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Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate. - Vince Lombardi

Sunday was an American National Holiday.  A holiday in the sense that the Super Bowl brings families together across generations and makes fast friends out of relative strangers.

The party I went to had my seven year old daughter and my 85 year old grandfather.  Because we are in Chicago, there weren't any Colts fans, but in previous years I always met a new friend rooting for the same team I was — and someone who was passionate about the other side… But that is what makes it fun.  The heights of joy followed by the depths of losing, hopefully capped off with a great comeback.  At the end of the night your team is either up or down but the world is still spinning and life goes on…  Although Chicago will be in a deep funk for at least the next couple of weeks - at least we have our weather…

With all the hype surrounding the Super Bowl, there were two men in the eye of the storm who maintained incredible poise throughout.  The head coaches, Tony Dungee and Lovie Smith are similar types of leaders.  I've written several times about my admiration for Lovie Smith's style.  Where many NFL coaches attempt to instill fear into their team, both Smith and Dungy command respect.

That's what the great coaches do, and the rest of us ask how.  How can a coach get grown men to sacrifice themselves to a common goal.  The cynic would say professional athletes have millions of reasons to want to win, and that's true as far as it goes.  But the crucial difference is that Dungy and Smith (as well as other great coaches) have high, but reasonable, expectations for each player and hold the players accountable to those standards. 

Unlike many coaches, ahem Tom Coughlin, the players are held accountable in the context of the team, not the media.  Rex Grossman cost the Bears some games this year, but you'll be hard pressed to find a negative quote from any Bears player or coach about him.  I can guarantee that doesn't mean it's been sweetness and light at Halas Hall this season.

The same is true in Indianapolis.  My 84 year old grandmother picked up 100+ yards against the Colts run defense at the end of the year.  The toughest thing Tony Dungy said, publicly, about them was "we have to get better."  I'm guessing they got the message in another way.  I'm also sure that because of their respect for their coach, they looked at themselves and held themselves to a higher standard than any coach could rightfully expect.  They didn't want to let coach down, they didn't want to let each other down.  And now they are Super Bowl Champs.

We were lucky to have two role models for positive, constructive coaching in the biggest game of the year.  I live in Chicago, so I was rooting for the Bears.  But going into the game I knew that great coaching would be the ultimate winner.  As a fan I hoped it would be the Bears, as a coach, I couldn't lose.

Congratulations to the Colts, it couldn't happen to a better man — except maybe Lovie

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had the chance to have a quick email conversation with Morgan Singel.  Morgan is the founder of Kids First Sports Safety and the friend of one of my baseball confidantes, Tom Foote.

Morgan's company has created training programs for several sports, from football to bowling, based on the principle of teaching fundamentals in a safe controlled manner.  They stress good body position and balance, while incorporating skills and proper technique into their programs.

Looking through their website I was impressed with the number of participating park districts and colleges and the enthusiasm from the parents. 

"Coach Singel brought me on the field and showed me what a difference a solid body balance position can make in blocking and tackling, the kids feel safer and now I feel safer about Joel playing." (A letter of thanks; says): I feel more comfortable with him starting football with your safety camp as a spring board.

- Merrie Peterson

Morgan did have a reason for our email conversation.  He wanted to tell me about a football camp he's running this summer at Elmhurst College for players from junior high through college.  it's a five day overnight camp; check-in July 8 @ 3:00pm and check-out July 13, 12:00pm.  The players stay in the Elmhurst College dorms and use their facilities.

If you need a last minute Christmas gift or are otherwise interested, you can register On-Line at KidFirstSports.net, or by phone at 888-890-KIDS (5437).

Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing. - John D. Rockefeller

It's easy to say that a coach should support his players when they are struggling - especially if you aren't a fan of that team.  It's apparent in the abstract that if a player is working hard and challenging his abilities, mistakes will happen.  Supporting your players allows them to push the envelope and accept the results — good or bad.

But when that struggling player is on your favorite team, then things seem to get a little more complicated, just ask anyone living in Chicago…

Last week I wrote about Mathias Kiwanuka and his bad week.  I was critical of his coach's unwillingness to publicly support his player.  That stands in stark contrast to the situation in Chicago.  Coach Lovie Smith is sticking with his quarterback, Rex Grossman, even when the entire city is ready to toss Rex into Lake Michigan.

After last week's game (Dec. 3), where the Bears won but Grossman played poorly, Coach Smith was asked repeatedly if he would change quarterbacks.  Rather than review Grossman's problems, or deny that he was struggling, Smith reiterated his support.  "We are 10-2 with Rex as our quarterback", "Rex is our quarterback". "There is a difference between perception and reality, The reality is we are 10-2 with Rex as our quarterback", ad naseum… 

There isn't anyone outside of the Bears organization willing to support Rex Grossman. Lovie Smith's public support of Grossman is costing him support from the public.  When the Bears were undefeated the talk was Grossman for MVP and Smith as Coach of the Year.  Now Grossman couldn't start on a Pee-Wee team and Smith is too stubborn to be an effective coach.  Both of those may be true.  I don't know enough football to make that call.  But even if Smith threw Grossman under the bus it doesn't change the roster, Rex Grossman would still be there and Joe Montana wouldn't.

A coach doesn't have to please anyone, including his team.  But a coach does have to keep his team's respect.  That is where this situation can get difficult for any coach.  How do you support a struggling player without alienating the other players?  That answer is different for every team, but it has to start with communication.  When players and parents know the situation and what you are doing to make things better, you will gain respect and support.  I think that is the approach Lovie Smith is taking — although I don't know that he is including the parents…  Why do I think that?  I haven't read or heard a single player make any comment remotely critical of Grossman.  Not even the guy who would benefit the most — the second string quarterback.

Without so much as a sneer, Brian Griese declined to answer how many snaps Lovie Smith had allotted him Thursday at practice.

"If Lovie wanted you to know that, he'd probably tell you," Griese said calmly. "That's why practices are closed."

Big difference from the Giants situation.  There the coach doesn't hesitate to call his players out publicly and the players don't hesitate doing the same thing.  Yet the Giants are in a free fall, losing four straight coming into this weekend (Dec. 10), they are bickering on the sidelines, complaining in the papers.  I can't imagine there is a lot of positive communication happening there.  Those guys are professionals so they have to stay there — there is too much money at stake to do anything else.  What would happen to your team if you communicated like the Giants? or the Bears?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas… and if you want to get anything from Amazon in time for the big day you better order soon.  Here are some of the things I'd like to see under my tree…

The gifts that one receives for giving are so immeasurable that it is almost an injustice to accept them. - Rod McKuen

So, what do you get the kid who has everything?  Well, if you are Dan Hinkle from Fairfax County, Va then you get your 12 year old son his own football league.

Wow, what a gift to give your kid — and all the other ones that get to play in the league.  They get to play great competition from across Northern Virginia.  Except that this league wasn't built for the kids of Fairfax County, it's sole purpose is getting Scott Hinkle time and experience playing defense.

"Scott does not sit out on defense — ever," the commissioner, Dan Hinkle, had warned the head coach, James Owens, in an e-mail sent before the season began about how he should play Hinkle's son, 12. On defense, the father said, "he goes in and stays in. That includes all practices, scrimmages and games. This entire league exists so he can play defense on the best team in his weight class. . . . He is my son, I own the league, and he plays every snap on defense."

Oh, he can play offense too, but that doesn't mean he comes out on defense.  I guess that means there aren't any playing time rules in this league.  Although when you own the league you can make the rules fit your needs.

But why is this news.  We've seen plenty of bad parent behavior.  Compared to parents berating kids on the sidelines, telling the coaches your son must play every snap on defense seems almost quaint.

This is news because they won and it still wasn't good enough.  The coaches moved Hinkle to guard on the offensive line because it gave the team the best chance of winning.  I'm sure we've all had to have a talk with a parent about putting a kid in a position because it's the best for the team.  Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it doesn't.  But I've never had to tell the league owner.

Owens (the head coach) said that the day after the game, Hinkle called him and asked him whether Scott had played defense in the game. "I said, 'Your son played offense. He played well and we won the game and we're going to the playoffs.' He said, 'You're fired.' "

Well, that's the way to keep things in perspective.  It's apparent to me that Hinkle hasn't kept things in perspective, maybe he should talk to one of his son's teammates:

"I really didn't want to play for anyone else," said Michael Holland, 13, a seventh-grader who is the middle linebacker on the team. Owens is "a good coach. He's nice. He listens."

The good news for the kids is that they did get to play one more game.  League officials (No, not Dan Hinkle) organized a game for the kids to make up for the playoff game they wouldn't play when the coaches were fired.  The kids got to play another game and, likely, Hinkle will get the lesson he deserves.

Several parents of Raptors players, however, said they don't want their sons to play for South County under the current arrangement of one-person league stewardship. Tyrone Simpson Sr. said he planned to pull his son, Tyrone Jr., 12, from the team because things had gotten so ugly. Simpson said Hinkle had too much power and had abused his position, an opinion voiced by several other parents.

It's just a shame that the kids are caught in the middle.  Although some parents seem to understand what it's about.

"The boys want to play ball," said Cindy Rist, whose son, Sarosh Gilani, 12, is a Raptor. "All of these parents and commissioners need to remember what it's all about. It's about the kids getting to play."

There is only one success - to be able to spend your life in your own way - Christopher Morley

So, we are nearly into October.  Here in the States we are well into football, soccer and fall baseball season.  I'm sure you are all well on your way to fun, fulfilling seasons — right???  Well, on the off chance that there is trouble in River City, I'll send you to an MSNBC article to make you feel better about what you are doing.

The article is titled "When coaches should hit the bench " and it's about over bearing coaches.  The author, Jacqueline Stenson, highlights the findings of a study presented by the American College of Sports Medicine.  The study surveyed 376 parents of elementary and middle school kids involved in organized sports.  It asked questions concerning the coach's behavior and their response to the behavior.

Parents reported that their kids' coaches had used disciplinary measures such as extra exercise (64 percent), verbal scolding (42 percent), public embarrassment (18 percent), suspension (8 percent) and striking or hitting (2 percent).

Public embarrassment and hitting a child are absolutely unacceptable — no excuses, however the other disciplinary measures all depend on the kid's age and context of the situation.  It's vital to keep control over practice, but if you find yourself resorting to sending kids out to run laps frequently it might be you, not them.  Step back and check your practices to make sure you keep the kids occupied and check your own attitude.  It can be tough and coaches can get burned out.  When that happens instead of getting crabby, maybe it's time to get a little silly.  Remember that the kids — and you — are there to have fun.  Run a drill where you get to run some and, if possible, laugh a lot.  

Someone who is willing to step forward and help is much more courageous than someone who is merely fulfilling the role. - Margaret J. Wheatley

Friday I wrote about Silent Saturday, the effort by some youth leagues to silence parents and coaches for a game.  I wrote that the intention was good but it doesn't tackle the root of the problem - lost perspective.

This week the focus shifts from youth sports to the high schools with three articles in the nation's papers "mercy" rules.  Those are attempts to limit or, in one case, penalize lopsided scores.

Sunday's Chicago Tribune has an article by the High School columnist, Barry Tempkin, comparing the administrative responses to a blowout in Connecticut and an overzealous father in Pennsylvania.

We offer for your consideration a football coach who showed good sportsmanship but was almost penalized under a rule aimed at preventing bad sportsmanship and a football dad who gives a whole new meaning to the term "quarterback sneak."

The Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference passed a rule suspending a coach if his team wins by more than 50 points.  Many other states have "mercy" rules, but they generally require a running clock in football and basketball or other efforts to speed the conclusion of play.  Penalizing the coach may seem like it's attacking the problem, but it attacks the problem from the wrong end.

He got in trouble for defeating Bridgeport Bassick 56-0 on Sept. 15. According to the New York Times, Central substituted liberally by the second quarter, when the score swelled to 49-0, and the team stopped passing by the third quarter, when a third-string running back scored a touchdown.

At that point about all Cadelina could do to obey the rule was let Bassick score. But to tell your players to miss tackles or stop playing hard makes a mockery of the game and humiliates opposing players more than a 56-point loss.

Gregg Sarra, from New York's Newsday, has a similar take on the same situation. 

So if the third-string linebacker intercepts a pass and his team is up by 45, he should forget about taking it to the house and get out of bounds for fear of having his coach suspended?

Sarra goes on to recommend the rule adopted this year in Northern Virginia, a running clock in the second half if the point differential reaches 35.  The running clock rule seems to be the way mercy is administered in most states.  A Google News search for "running clock rule" returns articles from a dozen different states.  The rules aren't uniform, but the intention is the same, get the game over with and limit the humiliation.

But what if the losing team doesn't want mercy?  What if they want their moment in the sun, even if it's currently giving them 3rd degree burns?  That is the question asked by some Virginia high school coaches in Preston Williams' article in the Washington Post. 

What's more demoralizing for a high school football player: a Friday night shellacking or being bailed out by a rule that helps prevent the score from becoming even more lopsided?

One coach cited in Williams' article made the argument that the running clock limits the opportunities his team has to test themselves against other teams.  He wants to use that time to work with his younger players and get them experience.

W.T. Woodson Coach Trey Taylor asked an official whether he had the option of not invoking the mercy rule in his team's 43-0 season-opening loss to Centreville. He wanted his players, particularly his young quarterbacks, to get varsity experience against the Wildcats' substitutes. His thinking: Woodson's starters, and Centreville's subs, don't work year-round to play beat-the-clock on Friday nights. They work to test themselves against players from other schools.

"To not give coaches an option, to me, is crazy," Taylor said.

I'm not sure I would want to be on the business end of a 50 point beating, but I can understand the coach's point.  Especially with football, there are precious few opportunities to play all out.  Anything that eliminates those chances hurts your team.  Like "Silent Saturday", these rules are implemented to because some coaches forget their priorities and think if 50-0 is good, 60-0 is better.   Those coaches only last as long as they have better talent coming to their team, because they aren't developing their players for the long term.  Playing the third string may mean the score ends up 50-14, but next week or next year one of those players might be the difference in a 21-20 game.  Or maybe that third stringer gets the only playing time of his career and he now has a story to tell.  As the Positive Coaching Alliance puts it, it's time we all started honoring the game.  Remember that the game is bigger than any one coach or player and the game goes on after this game ends.

Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men. - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Don't worry football coaches, I haven't forgotten you… The other day I profiled a free resource for soccer drills , today it's time for some pigskin action.

USA Football has assembled a ton of information on the coaching section of their website.  Out of all of that information there are two areas I want to send you to.  The first is the Coaches Guide.  The guide is set up like a play book with tabs for Overview, Philosophy, Getting Started, Practice , Game Plan, Techniques , Offense, Defense , Special Teams and Health & Safety.  Many of the tabs are further broken out into sub-categories and they have some meaningful information.  For example the Techniques tab contains six sub-categories including one on tackling.  There are two drills in the article and they are detailed as to purpose and technique.  Remember, stay true to the purpose of the drill , cut ANYTHING that doesn't support the purpose.  If you're looking for some insight or just a couple of extra ways to get your kids to make the play, check out the coaching section of USA Football.

The other are I really liked on the site doesn't have it's own tab and is easy to overlook.  At the bottom of each page of the Coaching Guide is a link that looks like this:

From this link you choose from a list of dozens of offensive, defensive and special teams plays.  After selecting a play, you can see the alignment and hover over each position to see that player's detailed assignment on the play.  Once you understand the assignments you can run the play to see how it looks in action.  The animated plays are a coach's dream, the offensive plays all end with a touchdown and the defensive plays all result in a loss of yardage, but your mileage may vary…

The other areas on the site are a little sparse.  Few of the Featured Articles are recent, but there is still some good information in there.  I like the "Calling All Coaches"  and "Parents as Resources" articles, but then I would…

If you are a football coach, check out the Coaching section and the Interactive Plays before you spend time rummaging around the rest of the site.  There are interesting nuggets throughout the site, but most of the gold is in those two areas.

Nobody's a natural. You work hard to get good and then work to get better. It's hard to stay on top. Paul Coffey

Recently I spent the afternoon at the Chicago Bears training camp.  Besides seeing sixty large sweaty men beat up on one another, I also had a good reminder of a coaching fundamental.  Every drill had a specific purpose and nothing that didn't contribute to that purpose was allowed.

The Bears were practicing a swing pass, actually they were practicing the blocking scheme on the edge.  The running back lined up in the backfield, the guards lined up on the line and the linebackers lined up on the defensive side.  When the play started, everyone ran to their position, but instead of having a QB throw the pass, a coach was kneeling near the spot the running back would make the catch.  The coach tossed the ball to the running back who turned up the field with the ball following his blockers.

A quarterback could easily make the swing pass.  Even if it isn't a QB on the roster, any coach could make that toss easily enough.  But the pass wasn't the focus of the drill.  The focus was getting to the right spot and making the correct read.  Even if only a couple of passes were dropped, that is time not spent learning what the coach wanted from that drill.

When you are putting together your practice remember the drills don't have to look exactly like the game.  You can — and should — make changes that allow you to focus on the important pieces.  I'm sure on another day the Bears had the QB's and RB's doing nothing but running the swing pass for 30 minutes.  But the guards and linebackers were off doing something else.  Determine exactly what you want to accomplish with each drill and ruthlessly remove anything that doesn't contribute.