Let Them Play: From the Recreational League to the Bowl Championship Series
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About this ebook
Volunteer coaches in recreational leagues for youngsters can make a difference, but its important that they have the tools and wisdom to be great leaders.
Renwick Jones, who has coached a variety of sports, shares proven tips to help overcome challenges on the recreational level. In this guidebook, youll learn how
recreational leagues can prepare students for higher levels of competition;
coaching staffs can prepare youngsters for the future;
parents can contribute to the success of the team.
Youll also get tips on coaching kids from all types of socio-economic backgrounds and learning levels, with different temperaments and personalities. Keep in mind that you might be coaching children with attention deficit problems, autism, or other personal challenges.
There are many lessons that can be learned through the vehicle of sports, but it is essential to provide young student-athletes with solid fundamentals, including sportsmanship, teambuilding, and the character needed to succeed in the future. Become a better coach and leader, and Let Them Play.
Renwick Jones
Renwick Orlando Jones, a native of Gadsden, Alabama, earned a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism from Alabama State University and a master’s degree from Auburn University. He formerly worked at several radio and television stations before starting a career in higher education. He is the vice president of alumni affairs at Stillman College, and he lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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Let Them Play - Renwick Jones
Copyright ©
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ISBN: 978-1-4759-1606-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-1607-2 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-4759-1608-9 (dj)
iUniverse rev. date: 5/8/2012
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION: THIS IS WHY YOU COACH IN THE RECREATIONAL LEAGUE
CHAPTER 1 IN THE BEGINNING: COACHING IN THE RECREATIONAL LEAGUE
CHAPTER 2 BUILDING YOUR COACHING STAFF
CHAPTER 3 WHAT AGE IS TOO YOUNG TO PLAY?
CHAPTER 4 GETTING PARENTS ON YOUR TEAM
CHAPTER 5 THE IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE
CHAPTER 6 COACHING YOUR OWN CHILD
CHAPTER 7 FUN AND GAMES
CHAPTER 8 COACH-SPEAK AND FACING OTHER COACHES
CHAPTER 9 FROM THE RECREATIONAL LEAGUE TO THE BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
CHAPTER 10 PERSPECTIVES ON THE BOWL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
CHAPTER 11 A FAN’S PERSONAL APPEAL TO THE HEART AND MIND
CHAPTER 12 CREATING A LIST OF ENEMIES
CHAPTER 13 WHAT A PLAYOFF MIGHT LOOK LIKE
CHAPTER 14 MONEY AND FORTY YEARS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RESOURCES
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank my parents, Robert and Vivian Jones, for always being there for me.
I’d also like to thank my mentors, City Councilman Tracy Larkin of Montgomery, Alabama; noted motivational speaker Dr. Earl Suttle; Dr. C.C. Baker and his wife, Jean Baker, for their lifelong encouragement; and my master’s thesis chair at Auburn University, Dr. Margaret Fitch-Hauser, who always told me to stay focused!
On the cover, left to right: Cagan Campbell and Isaiah Shatzline of the Central Falcons, and Bryant Stampede of the eleven- and twelve-year-old division of the West Alabama Youth Football Association. James Jimmy
Dillard, University of Notre Dame Class of 1988 and member of the 1988 Irish National Championship team, and Lawrence L. C.
Cole, #81, 1979 graduate of the University of Nebraska and first black captain of the Cornhuskers’ football program. Photos courtesy of Ms. Kristi Schatzline, Mr. James Jimmy
Dillard and the University of Nebraska.
Foreword
31_a_h.JPGTwo-time Super Bowl Champion Dennis Dirt
Winston of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Steelers
As a player, I won two Super Bowl Championships with the NFL Pittsburgh Steelers in 1978 and 1979, and as an assistant coach, I won a Grey Cup in 2005 with the Canadian Football League’s Edmonton Eskimos.
Over the course of my career, I have been fortunate to have extensive coaching and playing experience with teams from Canada to the Deep South. From my humble beginnings as a junior high school football player to a scholarship athlete at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a Super Bowl champ in the NFL, there aren’t many things in the arena of coaching and playing that I haven’t experienced, except one—I did not get the opportunity to play recreational league ball growing up!
Why? Simple! There was no recreational league or Pop Warner
where I grew up in Marianna, Arkansas.
I did manage to play in the American Legion Baseball League, but I didn’t play football until I was in the seventh grade. I was a starter on the varsity team. Though I was blessed with a great athletic ability, my road to the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville was a bit rough because I did not play football during my senior year in high school due to riots that broke out at that time.
I still received over fifty scholarship offers from major Division I schools because I was good in football and basketball. I was fortunate, but I wonder how many young boys and girls out there are also gifted in sports but lack the opportunities to grow athletically and learn the powerful lessons sports can teach.
This book will give you all the tools you need to reach aspiring young athletes in your community, take them under your wing, and develop them into great athletes and good people.
It will show you techniques of how to coach and mentor young people and how to equip them for the biggest game of all—life.
For me, there were three coaches who had a tremendous impact on me while I was growing up. They were Antonio Hobbs, my junior high basketball coach; Chester Bailey, my junior high football coach; and James Banks, my high school basketball coach.
They had such an impact on my life that I still remain in touch with them even today, long after I played for them.
If you have a heart for coaching young people in a recreational league, I urge you to read this book. The rewards of coaching and making a positive impact on the life of a young athlete are endless.
Remember, the young kids you coach in the recreational league today will be our stand-out college athletes of tomorrow!
Introduction:
This Is Why You Coach in the Recreational League
001_a_h.JPGTwo-year-old J. B. Leatherwood of Clay, Alabama (2010). Photo courtesy John and Lacey Leatherwood and the Birmingham News
Meet J. B. Leatherwood. J. B., two years old at the time, was attending Fan Day for the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB) football team in the fall of 2010. Look at the expression on J. B.’s face. He’s excited about meeting the football players and getting their autographs.
As J. B. gets older, his interest in sports will grow. He’ll probably ask his parents to sign him up to play a sport in their local recreational league. Now here is where you, the recreational league coach, come in.
There are so many lessons to be learned through the vehicle of sports, so it’s important that you capture the excitement of eager, young student-athletes and provide them with the solid fundamentals of the game: sportsmanship, teambuilding, and character traits they will need as they grow older.
Sure J. B. is cute at this age, but don’t get caught up in that hype! He and others like him represent the future of youth sports, and as a recreational league coach, it’s incumbent on you to harness that youthful excitement and exuberance they have for sports and use it to teach them how important it is to study and maintain good grades in school, to represent themselves and their community well, and to know the value of winning and losing.
Teach your players and their parents the value of good habits, such as exercise and healthy eating, and teach them to stay away from drugs, alcohol, and performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids.
You have the power to place a child on the right path in life through athletics, because you are not