excepting a position

Question
QUESTION: Hi Coach,

My son has played football for five years and now has a new coach. He went to try out for the positions that he has played in the past and the coach will not allow him to try out for them because he is the biggest kid on the team so the coach has put him on the offensive and defensive lines. He is not very happy about the move by the new coach. They have him playing Gaurd on the offensive line and Tackle on the defensive line. My son did not even want to play offense he only wanted to be a defensive end where he has played and proven to be the best player at this position. I want him to be a good team player but I can't help but feel for him. What would you suggest to motovate him at these new positions? Sorry for such a long question.


Tim

ANSWER: Hi Tim,

It sounds like a difficult position that your son finds himself in. I assume that he is a high school player. If that is the case he is pretty much at the mercy of the coach. As a high school coach in the past we often moved kids to where we felt their size, speed and skill would be best suited. Normally when we made a move like this we discussed it with the player first and gave him our reasons for doing this. Sometimes it is easier to accept a move like this with a coach you know.

In any event, he can do one of two things, he could talk to the coach and express his desire to return to defensive end and ask the coach to allow him to have the opportunity to prove himself there, or he can accept the move and work hard to excel at his new positions. It seems to me if he has a proven track record of success at the DE position that a coach would at least take a look at him there.

If your son is a youth player, you may want to get involved and try to discuss this with the coach in a reasonable way. Offering to meet in the middle sometime works, maybe he could play guard on offense and DE on defense.

Hope this helps a little.

Mark

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Hi Coach,

Thank you for getting back to me on this. My son is in 8th grade and he tried to ask the coach about playing gaurd and playing defensive end but the coach told him he will play where the &*&%%* he tells him and that is it. I am looking to get my son ready to just play the position the coach gave him but he is very down on this. It is not like he was asking to play one of the skill positions. Also he is very talented and feels as though he is getting stuck with one of the fat kid positions when he is not fat. This new coach is not going to work with us on this so I am just looking for a way to motovate my son to play the positions he was given. It is crazy because they want him to play every play from offense to defense and all the specail teams but are not letting him play any of them where he wants to play. I did not want to cause a problem because he plays evey down and for the last three years he has had to play on the two teams in our area. He played two games for the school every saturday and the new coach doesn't care. He has the new sheriff in town attatude. I do understand that they do not have anyone that can do what my son can but I think he should have at least been allowed to try out for the position he wanted.

Thank you again and any advise on motovating him would help.

Timothy P. Roncole

Answer
Tim,

You have a difficult situation on your hands. Jr. High coaches can be some of the most difficult as many of them are very inexperienced and certainly don't have skills to communicate well. In this case your son is going to be in a no win if he balks. I would suggest discussing this with him and telling him that he needs to give maximum effort to excel at the line positions. I am a former line coach and I can tell you that those positions are really important. Keep in mind he will soon move to a high school program with new coaches where he can get a fresh start.

Good luck with this,

Mark