peyton Manning. But as soon as you ease up during practice, they try to bury one of their buddies under a pile of blocking dummies or they make up songs about each other. They're 12, that's what they do.
One of the longtime coaches told me that their philosophy is “Fun and Fundamentals.” That works for me. For every time a coach raises his voice to get a kid to focus on an assignment, a coach is laughing when a kid hurdles a teammate during a drill to the roar of his friends.
The other day one of the kids, Pete, was having a tough time with a bigger kid, Zack, in a blocking drill. Two straight times he couldn't keep Zack out of the backfield ... the tougher part, all his teammates are watching the drill. He got upset, threw his helmet down and got pretty choked up. One of the coaches pulled him aside and talked to him away from the rest of the players. He told him to get lower... to fire out ... to use his center of gravity against a taller player. When the drill resumed, Pete and Zack faced each other again. It was a stalemate, but Pete had improved a ton, in about three minutes. He was pretty pumped. He finished practice and ran to the concession stand to get a slushee with his friends.
For me, I hope that is what kids' sports is about. Lots of learning, lots of fun and lots of sugar. -- Dan Patrick Show executive producer Paul Pabst
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Actually, this is what I've learned in my three weeks of coaching seventh graders for the Fairfield Giants football program. Kids are going to cry. They are going to fail and succeed in the same day of practice. The kids I've been helping out with take their football pretty seriously, or as seriously as you would expect a seventh grader to.
They hang their gloves from their facemasks like Randy Moss. They imitate LaDainian Tomlison's stiff arm. They try to yell out audibles like Peyton Manning. But as soon as you ease up during practice, they try to bury one of their buddies under a pile of blocking dummies or they make up songs about each other. They're 12, that's what they do.
One of the longtime coaches told me that their philosophy is “Fun and Fundamentals.” That works for me. For every time a coach raises his voice to get a kid to focus on an assignment, a coach is laughing when a kid hurdles a teammate during a drill to the roar of his friends.
The other day one of the kids, Pete, was having a tough time with a bigger kid, Zack, in a blocking drill. Two straight times he couldn't keep Zack out of the backfield ... the tougher part, all his teammates are watching the drill. He got upset, threw his helmet down and got pretty choked up. One of the coaches pulled him aside and talked to him away from the rest of the players. He told him to get lower... to fire out ... to use his center of gravity against a taller player. When the drill resumed, Pete and Zack faced each other again. It was a stalemate, but Pete had improved a ton, in about three minutes. He was pretty pumped. He finished practice and ran to the concession stand to get a slushee with his friends.
For me, I hope that is what kids' sports is about. Lots of learning, lots of fun and lots of sugar. -- Dan Patrick Show executive producer Paul Pabst
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