Just Football 24/7

My son played select football now for three years. This season with the GA Giants has been the best ever for my son. Not only he learned many football skills and technique but also gained an overall experience and appreciation for the game which tops any Middle School or semi fun/competition league like the FFL. My son is eleven and played on the 11/12 GA Giants team (www.gagiants.net) this team as is right now could probably beat any Frisco Middle Schools teams around with points to spare. I honestly think that even a ninth grade team would be subject to loosing against them easily!  During the Middle School season we went to several football games visiting with past friends from prior playing years. I have to say that looking at the Middle School play football and then on the weekend look at the select football teams play it’s like the difference between night and day! No comparing there, it’s like watching a clueless bunch of four year olds playing pewee soccer. It’s not about finding and choosing specific talent. Playing select football is about placing the kids in the proper spot and being able to mature them in the game. This is something that no Middle school or any other for “fun” leagues can do. That is why parents with even the remote inclination of having your child possibly mature in this game should consider select football!

I am so proud of all these boys on the Giants and what they have accomplished together, Nico, Sam, Jack you all are the best! My hats off to the coaches!

// Category City Football Leagues, Select Leagues // 1 Comment »

Longhorn Classic

If you are ready to take your team to the next level, consider testing the waters in a football tournament.  There are many tournaments that are offered in the post-season for those teams and/or players that want to continue to develop their skills or show-off their talent.  One such tournament in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is called the Longhorn Classic.

The Longhorn Classic starts Friday, December 4th and ends Sunday, December 6th.  The following age groups are eligible to play:  7/8 tackle, 9/10 tackle, and 11/12 tackle.  It is a well organized tournament consisting of teams from Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Each team is guaranteed to play 2 games.  Essentially, the first game will be played, then if the team wins, they move on to the next round and continue to play until they lose.  As long as the team continues to win, they will remain in the winner’s bracket and will play in the championship game.  If the first game is lost, the team will return the next day to play a game in the loser’s bracket.  If the team loses again, then there will be no further games.  However, if the team wins, then the team will continue to play in the loser’s bracket and try to make it to the championship game.

My oldest son played in this tournament last year and it was a great experience.  There was a lot of incredible talent and it was very educational to watch some of the teams execute their plays.  It did happen to be brutally cold for Texas, around 15° F.  However, when you love football as much as we do, we will play rain, shine, hot, cold.  Just bring it on.

Tags: football, longhorn classic, tournament// Category Tournaments // Add Comment »

Pray for Kate

A lot of times life hands you a curve ball! Please help support any cancer organizations in your area. Here is a great story of survival!!

Photos courtesy of Lidia Boicu (Oh So Posh Photography)

// Category Personal // Add Comment »

The sport of football has the most number of positions of any sport. The skills needed to play each position are extremely different. Consider this.  An individual’s athletic skill and size potential are the most important criteria. These can help decide an individual’s position potential based on skills needed for a specific position. Linemen for instance need to have a large build and strength to be successful. Skill positions (running backs, wide receivers and defensive backs) all need to have lean muscular builds, speed and agility to perform at a high level.

Athletic ability can be measured using a battery of physical tests. A forty-yard dash test is used to measure speed and explosion in an athlete. Explosion is key, particularly when playing in middle school and up.  Tools to help a player can differ.  Bench press and squat max lifts are used to find players upper and lower body power levels. A vertical jump measure is a pure test of one’s natural ability. This test provides the best measure of athletic potential.

Confidence, yes confidence you would think would be a trait any football player would posses, although after coaching my first year of tackle a realized there are way too many scared kids out there. Confidence or the level of aggressiveness plays a significant role in football because of the drastic contrast between offensive and defensive players.  A focused, and cool under pressure temperament is best suited for positions such as quarterback, wide receiver and kicker. While aggressiveness, ferocity and brash are traits tend to favor players on defense such as linebackers and safeties. All things being equal it is always best to have a balance of all of these characteristics. Regardless, if you don’t have the kind of ferocity needed you will not succeed at any positions.

- Quarterback: Intelligence, calmness, leadership ability, arm strength, upper body development and a tall lean build.

- Running back: Toughness, focus, agility, speed, balance, endurance and a compact muscular build.

- Wide receiver: Speed, hand-eye coordination, jumping ability, agility, focus and a tall lean build.

- Kicker: Focus, lower body strength and flexibility a soccer background.

- Lineman: Power, strength, aggressiveness, discipline and a large build.

- Linebacker: Aggressiveness, intensity, power, agility, and a large muscular build.

- Defensive back: Courage, aggressiveness, intensity, agility, quickness and a muscular build.

Each of the characteristics physical and personality wise are just criteria that most typical players at each position may possess. The measure of success in the game of football at any level mostly relies on the one intangible that cannot be quantified. The measure of an athlete’s heart, again, I said heart goes further than any physical or mental skill they may have. Players from the NFL such as Doug Flutie

, Walter Payton, Sam Mills, and Wayne Chrebet are examples of athletes with limited physical skills that have played the game of football at a high level. Walter Payton became the greatest football player ever. Payton overcame average athletic skill but with the heart of a lion was able to triumph. This shows that regardless if you are a star athlete or not having heart, dedication and determination at something goes along way, sometimes further then pure athleticism.

// Category Personal // Add Comment »

This post is not about sports, football or stats. If anyone ever had relatives or family with a cancer related issue would appreciate this story. Please donate to support this cause.

The Tiny Sparrow Foundation will soon be an established non-profit organization started by cancer survivor and passionate photographer Lidia Boicu. Lidia has endured a grueling battle with breast cancer and knows all too well how families are impacted any and all forms of cancer, especially those families whose children are the target of this unforgiving disease. During her journey, Lidia decided to use her love of photography as an outlet to relieve some of the frustration, anxiety, and pain she would be feeling at different times from chemotherapy and surgical procedures. If you take just a moment to view some of her work at Oh So Posh Photography, you will see that Lidia has been blessed with an incredible talent for capturing beautiful images, precious faces, and distinct personalities.

For Lidia, it wasn’t just enough to establish herself as a talented photographer. She wants to use her time selflessly to personally photograph children with cancer to capture a lifetime of memories for families who may not have a lifetime to spend together. Through her Tiny Sparrow Foundation, Lidia will be able to travel to families who have children with cancer to take pictures, then provide them with a photo album, Christmas cards, and irreplaceable images. She has already photographed precious Kate McRae and little baby Walker who are both suffering from childhood cancer.

Lidia’s fledgling Tiny Sparrow Foundation could use your support in the form of donations or just by spreading the news by word of mouth to your friends and families. Many great projects are in the works, but they all require funding. Lidia would like to network with other photographers so as to minimize traveling expenses. If you know of any photographers that would be interested in donating their time and services, please use this contact form. Lidia is simply asking anybody that is willing to help and that has it in their hearts to be part of creating some memories for families struck by the tragedy of cancer (or any other terminal illness) to donate whatever they can so she can get this started. If not, please take the time to spread the word and visit this site for updates and stories about the development of the Tiny Sparrow Foundation.

// Category Personal // Add Comment »

FFL

I started coaching my son’s 7/8 tackle team this year. Having watched my older son playing all these years I figured I had some experiences to share.  The shock of having to play in a league like the Frisco Football League where the so claimed non-profit organization strives more on actually profiting than actually placing kids and their football performance first is an amazing feeling to deal with.  They claim to be competitive but then not really. They also claim to be fair in their selection/draft, but not really. This year some new- upcoming team received certain players that had previous playing experience and other teams go handed the shaft.  But since this is about the kids I am going to focus on what’s really important to me unlike some others folks on the FFL board.

Practice… Good football teams are successful because they do all the little things right. It’s at practice where good teams work on these little things. Practice is the only way one can develop a hands-on familiarity with how to execute a new blocking technique or see how much more explosiveness changing your stance can give you. Practice is a time to run drills and work on plays to better equip you for game time. Essentially it allows time for the kinks to get worked out and to see what works, and what doesn’t.

Study your opponent and your own team. Does your next opponent have a star receiver? Is their defense susceptible to giving up big running plays? If so, that knowledge would be useful before the opening kickoff. With some sort of pre-game planning, you can figure out how to shut that receiver down or develop an effective blocking scheme to further augment your opponent’s problems with the run. You can work on your new strategies in practice (see step 1). But it’s also important to know where your own weaknesses lie. For example, if your own team has difficulty covering punts, maybe it would be a good idea to have your kicker work on aiming the ball out of bounds. Or, if your left offensive lineman is injured and has limited mobility, maybe it would be useful to back him up with your fullback.

Train..Football is a game of speed and strength. The better physical shape one can get in by game time, the better. Given that football requires a lot of running around, it would be useful to have a good cardiovascular base. It’s human nature to get lazy when we get tired. In football, that laziness can translate into a missed block and a loss of yardage.

Good Luck!!!

// Category City Football Leagues, Football Training // 1 Comment »

There are many great high school football programs available to students throughout the country.  However, only a handful of schools in each state offer the best high school football programs. We live in Texas, so I was curious to see how the 3A, 4A, and 5A programs in our general location stacked up to the rest of the programs in our state. If you would like to see how the high school teams rank in your state, visit eTeamz.

3A 2008 High School Football Rankings in Texas:

4A 2008 High School Football Rankings in Texas:

5A 2008 High School Football Rankings in Texas:

Tags: 3A, 4A, 5A, best high school football program, eTeamz, football, High School Leagues// Category High School Leagues // Add Comment »

We are a family of 6 with 3 boys and 1 girl and another boy on the way.  We love football and our oldest 2 sons have a dream like most boys their age…..to one day play in the NFL.  While this is a very ambitious goal and not easily attainable, we are trying to provide every opportunity to help them develop their football skills to the highest level possible.  Throughout our journey, we have learned a lot about the sport itself, places and camps that genuinely work with kids to teach the fundamentals, and leagues that offer higher levels of competition.  We would like to share our thoughts, ideas, and experiences as we continue this journey from elementary, into middle school, college, and beyond.

Tags: football, football game, NFL, youth football// Category Personal // Add Comment »