Summer Workouts and Conditioning

[IanMackaye]

I see your point, HTV, and I don't really object to it in most ways. And I understand, believe me, that the player's actions speak loudly and clearly about what he wants to do. If football really matters to him, he'll be there and not at AAU tournaments.

 

However, you're intimating (I think) that it's perfectly valid for a football coach or a coach in any other sport to hold it against an athlete for not attending summer conditioning, which the TSSAA has explicitly said cannot be mandatory.

 

If it is mandatory, then the coach can exact a penalty for not attending, exactly as he can during the season.

 

If it's not mandatory, then the coach can't exact a penalty for not attending (such as if the player is at a Governor's School or takes a trip to Europe or goes on a mission or just spends time out of town).

 

It's a hard line to balance, and many don't do a good job with it. Some are too loose and therefore don't do the work they need to do. Others are too tough and therefore skirt the rules and risk overcooking their teams, which definitely happens.

 

Coaches have to remember that some TSSAA rules actually make sense, and this is one of them. If it's voluntary, it really has to be voluntary. And in the best programs, that word "voluntary" actually means something: the kids come because they want to be there.

[HTV]

I see your point, HTV, and I don't really object to it in most ways. And I understand, believe me, that the player's actions speak loudly and clearly about what he wants to do. If football really matters to him, he'll be there and not at AAU tournaments.

 

However, you're intimating (I think) that it's perfectly valid for a football coach or a coach in any other sport to hold it against an athlete for not attending summer conditioning, which the TSSAA has explicitly said cannot be mandatory.

 

If it is mandatory, then the coach can exact a penalty for not attending, exactly as he can during the season.

 

If it's not mandatory, then the coach can't exact a penalty for not attending (such as if the player is at a Governor's School or takes a trip to Europe or goes on a mission or just spends time out of town).

 

It's a hard line to balance, and many don't do a good job with it. Some are too loose and therefore don't do the work they need to do. Others are too tough and therefore skirt the rules and risk overcooking their teams, which definitely happens.

 

Coaches have to remember that some TSSAA rules actually make sense, and this is one of them. If it's voluntary, it really has to be voluntary. And in the best programs, that word "voluntary" actually means something: the kids come because they want to be there.

 

 

I understand what you are saying, but consider this scenario:

 

You have two kids with similar ability on your team. One makes the effort to get to summer workouts, works hard while he is there, and is all about the team, and not about himself.

 

The second kid is doing other things in the summer and makes little no effort to make up work he missed due to those other things.

 

Which player is going to get more PT?

 

The TSSAA can draw all the "guidelines" they want, but when it comes to reality they can't make rules to determine which student/athlete sees the field. The point is that there are rules and then there is the real world.

[IanMackaye]

Can't dispute that. Of course, under your scenario, if the selfish kid is a player, he'll be on the field regardless of what he didn't do during the summer and no matter what the team player did do. There's the real world!

[ELA]

Let me try to put this from a coach's perspective:

 

#1 The TSSAA has tried to force AAU into a window that ends in July so that high school fall sports can begin practice in late July. It has been a struggle for 15 years. A lot of HS football coaches resent the TSSAA calender but what they don't realize is it is designed to curtail the influence of AAU and to forge a path for basketball to wrap up in June so that football can begin earlier in July.

 

#2 Workouts in June after the end of school for football players can only be voluntary "OPEN FACILITIES" under the TSSAA restrictions and YES a high school can be fined and have other punitive measures placed against their program for violating this rule. I don't like this aspect of the regulations any more than any other head football coach in the state but we find positive ways to motivate our players to lift and we keep moving forward.

 

#3 The rules the TSSAA has established work out just fine IF basketball turns their kids lose after the dead period and a football coach can get his baseball players within a reasonable amount of time in July. It's too bad that the TSSAA or some organization can't get a consensus between summer baseball organizations, AAU, and high school coaches to workout something but what has been done is the best option football coaches have to get their players in July.

 

#4 7-on-7 is cut short this season due to the way the dead period falls.

 

#5 PLAYERS WILL FIND A WAY TO GET PREPARED if coaches sacrifice their time and keep the weight room open. We open our weight room up twice a day AM/PM and our players have plenty of options to get in to workout. The trick in any school is to motivate your players to come to the weight room in June.

 

#6 Workouts in JULY can be mandatory because we have the first 10 days after the dead period to workout without pads and two-a-days begin the last full week of July. We will be focusing on our passing game in those first two weeks like most all schools in the state but I know lots of programs that are spending that time lifting and running and it will be mandatory in those programs for boys to attend.

 

BE CREATIVE, MOTIVATE AND ENCOURAGE, SCHEDULE WITH AN OPEN MIND, DON'T BE LOCKED INTO THE PAST! FIND A WAY TO GET IT DONE WITHIN THE SCOPE OF THE RULES!