I was wanting everyone's opinion on having Spring Football practice / workouts. I have heard opinions both in favor of and against it. Some believe that it risk an early injury to a player, some very serious that may keep the kid out of the fall camps and/or regular season. Have also heard that it's really not needed bc it's only a couple of weeks and a lot of kids may be in baseball, track or other spring sports and that hurts them in both. (kids would be trying to attend football practice as well as obligations with other sports at the same time).

Others say that Spring Football is good, especially in getting incoming freshmen and/or kids that didn't play the prior season introduced to what is expected, drills, weight training introduced, conditioning programs / running, etc..

I am in the group that favors spring football. Spring workouts don't really have to be as physical as later (pre season) but I feel that any and all time for a team to bond, work on individual skills, basic offense / defensive sets. Also, should kid have a baseball game, track meet, etc. then of course they could be excused w/o penalty. Should teams want to add a spring game / inter squad scrimmage then that imo is a good way to raise a little money for the booster clubs.

Anyway, was just tossing the question out there, I'll put a poll on it just to get an idea but basically wanted to know what everyone feels about spring football and if I'm favor of full psds / hitting or limited to no hitting (helmets/shorts) ?

Edited June 5, 201610 yr by oldrambler

More football the better

If like to see gets that are going to be incoming freshmen and get others like maybe 2-3 scrimmage games before getting to start high school. Basketball gets a lot of games in the summer. I'd say allow 2 varsity scrimmages and a JV scrimmage before the end of May before it gets too hot.

It ends up being 5 full contact practices. A week of practicing full contact in full pads, and 5 practices that aren't full contact.

 

To me, that's not a length of time that I would think is supremely critical to the development of players. Can 2 weeks be valuable? Yeah. But, I really don't think missing spring ball is the difference between a state championship and not.

You currently can't use incoming freshman.

Smaller schools many times struggle to get enough kids out to even have a scrimmage. Between Baseball, Travel Basketball and Track in the spring it's hard to get many kids to football practice.

Smaller schools many times struggle to get enough kids out to even have a scrimmage. Between Baseball, Travel Basketball and Track in the spring it's hard to get many kids to football practice.

That's a good point and why I mentioned that in my post. Raceland, for example is a very small school and some athletes that play football are also in track and / or baseball. That, should a kid have a baseball game or track meet imo can be excused.

I just am in favor of spring football. Anytime a team can get together to form unity or and/or work on individual skills (what they need to improve on most) imo is a good thing. I am not a coach so obviously I don't know from that point if it helps, just can't imagine it hurting.

Maybe someone will check after the season, see how the team finishes and if they had spring workouts or not and form an opinion, I don't know.

It ends up being 5 full contact practices. A week of practicing full contact in full pads, and 5 practices that aren't full contact.

 

To me, that's not a length of time that I would think is supremely critical to the development of players. Can 2 weeks be valuable? Yeah. But, I really don't think missing spring ball is the difference between a state championship and not.

 

Not just a state championship, but there are many of them that still just aren't flat out worth a crap.

 

I'm about the same as you Snakes. Is there some value? Sure...especially if a school has just hired a new coach. It gives some days there where all can get an on the field feel for each other (maybe some install of the new system). I think one of the biggest, if not the biggest plus of spring practice is from a player evaluation standpoint. But, to think it makes the slightest difference come August-December is nothing more than wishful thinking IMO.

 

Like others...I'd like to see incoming freshmen be allowed. They can play freshmen ball in the fall as 8th graders in the previous fall, not sure what it'd hurt practicing with those same younger guys a few months later.

Edited June 6, 201610 yr by Harry Doyle

I'm against spring football for selfish reasons. I really like AAU basketball and baseball. I'm not in favor of forcing a kid out of the big 3 sports into a single, year round, sport.

I voted "doesn't matter" because IMO it truly doesn't matter when it comes to a team's success. Good to have but certainly not necessary.

I'd like to see the young guys get an opportunity to get indoctrinated into the HS program, just not at the expense of baseball.

I voted "doesn't matter" because IMO it truly doesn't matter when it comes to a team's success. Good to have but certainly not necessary.

 

How I voted as well.

You can never have enough individual drill time with your players in my opinion. Spring practice is a good time to start getting your guys ready for summer practice and seeing some of the results from your winter weight program. It's also a great time to evaluate potential backups if you have starters missing and give kids some extra TLC they might not get during the season.

Gets kids out of the weight room and doing football drills, even small schools can do it with limited numbers.

 

 

Is the option to skip it there to add an extra scrimmage or am I thinking of a different state?

It be nice if the incoming freshmen could play with the to be sophomores because some are about in the same age anyways and I see no problem with. Have ages 13-15 together and then 16-19. I guess the rule is in effect because they don't want them on the field with kids 18 and older. If that's the reasoning then I agree with it but atleast have it where they can be with kids in there age limit. But in the regular season it will and could happen with a 14 year old playing against a 18-19 year old.