Tag Archives: Tiger Football

March 30, 2011 · 6:54 PM

Brick by Brick

Brick by Brick by Coach Hays

This was the theme of summer conditioning the final year we coached. I was really proud of this program. I thought I’d finally found a theme which fit what we tried to accomplish like a glove. I found the program while cleaning out some folders on the hard drive. Funny how almost every file in the Tiger Sports folder brings back great memories. Practice schedules, travel lists, depth charts, strength and conditioning data, it all comes rushing back as I click through the files. I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did. And if not, too dang bad, because now I have a whole computer folder full of things to share.

Brick by Brick

The foundation of a solid team is built brick by brick. Each individual brick in a foundation wall is unique and important. Every athlete in our summer conditioning program is unique and important to the foundation of the teams we are creating. The coaches act as the bricklayers to put the foundation together. Parents, administrators, former players and fans are the mortar which supports and holds the foundation together. The goal of our Tiger Strength and Conditioning program is to provide the tools so that every athlete can mold themselves into the best brick they can be.

(As I looked over this, it occurred to me that in our final season, some of our mortar didn’t realize, or accept, that it was the mortar and instead wanted to play the bricklayer. Our bricks were good, our plan was good, but as the wall of the team was beginning to come together, we lost our mortar and our wall crumbled.)

The 2008 Coach Hays Rules of the Road

1. Show up and work hard, every day.

2. We will work in groups. You will choose your own group of 6-10 people.

3. You will be held accountable to your group.

4. Compete with yourself on a daily basis.

5. Be the best you that you can be.

Coach Lane’s Ball-On-A-Stick

Coach Lane’s Creations: Ball-On-A-Stick

Back when I was coaching football, if we coaches needed something, Coach Paul Lane would always find a way to take care of us. Always. The admins gave us a budget and support that could generously be described as nada. But Coach Lane made the most of every penny, quite a few which were his own.

If I said, “Coach Lane, I could sure use a measuring stick to check offensive lineman splits on the fly during practice.”, lo and behold, a 5 foot long “T” PVC pipe Split-O-Meter would appear with a “T” piece our standard split length of 3 foot. Plus he added a feature of a painted black region in the middle of the PVC pipe for measuring our shorter split of 2 foot. Amazing!

If I said, “Coach Lane, I could sure use some pull-up bars that connect to the steel roof supports of the wrestling room.” Presto! I would show up Monday morning and there are half a dozen pull-up stations, made of iron pipe securely connected into the supports. Remarkable!

When I needed some way to hang homemade gymnastics rings from those same supports, the chains disappeared from the Lane home’s porch swing and found themselves placed into action. (Poor Mrs. Coach Lane’s beautiful porch swing was temporarily out of commission. Sorry Mrs. Lane.)

But, one of the greatest Coach Paul Lane’s feats of engineering was the Ball-On-A-Stick.

Ball-On-A-Stick. A ball, on a stick, that we used to simulate football snaps for defensive line drills. We wanted our d-line to react to ball movement cues and not verbal or sound cues from the opposing QBs, so we used the Ball-On-A-Stick in our drills.

A few weeks ago, one of the last remaining players that I coached stopped by the house one evening just as I was arriving home from work. He stopped his truck right in the middle of the street and got out smiling ear to ear. He opened his toolbox and pulled out the Ball-On-A-Stick. I was so happy I was virtually moved to tears. I thought it would be long forgotten and discarded.

“I saved it, Coach. Out of the trash” he said. “Thought you might want to have it back.” (Can you see why I loved coaching these kids?)

Well, ole’ Ball-On-A-Stick has seen better days. Coach Lane made a beautiful marvel of football technology with the fresh-off-the-showroom version. New and shiny NERF football silicone sealed to a brand spanking new broomstick (Sorry, again Mrs. Lane), a real work of art.

The ball is held onto the stick with athletic tape now. Why you ask? Because a certain young center who will remain nameless, once thought of the Ball-On-A-Stick as a golf club. But, #58’s golf skills were lacking, his golf stoke similar to a rusty gate and he duffed his attempted swing across the ground breaking the silicone seal and sending the NERF ball fluttering to ground 20 yards away. To say I was mad, well…

The Ball-On-A-Stick has been tossed, slammed, fought over and trashed. The poor handle was even bent one practice during a Coach Hays temper tantrum incident.

But it survives. The Ball-On-A-Stick now sits next to my desk. It is a reminder of how much fun we had. It is a reminder of how well Coach Paul Lane treated us, the coaches, the players and the entire Tiger Football Program.

Now, if we could just locate that Split-O-Meter…

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Tagged as Ball-On-A-Stick, Coach Lane, Tiger Football

November 6, 2010 · 8:32 PM

The Physical Space: A Coach Hays Rant

Rest Day Read (SR-57)

The Physical Space a Coach Hays Rant

The secret to physical preparation lies in the the work. The physical space is a vital component of that work. The outpouring of heart and soul, blood and sweat, time and effort, is key. The pressure applied by the athlete toward themselves over time prepares the body for physical challenge, much like pressure applied to carbon over time results in the formation of a diamond. Hard work, every day, every minute, every second.

The secret to success is not a shiny new training space with matching new pieces of equipment. The success lies not in mirrors and color coordinated outfits. The success lies in offering a good physical space which, above all else, is safe and effective. Let me repeat, safe AND effective. A good physical space needs heavy things to lift, move and carry. It needs places to hang from, drag things over and move upon.

The environment has to be welcoming, the athletes should want to go there to work. Athletes should know they are expected to be there. The cultivated physical, mental and emotional environment must make the athlete want to show up and put it out there every session. Everyone gets better, everyday. That is how teams are made. That is how athletes learn to trust each other and become a unit, a team. Players know their teammates are putting it out there. Hard work and trust become contagious. Then the diamonds are formed.

Football is NOT Life.

Football is NOT Life! a Coach Hays rant

I know this may sound highly irrational and maybe even a bit hypocritical coming from me, but contrary to what the t-shirts say, FOOTBALL IS NOT LIFE!.

Football is the greatest damn game ever invented, but it is not life. Football is intensity, competitiveness, sportsmanship and violence, but it is not life. Football requires immense strategy and teamwork, but it is not life. Football provides education, drama, entertainment, and a solidarity which binds communities, campuses and fan bases throughout the nation, but it is not life. Football is universal, it is played by presidents and paupers, genius and idiot, big and small, aggressive and passive, rich and poor, but it is not life. Football should not be all consuming. Football should not be the top priority. I know this for a fact, I have tripped and fallen down that hole before (see my story).

Football can be like a package of Oreos, both need to be consumed in moderation. You’ve been there, you open the package of Oreos and leave it out on the counter. Sooner, rather than later, the whole package is gone and you don’t feel so good. But if you open that package and only take a couple of Oreos and place the package in the cupboard for a later date, they not only taste spectacular, but last and satisfy for days upon days. Football is not life. It should be taken in moderation and/or with a tall glass of milk, (1% or skim preferably).

Football has it’s proper place, it has it’s proper perspective. Football is not the primary reason for the existence of high schools, colleges and universities.

Yes, football is important. It is important to compete. It is important to work hard to be the best coach or player you can be. It is important to compete with purpose, pride and passion. But I think Coach Paul Lane said it best with his prioritization of the sport, “Faith, Family, Football, in that order”.

Football is important to me. But football is not life. Let’s work to keep football in it’s proper perspective and place. I would hate for you to get a football belly-ache.

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Tagged as Football, Football is NOT life, rest day read, Tiger Football, wellness

April 28, 2010 · 11:34 AM

Summer Conditioning: Fail Cycle

Rest Day Read (SR-22)
Failure by Mark Twight of Gym Jones
“The gifted athlete who sails from one success to the next with little effort or training knows nothing of himself or how he might behave when truly pressured.”
Whenever I think I know what it is all about, whenever I think I have reached an acceptable, comfortable level and the good I am doing is good enough, I always seem to find a way back to Mark Twight’s essays on the Gym Jones web site. He always slaps me back into reality, back into challenging myself and pushing forward. Gym Jones always reminds me just how behind the game I am.
Back when I was training athletes, I lived by the philosophy of the Fail Cycle. I give you a task, first you would cuss me out and complain, then you would try and fail, beaten and broken. Then you would go home and it would eat at you all night that you failed. Then you would come back and work your ass off until you complete the task. Then a new, more difficult task would be handed out and the cycle starts again.
I admit, I used to worry about some of the stuff I would ask the athletes to do. But I also knew that we weren’t big, fast, or terribly athletically gifted as a group, so we had to prepare with maximum effort mentally and physically to turn our bodies into weapons. Their jelly-legged, exhausted, dead-ass tired bodies would drag themselves off the floor or dusty ground, give me that “you SOB” glare then go home. But the next day, they would come back fresh and ready to go.
It may sound weird to most, but seeing kids fight through those demons and push their mental and physical barriers, seeing them get up after being beat down and move forward a better man, is the one thing I miss the most about not coaching anymore. I do miss Friday nights, but I REALLY miss summer mornings at 6:30 AM.
No wonder the mothers worried so much…

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Tagged as Fail Cycle, Football, hard work is the magic, rest day read, Summer Conditioning, Tiger Football

March 17, 2010 · 8:20 PM

Coach P. Lane’s “Friday Night in America”

There are two football pregame talks from Coach Paul Lane that still give me the goosebumps. Quote number one was from the very first Friday game of the Paul Lane Era at CCCHS in 2000. We were home against Beloit. I remember right before the National Anthem, with all the team and coaches in the south end zone, Coach Lane tell the boys how special it is to be right here, right now, getting the opportunity to play football.

“This is Friday night in America. ”

(After starting that first season with my head spinning, feeling way out-of-place, I knew right then I was working for the absolute right coach. I knew right then I would work my butt off to justify him taking a big chance to hire me.)

Pregame talk number two was the last game of the 2007 season. We had to win a district football game on the road at perennial powerhouse Holton Wildcats in order to make the playoffs. We had a rough week leading up to this game. Two starters suspended, a couple hurt and/or hurting and two seniors quit the team because I asked them to play scout team offense in practice. We were underdogs on a good day and with all this other stuff, the dog was going even further under. So, we loaded up the bus and headed to Holton. After we arrive, Coach Lane has a relaxed air which pervades the entire team. We go through our pregame preparations at Holton High School Stadium, one of the most underrated and often maligned high school atmospheres in the state of Kansas (I loved that playing in that old stadium). I know it is not macho to describe a football game as “happy”, but it was just a “happy” atmosphere. In the locker room, right before heading out for kickoff, Coach Lane lets these fly to the boys:

“The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes.” -Earl of Beaconsfield

You could just see the kids who were starting their first varsity football game sit a little taller, breathe a little easier and transform into varsity football players. Then he addresses the team again:

“They don’t write children’s books to teach children that dragons exist…They write children’s books to teach children the DRAGONS CAN BE KILLED.”

The kids just sat there for a second. The words began to sink in. Then a determined group of football players strap on their helmets, walk to the field and compete with purpose, pride and passion. Holton eventually wore us down for a couple late 4th quarter touchdowns to win. I know we lost, I know parents, fans and administrators were disappointed, but I have never been more proud of a group of kids after a game as I was walking with those boys off that particular field on that particular night. I will never forget that feeling. The very essence of what high school sports are all about.