What is Your Philosophy

How Do You Approach the Game

12 FOOTBALL QUESTIONS

I would like to switch gears a little bit today from schematics to philosophy or approach to the game.  I am going to go through some questions that I think help shape the mindset and mentality of your football program.  For me I have always tried to get my teams to resemble my characteristics as an athlete/coach.  I am a very energetic, high wired coach that tries to instill that attitude in my players throughout everything I do in my program.  I want us to be up tempo in everything we do, playing with as much self confidence as possible.  The best players and coaches in any sport have a self confidence that is borderline arrogant.  The difference in the two is the respect you show your opponents and the game itself.  If you want to be successful you have to have a belief in your own abilities.  If you ever enter a competition with self doubt your opponent already has a leg up on you.  How do you eliminate self doubt?  You try your best to cover every scenario possible and be as prepared as you can possibly be.  A lot of people talk about "outworking" other people.  The truth of the matter is you may never know if you have outworked someone unless you know exactly what it is that they are doing.  I never know how my opponent is practicing, training, or preparing for a game or a season so I have to do everything i possibly can to believe I am outworking them.

Now the questions I am going to cover today are very simple in nature, but should give you a better idea of the type of coach you are.  Do you take a lot of risks? Do you play close to the vest with every decision based on percentages? Are you offensive or defensive minded? Do you play an attacking style or a conservative bend but don't break style?  Do you always make the same decision at the coin toss?  Does your opponent affect your decision making? After every season I like to go back and look at the decisions i made and see if my team really reflected my personality.  There are always going to be teams and players that force you to adapt your thinking a little bit but in general who you are as a coach should always stay consistent.

Now Think About Why You Do Things

After looking at some of the questions I posed in my video segment the next question you have to answer is Why do you do things the way you do?  For some people I am almost certain the answer is because its what they know or have always done.  I do not like to think that way because I feel like that is when you allow yourself to get stagnant or deny your own growth.  There is nothing wrong with a set way of doing things especially when you are getting great results.  The question I ask is How long can it last?  Will you be able to adapt when the game changes or your players change? 

My goal with this particular Blog is to go around the North Florida area and talk to different coaches that have been successful and see how different the mindsets and mentalities are.  I want to start bringing other coaches in on the topics I have been talking about and get some different perspectives.  Guys can try and kick each others teeth in from August until December, but we all know from December through July its time to share, learn, and grow.  Hopefully some of these questions spark some curiosity into your own programs and your own mindset.

PLAY FAST