Planning a football camp

I have been coming up with questions to ask Coach Todd Niklaus.  I'm meeting with him on Monday to start planning out a football camp we are going to have this summer.  Hopefully, we will be able to set a date and get things rolling.

Also, I set up a Facebook site for our football program.  Hopefully, it will be a good way for parents, coaches, and commissioners to keep up-to-date on what is going on.

I'm on the lookout for good deals on football equipment.  Since it's the off-season, I figure there must some good buys out there.  One salesperson sent me a price sheet on pants (with pads built in).  These are nice for the younger players.  They wanted $31 for one pair!  That did not seem like a good buy, so I passed on it.

My first annual boosters meeting

I wasn't really enthusiastic about attending the meetings last night.  Went to Caribou and got a mocha and a scone.  I figured if I was going to sit through it, I may as well enjoy something to snack on!

The meetings exceeded my expectations, and I was glad I was there.  We spent the first hour discussing boosters involvement in donating money to the school district for facility improvements.  The district got a 6-figure grant from Hennepin County.  This pays for lights and other improvements for the Central Park fields.

Our superintendent, Dr. Rod Thompson, and athletic director, Troy Urdahl addressed us during the second hour.  I enjoyed listening to their vision for athletics in the community.  They talked about a philosophical shift in allowing boosters and other community groups into the high school.  Really exciting stuff. 

Then came the annual meeting.  We voted in officers for this next year.  The current officers are staying in for another year, so it's nice to have some continuity.   That was about it.  Meeting ended quickly enough.

Last, we had our regular monthly business meeting at the end!   We had already been there for more than two hours.  So, we cut this last meeting real short.  We just approved the treasurer's report and adjourned the meeting.

Closing the books on 2009

I contacted Geoff Smith, the Irondale football commissioner, about getting a bill for the referee fees.  It's the last bill left to pay for year.  He sent me the receipts and the itemized spreadsheet for St. Anthony's share in the fees.  I got the check request off to our treasurer, Hal Gray.  So, now we are carrying close to $2,000 into the 2010 season!  That's not bad as we were nearly $2,000 in the red at the beginning of 2009.

Expectations

Perhaps one of the biggest challenges for football (and all) coaches is managing expectations.

What should you expect 7&8 year olds to be able to do?  9&10 year olds?  If a coach sees that the opposing team is able to instill a certain style of play, shouldn't he be able to do that with his team?  That depends on the athleticism and mind-set of his players.  I suppose expectations like this are gleaned from years of coaching experience.  For example, at what age can you expect linebackers to consistently "stay home" and wait for the play to develop before charging at the ball carrier from across the field?  It is important to have a good feel for this, because it dictates whether or not you press your players to perform a skill. 

Also what does our community expect of our football program?  Are these expectations compatible with how our program is being run?  I've gone through my first year of reviewing parent feedback on the coaches' surveys.  Parents have a variety of expectations.  Generally, people feel that playing time should be equal, and of course, the obvious is for their children to have fun.  How important is winning?  It may not be the top objective, but it sure does make things a lot more enjoyable.  Some parents commented on how nice it was to see the team win a few more games - that the players were really jazzed up about it.  Perhaps, this came with a little bit of sacrifice - allowing skilled players to play a few more downs than usual.

With the youngest group of players (grades 2-4), I think it's mostly about getting the players used to the game and keeping them engaged.  They have tons of natural enthusiasm.  Our goal is to keep them fired up and loving the game.  I remember the time when our young quarterback threw an interception at a critical point in the game.  He was in tears.  The coach reassured him and said, "It was my fault.  That was a terrible call for me to make.  Blame it on me."  The youngster brightened up, wiped away his tears, and got back to playing the game.

With 7&8 graders, we're getting them ready for high school football - where winning IS the top priority.  This is a transition time, and we need to prepare them for what is to come.

I'm not sure yet what we should expect of 5&6 graders.  It seems as though in some years, we have expected maybe too much (or maybe not), and we lost some players.  Then again, compared to our opposition, maybe we are not expecting enough.  All I know is that we have had a tough go of maintaining complete teams at this level.  Definitely an area for improvement.

New's Years Day

The purpose of this blog is to record what I do as the Sports Boosters football commissioner. I'm thinking ahead to the transition when someone new will take this on. It would be helpful for that person to know what types of things the commissioner does, and it would be nice to know how much effort the job takes.

Last spring My wife and I took this over from Heath Galyon. He was the commissioner for a year after Steve Green had done it for a few years. At this point, I plan on doing this as long as my son wants to keep playing football. Since he is in 3rd grade right now, I may be doing this for another five years!

So, it's New Years Day. I do not have a resolution as to how consistently I will blog anything, but I do resolve to record whatever information I deem important for someone else to know about. So, with that, here it goes:

For the next Sports Boosters meeting, I need to prepare a budget showing the actuals of what was spent last fall. It's in the Boosters by-laws, that a commissioner provides this within three months of the season being over. Right now, I cannot even submit a complete report, because we have two bills outstanding. One is for the referee fees, which is one of the big ones! Hopefully, I will soon hear from Geoff Smith, the Irondale football commissioner. He coordinates the hiring of referees and the billing. He will be sending me a bill for our portion of the games.

I need to know how much money we will have in our account once I pay the referee fee to Irondale. Then, I can decide what if anything we should get for football equipment: shoulder pads, pants. Also, we may be getting a grant from Hennepin County for sports facilities improvements. It's all part of the MN Twins stadium being built. Money has been set aside for helping communities build fields, etc. Sports Boosters put in for an amount of money to be used for putting up lights on the C3 field. With this, we would have another lighted field for teams to practice on. The older kids end up scrounging around for lighted field space once the days start getting shorter. We need to determine how much money the football program can contribute towards the grant money that will come in. So, yeh... I need to figure how much dough I have to work with!