I have recently began Judo (3 mos.) and I have to say that I wish that local clubs were around when I played football. Since we didn't have wrestling, we missed out on a lot of the ancillary benefits of competing in a sport that requires so much muscular endurance, grip strength, balance, and hand fighting.

 

I can't recommend this sport enough for Linebackers, DLinemen, and OLinemen who want to supplement their school's offseason program.

I know some pro teams employee karate instructors as well.

To your GREAT point, I believe a good football program should be about developing the WHOLE athlete. So it must be COMPREHENSIVE, well-planned, and supervised by the entire staff...this allows the position coaches to evaluate their position players all year seeing improvement and being able to rate all the guys at their position. Emphasizing they are evaluated all year long makes the players at each position more accountable and keeps them from crying that you "play your favorites" when one kid gets more chances in the first few weeks of practice to earn

playing time than the one who maybe wasn't as 'present' during the off-season.

 

The following is from the off-season handbook we developed with the help of a lot of people a lot smarter than me (if anyone would want the full overview including strength, core, agility/quickness, plyometrics, linear speed, and flexibility training you can DM me and I'll send it to you).

 

* COMBAT/COMPETITION-training. I honestly don't care what it is between wrestling (we call it 'rasslin' since there are fewer rules), judo, or boxing (as the allowed us to do in Pikeville), but I think there needs to be an element of man-to-man, hand-to-hand combat sometime during the winter when going outside to do football-specific drills are less-likely.

 

You will learn more about the "fight-strength" in your athletes you could ever get from just crunching lift-max numbers. Think of that player you've coached who was "Tarzan" in the weight room, but played like Jane between the lines because the strength they developed never carried over.

 

An important element to this that has carry-over to the practice field is to REQUIRE that they fight as hard as possible to beat their teammate/opponent (just as we want them to do in pre-season practice when trying to beat out a teammate for a starting spot) but that at the end, no matter how heated it got during the 'fight,' they must fight within the rules and at the end show respect to the other. Just as during the season they must first view their teammates as competition for playing time but then see them as TEAMMATES once the depth chart has been developed.

 

This 'fighting phase' is from January through the middle of February. As the basketball season draws to an end and we start to gain more access to the gym, this moves to more competitions involving agility and more 'group vs. group' than the earlier individual contests -- this is when we start emphasizing that the "individual fight" they developed to win battles on the mat is only important as it relates to helping their TEAM/GROUP win the overall war.

I have recently began Judo (3 mos.) and I have to say that I wish that local clubs were around when I played football. Since we didn't have wrestling, we missed out on a lot of the ancillary benefits of competing in a sport that requires so much muscular endurance, grip strength, balance, and hand fighting.

 

I can't recommend this sport enough for Linebackers, DLinemen, and OLinemen who want to supplement their school's offseason program.

Where are you training?

Where are you training?

 

Son of Siam in Erlanger on Monday's at 7:30pm. (If athletes are so inclined, Jiu Jitsu is at 8:30, right after Judo) I am inconsistent on Judo due to it only being one class/week. I love it when I can get to it. On Wed. our Jiu Jitsu instructor (a black belt in Judo), teaches throws every couple of weeks. It is a tiring art for sure.

^Cost...pm if you want

Judo is a martial art great for leverage.

Boxing great for the eye hands.

Wrestling good for finishing a play. Even put kids in positions to see if they can get out of and finish.

 

Good topic. Let's keep it going. Anyone with any ideas keep it going.

It's a great sport. I would love to see this become a high school sport one day. I think the big problem would be lack of coaches.

It's a great sport. I would love to see this become a high school sport one day. I think the big problem would be lack of coaches.

 

Never thought about it becoming a high school sport. I could see it being a sport where only a select few compete, kind of like wrestling up here in NKY. I love it, plus as a spectator, the reaps, throws, and tosses can be extremely dynamic and exciting.

Some of Mayfield's players are taking it this offseason

When I coached at a local Div III school many years ago when had a LB come through the program who was a black belt (not sure of the discipline) when he arrived. He was not fast enough or big enough but he was almost unblockable. Agility, BALANCE, hand use, BALANCE, footwork, BALANCE.......ok you get me I'm sure. I loved football players who wrestled but until then I had not thought of martial arts. My guess is that yoga would also be very beneficial.

Son of Siam in Erlanger on Monday's at 7:30pm. (If athletes are so inclined, Jiu Jitsu is at 8:30, right after Judo) I am inconsistent on Judo due to it only being one class/week. I love it when I can get to it. On Wed. our Jiu Jitsu instructor (a black belt in Judo), teaches throws every couple of weeks. It is a tiring art for sure.

 

I was going to say I think BJJ is even better than Judo.

Son of Siam in Erlanger on Monday's at 7:30pm. (If athletes are so inclined, Jiu Jitsu is at 8:30, right after Judo) I am inconsistent on Judo due to it only being one class/week. I love it when I can get to it. On Wed. our Jiu Jitsu instructor (a black belt in Judo), teaches throws every couple of weeks. It is a tiring art for sure.

 

The place right behind them is great for conditioning and building core strength -- All-American Athletic Training Center. Agility, endurance, and strength training all in one.

 

Needless to say, I'm in favor of rasslin' too.

GCHS -- I got your DM about wanting that off-season overview, but need to EMAIL it to you; can't send a Word attachment through BGP.