Let me tell ya how this whole training plan thing went down. Woke up last Tuesday thinking Greenfield High’s team needs some serious conditioning work. Grabbed my rusty clipboard – yeah, that one with the splintered edge – and hauled my butt over to their practice field before sunrise.
The Awful First Attempt
First dumb idea was trying fancy ladder drills. Big mistake. Half the kids were tripping over their own feet by the third rep. Saw Bobby Mueller faceplant right into the mud. Took one look at those confused faces and scrapped the whole thing right then. “Alright guys, forget that garbage,” I yelled. Felt like a total idiot dragging those ladders back to the storage shed.
Pulled the quarterback aside later. “What’s actually killing you out there?” Kid just wheezed, “Coach, my lungs wanna explode in the fourth quarter.” Lightbulb moment right there.
Backyard Experiment Time
Next morning, dragged my nephew out behind my house. Started testing basic stuff:
- Did hill sprints behind old man Johnson’s fence
- Made him push my pickup truck down the gravel road
- Tried dragging cinder blocks with a rope like some caveman workout
The truck pushing? That actually stuck. Kid was huffing like a steam engine after two shoves. Saw his legs shaking same way Greenfield’s line does late in games. Took notes on my phone with muddy fingers.
The Real Deal Drills
Rolled up to Thursday practice with a busted stopwatch and zero patience. Made ’em do three things on repeat:
- 20-yard bear crawls (looked like drunk raccoons at first)
- Tire flips using that bald spare behind the equipment shed
- Partner carries where skinny receivers had to haul linemen
Man, the whining was something else. “Coach this is stupid” “My arms are falling off” blah blah. Even Tommy Briggs started groaning and that kid never complains. Didn’t let up though. Made ’em finish every damn rep.
The Kick In The Pants
Here’s what nobody tells you about training high schoolers: you gotta make ‘ feel like champions during the misery. Started yelling garbage like “You think State champs quit?” and “Fourth quarter winners right here!” Half believed it myself by the end. Funny thing happened though – when the whining stopped and the heavy breathing started, actual work got done. Saw linebackers pushing through when I thought they’d collapse.
Best moment? When Jimmy Carter actually finished the last tire flip and vomited in the bushes. Kid gave me a thumbs-up through the puke. That’s when you know it’s working.
Simplest stuff made the difference too:
- Showed ’em how to drink water WITHOUT choking themselves
- Made ’em stretch properly even if it took extra time
- Yelled “KNEES UP” about nine thousand times during sprints
Ended up skipping half my planned fancy drills anyway. Players kept gasping, so we just repeated the basics til sundown. My clipboard notes? Basically just “more truck pushes” and “bigger cinder blocks” scribbled next to a grass stain.
So yeah. Turns out winning football ain’t about clever drills. It’s about making winded teenagers push heavy crap til they feel invincible. Who knew?