The Be An 11! Quote of the Day 10.01.08
Catch the Fever Be An 11! BELIEVER!

You have within you right now
Everything you need to deal with whatever
The world can throw at you.
Brian Tracy

Question of the Day?
Isn’t that amazing;
What have you done previously thought to be impossible?
What might be next?

Here would be a good place to post up one of my favorites, but before I do, here are some things that we were able to do that others thought impossible:

1. You'll never get her to go out with you! But I did, and tomorrow we will have been married 45 years.

2. No one has ever won there; what makes you think you can? We went undefeated in the second year.

3. You can't afford that house. We bought it.

4. You'll never make it; we did. And so can you.

So here is one of my favorites:

It Couldn't be Done!
Edgar Allen Guest

Somebody said that It couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied,
It may be that it couldn't,
But he would be one Who wouldn't
Say so till he tried.

So he buckled right in
With a trace of a grin
On his face
If he worried
He hid it.
He started to sing
As he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done
And HE DID IT!

Somebody scoffed,
Nah . . you'll never do that.
Hurmp. . . at least no one
Has ever done it.

But he took off his coat
And the first thing we knew
He'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin
And a bit of a grin
Without any doubting
Or quit it.
He started to sing
As he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done
And HE DID IT!

There are thousands to Tell you
It cannot be done.
There are thousands to
Prophecy failure.
There are thousands
To point out One by one
The dangers that wait
To assail you.

But just buckle right in
With a bit of a grin.
Just take off your coat
And go to it.
Just start to sing
As you tackle the thing
That can't be done
And YOU'LL DO IT!

So, what things have you tackled and done that "They Said" couldn't be done?

Central Elkader, Iowa

Some of you will remember Tom Wilwert from the old message board we had. Got this from wife Jen RE his season.

Earlier they made news because the floods last spring ruined their field and they had a re-do on the field and played the first game for Homecoming and they won big.

Hi Everyone-
This past Friday night the Warriors beat Midland/Wyoming 55-7 to extend their winning streak to four. To our surprise today, Central has now been ranked by the Des Moines Register, a first in Tom's coaching career and I have no idea if Central has ever been ranked in school history. We'll be checking on that. According to one list they are ranked 7th in the state in their class and on another list they are ranked 9th. This Friday they play East Buchanan, another ranked team. Please keep your fingers crossed and the prayers flowing as Central attempts to make history Friday night. KWWL (Channel 7) just announced Tom's game is a nominee for "game of the week" for extra TV coverage and radio stations FM 100 and AM 600 WMT will be covering the game. Game time is 7:00.
Go Warriors!
Jen
Below are the rankings by the DesMoines Register
(Allen and June if you could cut it out of the paper and send it to us, we'd appreciate it)
CLASS A
1. MADRID 5-0
Last: Beat Van Meter 47-26
2. NORTH TAMA 5-0
Last: Beat English Valleys (North English) 53-7
3. SOUTHERN CAL (LAKE CITY) 4-1
Last: Beat Algona Garrigan 42-7
4. AHST (AVOCA) 5-0
Last: Beat West Harrison 55-0
5. EARLHAM 5-0
Last: Beat Southeast Warren 36-14
6. EAST BUCHANAN 5-0
Last: Beat Don Bosco (Gilbertville) 38-14
7. NORTHWOOD-KENSETT 4-1
Last: Beat Mason City Newman 29-7
8. ALTA 4-1
Last: Beat Kingsley-Pierson 64-7
9. CENTRAL (ELKADER) 4-1
Last: Beat Midland (Wyoming) 55-7
10. NEW LONDON 4-1
Last: Beat Winfield-Mount Union 32-26

BFS works. We did a clinic for Tom years ago. His story is the story of many of the thousands of coaches across the country who are coaching their hearts out in small communities, with no budgets, precious few good assistants, poor facilities. When I was there, they lifted on the stage. They had just enough equipment to get the job done. There were some very trying times and Tom certainly has been refined by fire as a coach. He has made steady progress over the past 10 years in both football and track, and I am sure that there has been carryover to all sports of the school as well. Good Luck Tom, we wish you all the luck. RF

EQ Quote of the Day: 09.30.08

EQ Quote of the Day: 09.30.08

Change is the law of life
and those who look only to the past or present
are certain to miss the future.
John F. Kennedy


Question of the Day?
What might you be missing?

Yes, what might you be missing. Yesterday we got word that Jacquie's 92 year old mother was taken tot he hospital back in Ohio. We scrambled around and got her on a place out of Portland at 5:00 AM today to get back there.

Things look to be stable, and they are running the endless tests that follow such an event.

The point here is, are you missing out on things today with your significant others? You need to plan to get there to see them. Do not put it off. You just never know.

It is something we all will face but are never prepared for.

Yes, what might you be missing out on? There's nothing that you are doing that is more important than your relationships . . . call them, Make plans to get together soon.

RF

Note: Look what came across my desk the following morning after posting the above:

"Do the things that you've always dreamed of doing NOW. Don't postpone them. My dad loved to be in the outdoors, but he was always so busy as a school principal that he didn't give himself that pleasure very often. He was going to do all his fishing and hiking when he retired, but he never lived that long. He died of cancer at 63. It was pretty wrenching to not only see him suffer so badly but also to realize that he had been cheated out of his dream." -- Fred Matheny, 53, writer, former English teacher

To that I say, Amen!

EQ Quote of the Week: 09.29.08

No on can become a winner without losing many, many times.

Marie Lindquist

Don Shula, NFL’s winniest coach (347 victories), suffered 173 losses and 6 ties to win Two Super Bowls

and coach the only undefeated season: The 17-0-0 1973 Miami Dolphins

Question of the Day?
In order to win big, will you push ahead despite the losses?

The Dominators!

As you can see, this past weekend I went to Idaho and saw my grandson Keeghan play football. He is 9 years old and playing in an 11 year old league due to his size: 5' 3" 125. He had to "cut" six pounds to make weight for the league. Go figure.

He plays for a team sponsored by Domino's, so they are the DOMINATORS. What a hoot! Seeing those kids taking things so seriously. You gotta love it. The team is undefeated half way through the season. They won on SAT 34-0. That's a lot of points for running 8 minute quarters. They had a defensive score, a punt return for a TD and two long scores.

You can log on and see the game at www.maxcast.com/Dominators Monday afternoon.

His coaches did a very good job. At practice the night before the game, they were running pre-game stuff. They asked for the KO Return team and had 11 guys, the right guys, out there the first time. Awesome. They knew how to line up, what their role was, and were excited about playing. Waht a great experience for a kid.

You knew on the thrid play of the game which team was FUNdaMENTALLY better. The other team tried to play shotgun - spread offense. Not a good plan. What are these coaches thinking. There are many, many teams a lot older and more experienced than they are that can't run that offense.

What would be he most important things that youth coaches should be teaching these kids? Here's my short list:

1. Proper stance and alignment: if you can get them lined up properly, in a good stance I think you have half won right there, especially on defense.

2. You have to teach them how to get out of their stance and block.

3. You need to teach them how to tackle.

4. You have to get the ball properly snapped.

5. Backfield timing and handoffs are vital.

6. Teach the kids how to run with the ball.

4. At this level, my experience says that throwing the ball is more advanced than catching the ball so pass offense is not easily executed.

If you can get these things done consistently without mistakes, you will win more often then that at the youth level, or even higher.

It certainly was fun to witness another generation getting started on the gridiron, an experience that is probably awaiting most of you.

On another note, sadly my wife Jacquie got word today that her mother is in the hospital back in Ohio with an apparent stroke, she'll be 92 next month. It is not easy being 7 states away. She will be on the first flight out in the morning. I would ask for your prayers for safe travels and speedy recovery.

LArias_4u said...
Coach Freeborn:I agree about the Spread Offense. I was coaching a youth football team (mostly 12 years olds) with a very talented QB and RB, and I tried to run the Spread Offense because I like the concept of creating one on one tackling situations. We turned the ball over 4 times in our 1st game, and I realized that there were too many opportunities for mistakes in the spread. I went back to the I Formation. Note: Even in the I Formation, running the option play proved very difficult at this age. Need to stick to FUNdaMENTAL football. I like the blog.

We Begin Again

Here we go again with another try at this blog thing. Last attempt did not work out. The idea here is that we have a forum where we can exchange information on coaching, training and sports. We had a message board a couple years ago, but it got hacked and attacked, so we had to take it down. We invite you to take part and be a regular contributor and post up your thoughts, help other guys out who have questions, share your wisdom from years of coaching.

So, here we go! How about those Beavers of OR State defeating USC! Certainly exciting. Did you notice them using EQualizer Flea Motion for their blocking scheme? Impressed the announcers. Also, did you notice that OSU was running "opposite the slant" of the defensive line?

Did you catch our quote of the day RE the win:

The Be An 11! Quote of the Day 09.26.08

Catch the Fever Be An 11! BELIEVER!

Don’t let the odds scare you from even trying.

Howard Schultz

Beavers are Believers

Question of the Day?
Be bold and mighty forces will come to you aid;

Do you Believe that?

This is one of the things we would do when facing old 52 defenses that like to slant their line. Being a fullback oriented offense, it was easy to teach the FB to bend opposite the slant (and block) of the O-lineman at the POA. For example, works really well against a slanting NG. Snap the ball, NG slants one way or the other, center just keeps pushing the NG in the direction he wants to go. FB steps directly toward the center, reads his block, and bends opposite the slant. Other offensive linemen execute 'cutoff' blocks to screen their assigned defenders off the ball carrier. Runner breaks the line and is into the secondary. Defenders are trying to play catch up to the ball carrier, they're out of position which results in lots of attempts at arm tackles.

We teach the FB the same techniques of running on the dive as well. We just read the block of the IOT. It is just that the defense does not slant very often. Executing this way is a reason our fullbacks averaged 8+ yards a carry every season.

One thing that made it better last night is the cutting ability of the running back. Not only did he bend opposite, he had the ability to stop on a dime, and literally jump to the open running lane and accelerate to gain more yardage. Interesting game to watch.

On another note . . . today my wife and I attend our grandson Keeghan's padded football practice for the first time. Jacquie and I were cracking up at what was going on out there on the field. Keeghan is a 9 year old playing on an 11 year old team because of his size: 5.3, 125#. We thought he might not keep up with the older boys, but he held his own.

We get to see a game tomorrow . . . should be interesting.

RF