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Know your players
By Coach P | September 30, 2007
One of the hardest things to do, I think, is to get to know your players well enough to know what motivates them. The old saying “If you have 11 players on the field, you’ll have to have 11 ways of handling them” is true. Players have different personalities and different motivations and looks can be deceiving. A couple of years ago I had a tackle who was 6′2 and weighed in at about 340. Between the lines he could be a beast when properly motivated, but off the field he was a big ole sensitive teddy bear. Occasionally getting in his face would make him mad and he would go all out, but that usually only lasted about 2 or 3 plays. The best way to motivate him was to constantly pat him on the back and let him know I believed in him. He wanted to please everybody and as long as he knew you were proud of him, he played his heart out. Often times, if I yelled at him, he just shut down. The guard who played next to him was just the opposite. He got too comfortable when he felt that I was satisfied with his play. I had to constantly challenge him, make him think he wasn’t playing well, and question his ability in order to keep him motivated to play hard. A pat on the back was the worst thing I could do for him. All of those ploys were wasted breath on the center. I had to talk to him very logically like I would a fellow coach. He had an inner ability to motivate himself. He didn’t need me to do any of those things. All we ever discussed were x’s and o’s. He understood the game very well and all I had to do was make him understand the concept of the play and he made sure everyone was in the right place. Some guys, no matter how tough they may be on the field, need constant reassurance. Some guys need a constant challenge. Some guys are very logical and all you have to do is reason with them, make sure they understand and they will follow you. Some guys are very outgoing and fun loving and you have to make things fun or you will lose them. There is definitely a place for yelling and I tend to be one of the louder coaches on any field I’m on, but the key is to remember that the guys in pads are individual players and not programmed robots. Each one is going to have something that motivates him and the challenge, as a coach, is to find that thing.
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