The coaching thread

[MacDaddy77]

Is there a spring football league in Calgary? My son turns 8 in April and would like to try football this year but the information i can find points to just fall leagues. This conflicts with his hockey schedule.

He wants to try football but loves hockey so can't do both at the same time.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Is there a spring football league in Calgary? My son turns 8 in April and would like to try football this year but the information i can find points to just fall leagues. This conflicts with his hockey schedule.

He wants to try football but loves hockey so can't do both at the same time.

Atom, Peewee and Bantam all play at the same time which is after school starts, but they usually have camps that happen starting in July.

There might be a flag league in the Spring, but no tackle until later on.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Is there a spring football league in Calgary? My son turns 8 in April and would like to try football this year but the information i can find points to just fall leagues. This conflicts with his hockey schedule.

He wants to try football but loves hockey so can't do both at the same time.

Honest question for you because I'm curious and please understand I am in no way judging.

Given what we know about CTE, are you comfortable with your 8 year old playing football?

I ask because I played and I love the sport as does my son but I really don't want him to get involved. Between hockey and football I think it's just a lot of risk.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Honest question for you because I'm curious and please understand I am in no way judging.

Given what we know about CTE, are you comfortable with your 8 year old playing football?

I ask because I played and I love the sport as does my son but I really don't want him to get involved. Between hockey and football I think it's just a lot of risk.

Its a risk in any sport, for football we've worked very hard on teaching kids how to hit safely and take hits safely.

Last year we had one kid that received a concussion. The year before 2.

Every sport whether its soccer or football or hockey or baseball there's a risk in terms of a concussion. There's no guarantee at all in any sport.

However, if you are going to enroll your kid in football, make sure that you talk to the head coach and coordinators and position coaches and make sure that they're teaching safe contact and are certified coaches with safe contact and the making ethical decisions course. Also as well. I would encourage you to attend practices and make sure that the coaches are taking time in every practice to teach safe contact. For our team we spend 10 to 15 minutes each practice going through safe contact.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Honest question for you because I'm curious and please understand I am in no way judging.

Given what we know about CTE, are you comfortable with your 8 year old playing football?

I ask because I played and I love the sport as does my son but I really don't want him to get involved. Between hockey and football I think it's just a lot of risk.

It’s a pretty fair question. At some point, we had decided that it would be either hockey or football for our boy, and he had already been playing hockey so hockey it was. I just feel like that’s a lot of contact sports.

I’m definitely not judging anyone as my knowledge of the subject matter is very unsophisticated. Although it doesn’t appear to be true at the pro level, I feel like concussion risk is maybe higher in hockey? My boy has been a little on the shorter side so seems much of the contact occurs near his head. He has had one concussion and one that probably was.

I believe the good parenting and coaching occurs once the young athlete sustains a concussion. How quickly is it properly diagnosed and how do you deal with it are what counts IMO.

[CaptainCrunch]

A big part of the safe contact course is learning about concussion identification and concussion protocols during the game and following the back to play protocol

To be honest, I tend to be hard on the safety side. If a kid takes a shot to the head that I don't like and he comes off the field with any short term symptoms of a concussion, I don't care what the trainer says, I'm not putting him out on the field for the rest of the game, and I've taken some heat from other coaches for that philosophy.

But if a kid comes off dizzy, or confused, or his eyes don't look right, I'll walk him over to the trainer right then, Coaches shouldn't take chances no matter how good the kid is.

I've also had kids go out, take a monster hit, and then go out on the next play and be paralyzed or scared, I'll make sure that he comes out of the game for a while until I can talk to him.

I give parents credit for putting their childs safety in our hands as coaches, we as coaches should make sure we pay that back.

[CaptainCrunch]

Look, this sounds weird, but if any of you are parents, and you want to put your kid in a contact sport and want to talk about it, or get an understanding of things like concussion protocols or back to play protocols or anything else, I'm always willing to have that conversation either over the phone or in person.

[MacDaddy77]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Honest question for you because I'm curious and please understand I am in no way judging.

Given what we know about CTE, are you comfortable with your 8 year old playing football?

I ask because I played and I love the sport as does my son but I really don't want him to get involved. Between hockey and football I think it's just a lot of risk.

I let my kids decide what they would like to pursue. they have had the opportunity when available to try any activity ( so far for both it's been soccer, dance, climbing, swimming, lacrosse, hockey, basketball and Equestrian). My son loves Hockey but really loves watching football with me a wants to try it, while my daughter has picked equestrian and soccer (for now) as her sport of choice. I don't believe that holding them back due to the possibility of the risks associated. I've had concussions from falling on ice walking, sometimes accidents just happen and I'm not going to take the joy of playing sports away because of the potential something might happen.

[Lubicon]

Hockey has taken huge strides (minor hockey) in terms of concussion awareness in my opinion. Hockey Canada, and in turn Hockey Alberta, and in turn Hockey Calgary have a new policy again this year regarding concussion whereby essentially a player is not allowed to return to play without medical clearance from a doctor - end of story. Players suspected of having a concussion are to be assessed by a doctor and don't return until cleared by a doctor. I really like this as a coach as it removes all decision making, diagnosis etc. from both the coach and more importantly the parent. Suspected concussion?- you are out until proven otherwise which I think is a good thing.

This season all minor hockey head coaches in Calgary were given a small whiteboard like most coaches have/use with the ice surface on one side for drawing things out. The other side is filled with concussion information - how to diagnose one as a coach (or if you suspect one), what the symptoms are, that to do next etc. There is absolutely no reason for a coach to not know what to look for or what to do now, they have made if very simple.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

It’s a pretty fair question. At some point, we had decided that it would be either hockey or football for our boy, and he had already been playing hockey so hockey it was. I just feel like that’s a lot of contact sports.

I’m definitely not judging anyone as my knowledge of the subject matter is very unsophisticated. Although it doesn’t appear to be true at the pro level, I feel like concussion risk is maybe higher in hockey? My boy has been a little on the shorter side so seems much of the contact occurs near his head. He has had one concussion and one that probably was.

I believe the good parenting and coaching occurs once the young athlete sustains a concussion. How quickly is it properly diagnosed and how do you deal with it are what counts IMO.

I should have clarified. He's playing hockey, which we determined was enough CTE risk for the both of us.

[CaptainCrunch]

Bump

there's a Football coaching clinic at the UofC on Friday the 2nd of March and Saturday the 3rd (and also March 4th.

Guests include

Devone Claybrooks
Jaccques Chapdelaine
Don Sweet
Dan Dorazio

Topics

Offensive Line
Pass Rush
Coaching kickers and punters
Strength and Conditioning

The Sunday is the NCCP Competition Introduction, which is mandatory if you want to coach.

On the Friday there's also a coaches mixer.

I've always gone to these and they're always fabulous.

Its $100.00

You can pre-register on line at www.elitecoachingclinic.com for those that are interested

[BOSSY]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

I let my kids decide what they would like to pursue. they have had the opportunity when available to try any activity ( so far for both it's been soccer, dance, climbing, swimming, lacrosse, hockey, basketball and Equestrian). My son loves Hockey but really loves watching football with me a wants to try it, while my daughter has picked equestrian and soccer (for now) as her sport of choice. I don't believe that holding them back due to the possibility of the risks associated. I've had concussions from falling on ice walking, sometimes accidents just happen and I'm not going to take the joy of playing sports away because of the potential something might happen.

I believe one of the best ways to keep a kid safe in a contact sport is starting them out early - they learn from day one the safe way to play... Speaking for myself our son is now 17 has played hockey since he was six - he played three years of Quadrant hockey AA and last year Midget AAA and has played both Cowboys Pee Wee, Bantam and now Midget football... He has had one concussion - last spring in Midget football when he ran into a teammate. Maybe he's been lucky I don't know but I think the training he has had to hit/tackle and play safely has gone a long way in protecting him...

I really have to commend the Woodson crew for their dedication to teaching young kids the right way to play football - they do an amazing job of teaching the right and safe way to play... I think there camps are called AIM High - look into them if your kid is starting out highly recommend their training...

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by BOSSY

I believe one of the best ways to keep a kid safe in a contact sport is starting them out early - they learn from day one the safe way to play... Speaking for myself our son is now 17 has played hockey since he was six - he played three years of Quadrant hockey AA and last year Midget AAA and has played both Cowboys Pee Wee, Bantam and now Midget football... He has had one concussion - last spring in Midget football when he ran into a teammate. Maybe he's been lucky I don't know but I think the training he has had to hit/tackle and play safely has gone a long way in protecting him...

I really have to commend the Woodson crew for their dedication to teaching young kids the right way to play football - they do an amazing job of teaching the right and safe way to play... I think there camps are called AIM High - look into them if your kid is starting out highly recommend their training...

I hate to ask, but which Bantam Cowboys team did he play for Grey or Navy?

Maybe I coached your son

wouldn't that be a terrible thing

[CaptainCrunch]

Yup Aim high.

[BOSSY]

He was Grey both years of bantam - Coopers teams

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by BOSSY

He was Grey both years of bantam - Coopers teams

My team

[CaptainCrunch]

I'm almost afraid to ask who your son is, but I don't want to pry