Learning under the Friday Night Lights

I haven’t been more nervous the week before a new role than I was last week.?

I love football, I watch all levels of football from high school to the pros and everything in between. Having played football, part of my leadership style and tool kit includes the life skills (purpose and direction) and experiences learned through football. However, I never felt more nervous as I started preparing to coach my eldest sons 1st-2nd grade flag football team.?

It was a great reminder of some #teambuilding and #leadership, coaching / #mentoring pro-tips.?

Take advantage of extra time

???- We had an opportunity to have an extra practice day at the park where our games are held.?Taking advantage of this I began with intros and a review of our goals (have fun, improve every week and be great teammates and competitors).?Teaching the basic rules of the game and running thru some drills in order to learn the fundamentals needed to build from.?It was like a mini combine were I was able to asses the team and get a pulse of where we we’re starting from and an idea of who could play what position. I felt good after and started planning for our next practice.

Plan your work, work your plan and always be ready to deviate from that plan.?Adjust accordingly into your plan B.

???- It rained a lot and our practice field was closed.?Rather than cancel our first official practice I choose to change it. A walk through and focus on 3 things 1. Defense formation (Zone) and 2. fundamental rules of the game that ensured win or lose we learned how to stand, where to stand and what a penalty was and the result of a penalty.?3.?How to pull flags, we spent a good amount of time on this as this was the skill most needed for our week 1 game and all season.??

You boil the ocean one bucket at a time, start with the fundamentals needed in order to build.?It’s a journey

???- On the night of our first game the team arrived 45 minutes early in order to “walk thru” the game day steps and review how we would walk to the field as a team and our base formations.?Review our defense game plan (3x3 zone) and a bit more work on our offensive game plan.?Simple balanced attack of run and pass plays.?Run plays consisted of Run Right, Run Left and we had two routes (slant, comeback) our receivers would run.?We also covered how substitutions would work.???????????

Confidence comes from preparation

???- The other team received the ball first and on there first play from scrimmage ran the ball end zone to end zone for a TD.?The Irvine Raiders didn’t allow that to bring them down.?In the huddle they encouraged each other and made comments such as “We will pull the flag next time and good try and next play”.?These are the words I used at practice.???

???- The team had a strong foundation to build from and after a few plays the team and I felt comfortable making adjustments on defense and building on our offensive capabilities.???

Culture and attitude are key when building community

???- “Sportsmanship” was our 1st word of the week which we reviewed at the start of practice and on game day.?This week it is “Growth mindset”. ????

Vision, Goals and Strategy

???- With any team building you have to have a goal, plan and strategy but also be ready to pivot during the journey.?The 1st week was full of unplanned events that reminded me of this.?Like when two new players were added to the roster the day before our first practice.?A reminder that the only thing constant is change.?

Immediate goal vs Long term goal

???- Week after week the goal is to improve on the fundamentals, add to our defense and offensive playbook and enjoy the game.

???- Long term, be ready for the playoffs and be a competitive?team having fun and communicating naturally on the field.

Small accomplishments equal tremendous results

???- On game day the team did an amazing job grabbing flags, took tremendous pride and congratulated each other after each play and bringing home a win. Our fans also loved our defensive intensity and cheered loudly encouraging the kids.?Offensively we made small adjustments with formation and who would run which route at which position.?Keeping the defense honest and our kids learning to play each position.?This gave me the ability to see what we need to work on next and who excels at which position.??

"Raiders, clap twice if you can hear my voice"