Strength Coaching Responsibility

posted on:

No football coach worth his salt ever asks his players to take unreasonable risks on the field, so why do some strength coaches knowingly do so in the weight room? A “strength coach” is still a football coach, which means certain responsibilities are and should be implicit with the job.

When done properly, strength training has little risk, (and a tremendous reward, for that matter), which makes the following news reports all the more tragic:

The first article was from 2007, the second from 2012, both involving the very same exercise and both entirely preventable. The goal that was trying to be obtained in both situations could have been done utilizing any number of exercises with zero risk.



Heads Up Tackling

posted on:


A.J. Sliman, right, of the Katy (Texas) Youth Football league, practices Heads Up Tackling
technique last fall. Sliman suffered a concussion in a game the year prior. (ESPN Photo)

The “solution” (or at least one of the solutions) put forth for the concussion problem is to change how the game of football is played, namely adjusting tackling form in a “safer” direction.

Here’s an interesting story that made the front page of Espn.com just recently.

Questions about Heads Up Tackling By Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada

The bulk of the discussion on concussion issues centers on changes to equipment (ie. helmets and mouth guards etc) and the rules (tackling form, penalties for head to head contact, possible elimination of kickoffs etc) but interestingly, almost nothing is being said in the media in regards to changing the players themselves, which is essentially the thrust of our efforts.

It IS certainly possible to considerably strengthen the musculature involved which, in turn, helps dissipate the forces involved.

While we agree that the “heads up” movement is a step in the right direction, one of the flaws is that it ONLY deals with tackling while head to head contact is going on at many positions every single play.

As a former nose guard, I knew this full well – so any attempts to change the rules will only go so far in this regard (at least in my humble opinion.)

The article asks many of the right questions, hopefully the right folks are paying attention.

Train hard,
John Wood



Tackling Drills

posted on:

I’ll just come right out and say it: I hate tackling drills.

I don’t use the word “hate” lightly which should indicate how serious I am about this… and the reason I say this is because I suffered two major injuries that caused me to miss game and/or practice time thanks to throw-away tackling drills that served no real purpose.

The first occurred at the end of practice where my coach needed some “busy work” for us to do during the last 10 minutes.

In said drill, 6’7″ 320 pound Sheddrick Mitchell fell on my left shoulder, popping it out of the joint — the first major injury I ever had that was serious enough to keep me playing. I missed the six weeks and while I came back well enough to play, it was something that I felt for the rest of my career.

The second tackling drill was during spring ball, a series of cones are set up and the ball carrier, (which happened to be me) jogs, and turns up into the whole where a tackler awaits.

As the “tacklee” I did what the coach told me to do: that is, “go half speed and give a good look.”

The “tackler” evidently was not given the same instructions because when I turned up in the hole, he laid into me at all-out, full speed, driving
me backwards to the turf.

One of the last things I remember through the subsequent haze was the coach telling the tackler “good job.”

I smacked the back of my head on the ground pretty hard and sat out the next two weeks with what they said was a concussion.

It should be noted that whenever I was the ball carrier in this type of drill going forward, I put my head down and hit the hole at full sprint —
I always got yelled at but I also never got hurt again either.

Two other players got hurt in that very drill a few days later, one with a broken arm, the other with an acl injury.

Stupid. All. Around.

But why? …why were we even doing this drill anyway? It didn’t actually help us become better tacklers, I’ll tell you that.

Two things to consider here:

1.) My contention is that the opportunity for a
proverbial “form tackle” rarely exists in the
actual playing of the game. Such drills accomplish
little while also increasing the likelihood of injury.

They also take up time — practice time that could
be spent doing something much more meaningful, and
on that note:

2.) How does a team tackle “better?” Look at it
this way, if more players in a given play are able
to get off their blocks, then more players will be
in a *position* to either make the tackle, or hold
up the ball carrier long enough for others to join
in.

Even the best back is going to have a tough time running through 3, 4, or 5 defenders.

Of course, this is assuming that these players are coached to have the correct technique for getting off their blocks — a big assumption, and something I don’t see often — That’s a good topic for another time.

Otherwise, the take home here for my coaches is to re-evaluate how much practice time in taken up with “tackling drills” – I’d say that there are better options.

Train hard,
John Wood

P.S. Ellington Darden touched on similar topics almost forty years ago in his “Conditioning for
Football” book, check the chapter entitled “Drills, Drills, Drills” You can get a copy for Kindle
right here:

http://www.footballstrength.com/darden_football.html

P.P.S. The MSU Spartan Strength clinic is coming up in a few weeks, details can be found here if
you would like to attend.

Train like a Spartan!

If you want to talk more about techniques to help your players get off blocks and go make plays, I’ll be available there. This info just might help you win a few more games…



Pingry Strength Clinic

posted on:

The Pingry School in Basking Ridge NJ will be hosting its 4th annual Injury Prevention/Athletic Development clinic on Saturday February 15th. This years line up will include a coaching legend, a Division I Football coach, an Innovator in Speed and Agility Training, a professional Basketball coach and the list goes on.

Here are some of the topics that will be covered: Strengthening the neck to lower concussion risks…Speed and agility training…Sports Nutrition…And much more.

Speakers include

  • Jeremy Bettle – Strength Coach for the NBA Brooklyn Nets
  • Jay Hooten – Strength and Conditioning Coach for football (Northwestern U.)
  • Mike Gittleson – 30 year Strength Coach for the University of Michigan
  • Bill Parisi – CEO of Parisi Speed School
  • Matt Brzycki – Director of Fitness at Princeton University
  • Doug Scott – Strength Coach at The Pingry School
  • Rob Taylor – CEO Smarter Team Trainer
  • Adam Feit – Performance Director at Reach Your Potential

This is a fantastic line up of presenters who will be addressing all aspect of athletic development The main focus of this clinic is developing training programs that address the junior high and high school athlete with an emphasis on reducing injuries and protecting players.
For more information please reach out to:

Doug Scott
Strength and Conditioning Coach The Pingry School
dscott@pingry.org



Can Animals Help Limit Concussions?

posted on:

From The New York Times, JAN. 2, 2014

CINCINNATI — THE N.F.L. playoffs start tomorrow. During the regular season, the conversation about traumatic brain injuries in sports among doctors, players, league officials, politicians and parents seemed to gain in volume and intensity with each passing week. New revelations from retired N.F.L. players who announced that they had the progressive neurodegenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., helped fuel these discussions.

The key to beating the concussion crisis lies in dealing with what’s happening inside the skull, not outside of it. Because the brain doesn’t fill the skull, there’s room for it to rattle, be bruised or sheared, not just with every collision but with every sudden stop and even start — a phenomenon sometimes described as “brain slosh.” For athletes in contact sports, brain slosh has long been seen as inherent and unavoidable. But to make progress against concussions, we have to give priority in future research to minimizing brain slosh during game play. This means that we need sports leagues, policy makers and health care providers to emphasize primary prevention instead of damage control.

Read the rest of the article HERE



Anecdotal Evidence Provides Clues to Youth Concussions

posted on:

Anecdotal Evidence Provides Clues to Youth Concussions

From the New York Times, May 5, 2013:

“Youth sports concussion clinics operate at the center of America’s heightened awareness and increasing worry about concussions among young athletes. Listening to the hundreds of stories of how concussions have occurred, examining patients and monitoring their recoveries, the doctors and staff members are a repository of anecdotal and medical concussion information.”

The rest of the article can be read HERE