High School Football Coach - Grading Players

Grading Players

The topic of grading players came up this Thursday at DCHS.
The Offensive and Defensive coordinators are trying to come together to have similar grade sheets for the kids this season.  The goal is to give the kids something that they can understand if they are involved on both offense and defense.  It's also a way to point out why certain kids are paying and why others are not.
The topic reminded me of an olds John Wooden speech in which he touches on the subject of grading students and measuring success.

Go here to watch the speech:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s_hlvhwmvg
It's worth your time.

Flag Football Coach - Practice 4

Much better this time out.
I was right.  It was the coaches fault.
IE - ME
I shook off the ill feelings I had toward my kids and set out to make this week memorable for my players.
Our practice plan looked like this.

Pre-Practice
Warm-up/ Stretch - Get loose and test their focus.
Flag Pulling Session - Sharks and Minnows
Relay Race - Around cone and hand off to teammate (push-ups for the losing team)
H20
Intro Passing fundamentals
Passing drills - Include as many fathers as possible.
Flag Pulling Session - Duck, Duck, Goose
H2O
Intro Formation
Intro Misdirection
Scrimmage

Some things I tried this week to keep the kids interested:
Silly String - The kids don't seem to grasp why it's important to listen where to stand... So I bought three cans of silly string and (literally) drew their spots on the grass.  There were now visual clues as to where to line up and where to run during our play.
I could also spray the kids who weren't paying attention in a fun and engaging way.
Also, I offered the best listeners the opportunity to get the silly string cans after practice and spray me, IF THEY DID THEIR WORK.
Deck of Cards - This was how I taught "misdirection."  I did a magic trick and then told the kids how it was done.  (The Alliance would be livid)  I did this to illustrate how offensive plays work.  The offense it literally trying to misdirect the defense to achieve their goal of moving the ball.

It seemed to work. The kids focus and overall enjoyment improved.
It's a step in the right direction for next week.

Making the Bed

Got this from an article on procrastination...  Thought it was a good launching point for a blog.

One of the age old arguments parents have with their children is over "making their bed."
Here's an example:

"My mom would ask me to make my bed before going to school. I would say, no, because I didn’t see the point of making my bed if I was just going to sleep in it again that night." 

Our kids will always have a reason why they should not do something.  As parents we must find a reasonable reason.

"She would say, well, we have guests coming over at 6 o’clock, and they might come upstairs and look at your room."

A stretch... but a good start.

"I said, I would make my bed when we know they are here. I want to see a car in the driveway. I want to hear a knock on the door. I know it will take me about one minute to make my bed so at 5:59, if they are here, I will make my bed."

Let me tell you why I don't have this problem.  I'll start with a story.

After staring at the popcorn chicken one more time... My famished five-year old son finally turned to me and said, "Dad I am so hungry, but I don't want to break the rules. What do I do?" 
We were an hour into play practice (for RATCO's presentation of Charlotte's Web) and TJ was hungry.  He wanted to eat the snack I packed him, but the facility's rules clearly stated no food or drink inside the theatre.  

Your thinking to yourself... "Self, what's the problem?  Eat the snack."

Not in our family.  You see my son is what I like to call "Fairy-Tale OCD."  He tries to never do anything wrong.  Out of fear he will be a bad kid.  
I know, right?  Awesome.  
Well not so fast.  There are issues when your kid tries to do no wrong.  Issues like finding out how slack and undisciplined you're life has turned out to be.  

Knowing I wasn't able to walk outside with him to eat, my son was in a tough spot.  
Should he stay and break the rules or go outside alone and eat?  Which he was scared to do alone.
Naturally, I responded to my son by saying, "Go ahead and eat it.  You won't get in trouble.  No one cares today."

TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE Parenting!

My son will do anything you tell him, if he knows it will not get him in trouble.  I just instructed him to break the rules.  It may have been minor on that day, but was it the right decision?  
Once again he is five years old.  Did I just give him the "you get to be lazy, when it is convenient" card?"

It takes us back to the story at the beginning of this post.  If rain was in the forecast and I told you to, "wash your car."  Would you do it?  Knowing full well later in the day, the effort would be wasted?  
So how do you tell someone to make their bed, when the at the end of the day, that effort will be wasted?
What is the motive behind your reasoning?  
Where is that parenting handbook again?


Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/why-procrastination-is-good-for-you-2102008/#lMamS16663YKg21l.99
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Why do I Waste my Time?

I got to my desk with an abundance of energy. Ready to not only tackle the day, but rip it's heart out..  And then it happened, while checking the news feed, I noticed a headline for the “13 Most Depressing Movie Endings of All-Time.”

Game. Set. Match.

I proceeded to click the link and delve into their list. 35 minutes later, I had 4 new browser windows open, hadn't thought of starting work... and was frankly less energized and eager to do so. My procrastination/time wasting had sucked the life and ambition out of me.

Does this ever happen to Mark Cuban?

Does he know the ending of the Wicker Man made the “Most Depressing” list?

Sadly, this was a pattern I had repeated over and over in my life. Wasting 30 minutes here or there... Actions that cause me to be late for work or meetings. Actions that limit my time to perfect a project I am working on.

But why? Why do I keep dong this to myself?

Does Drew Brees procrastinate?

By definition a procrastinator is someone who puts off doing things – that should be done in a timely manner. I am not really a good example of this, as I turn in work before deadline, pay my bills on time and get my Christmas shopping done before December 24^th. Sure I am five minutes late here and there... But as a minority, isn't that what we do? That was a joke.

What isn't' funny is the guilt I feel after I waste 30 minutes on a website that has no value to my everyday life.

A La the “Most Depressing” list.

Am I wrong to rake myself over the coals? Aren't we supposed to love life and live it to the fullest without regrets? Well, I am not there. I seem to live with regret for not fulfilling each and every item on my list of goals. Is that realistic?

Surely, Donald Trump, President Obama and even Oprah have had their series of time wasting clicks. How do they overcome them?

Maybe I can google it. Wait... “8^th Grader throws down insane dunk.”

I'll get to it later.

If you want to read more on the subject. Here are a few articles to get you started:

Why we procrastinate – Psychology Today

People who procrastinate aren't lazy – Elite Daily

Famous Procrastinators – Procrastinus.com

Why Procrastination is good for you – Smithsonian.com

Timing of Life

What we're talking about today:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/five-charts-show-life-balance-100009729.html

Talking about Work... Sucks

I rose for my seat, lifted my middle finger and said, “fuck you, fuck this place... and fuck everything this place stands for... I quit.”

While it's no secret I quit my job. For the sake of this blog, I haven't divulged exactly how the episode went down. 

For the sake of transparency... It didn't happen like above. 

No cussing, no rage, nothing like the first sentence of this post... that, is what we call in the business, was a hook.  But I did walk away from a regular, full-time gig that paid $58K per year. And that is all that matters for the sake of this article. We'll get to the gritty details of “quit day” soon enough.

It's different to have a career and to work full-time. Garbage men work full-time, being a social worker for an at-risk youth group is a career. The prior probably pays more... The latter, might be more fulfilling. Unless you are a dirtbag and like grunge.

Why am I bringing up the obvious? I guess it's because I finally realized why I struggled so much with the real world bullshit of having to work full-time. I just didn't get why I was doing it. Living pay check to pay check is not every college graduates plan. But sadly, it's most of our reality. I have shit ton of student loan money left to pay and I have been a professional for 15 years. Why keep at it?

Trip to the Library!

This is how our trip to the library went.

As soon as we crossed the threshold of the computer lab... Frankie shit his pants.

I can only imagine how the other lab patron felt. If I had known how our trip to the library was going to turn out like this, we wouldn't have gone. But I thought... (famous last words right?) thought I had a plan. Everyone has a plan until your toddler shits his pants.

Planning

You know, if you google “Planning activities to keep toddlers busy,” all that comes up is ideas for highly interactive and dirty activities. Anything from making your own play dough to something called a paper explosion. And there's next to nothing in way of tips to help me get work done.

When I planned our day, I took this into account. I also took into account that a trip to the library to watch dad work at what is normally dinner time... was way out of our normal routine. And kids love routines. Especially mine. So I hatched a plan. I tried to bring things that would create a safe and still exciting space for the kiddos. Crayons, activity books, DVDs, two toys each... The perfect plan.

I even took the environment into account. The night before our excursion, I checked to see if we'd be alone in the lab. The librarian said we would. So, I had hoped TJ and Frankie could draw, color or watch a DVD on my lap top, while I edited on the community Mac station.

Unfortunately, when we entered the library, I noticed someone else was using the room. “Great,” I thought. And for a moment I thought about just walking out. But, I had to get some stuff done. So we pressed on. We should have just left. You see I never planned for someone else to be in the lab with us. The activities I could have used to temper my children's energy were rendered invalid. Because I am often loud and distracting, every trick in my dad handbook goes out the window.

What you are left with is me working with one eye on the computer and the other on the kids. I was passing out shushing and “ looks” like Magic Johnson dished out basketballs in his prime.

So naturally, after 45 minutes... I realized I wasn't going to win. Kids are kids. They aren't supposed to worry about other people working in a library. Maybe next time they will have a higher level of understanding...

 Until then, I'll be going solo.  

Chocolate Graham Crackers

They're chocolate graham crackers...

for Pete's sake!

I will never understand other people. And by other people, I not only mean the jimmy's and the joe's we work with... I mean my own children.

Just today, I offered my oldest TJ some chocolate Teddy Grahams. He politely declined.

What?

If the offer had been for M&M's, Oreo's or anything with the word “cookie” in it, best believe the answer would have been yes.

So why does he not want these tasty Chocolate Teddy Graham crackers?

The child's mind is a fickle thing.