Sports for Your Child

This blog post is intended, mostly, for parents who are just getting their kids into tackle football.  There are certain suggestions that impact more experienced players or those who are switching teams as well.  

Youth tackle football practices will begin within the next month.  If your kids are new to tackle football, buying equipment is very exciting, especially if they’ve watched football on televison.  Don’t get ahead of yourself on buying the equipment though.  The first thing you should do is talk to your son’s football coach to find out what the team requires from it’s players. 

You will have some very important considerations:

The team colors can have an effect on some of the accessories that you purchase such as : helmets, gloves, and cleats. Your child’s helmet can be specific in color so find this out before you buy.  Also, helmets can have many upgrades, mostly in the area of protection from head injuries.  Gloves and cleats don’t have to match the uniforms, but if you have a choice why not go for a matching color.  Remember it’s not only important how they play, but they must look mahvelous (thanks, Billy Crystal).

The position your child plays can impact the shoulder pads that they wear as they get older.  If they are going to play a line position, the pads should be more protective.  At skill positions, players need to have flexibility in their pads so they can lift their arms up high for a pass.  As your kids get older, you should have a pretty good idea of their position, although this can change at any age. 

The coach of your team may have an arrangement with selected stores for your purchases.  If they don’t and you want to save money, you may want to check into a store that sells used equipment.  This is your choice, but I always error on the side of good protective equipment.  By the way, I’ve had good luck buying equipment online, in many cases you can save many and get more options. 

If you purchase visors for helmets, be aware that leagues may prohibit dark colors.  This is for the safety of your child because, if there is an injury the attending coach/caregiver will need to see your child’s eyes to make an informed decision as to how to care for your child.

Football is almost here.  Can you feel it!

Rich Rosdal Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea Child, cleats, colors, equipment, football, gloves, helmets, Kid, Players, purchase, shoulder pads, skill, uniforms, visor, youth

Most americans understand the game of baseball, right? Maybe not. This blog is a brief, easy to understand overview of America’s Pastime.

In baseball, each team fields nine players on defense. There are three outfielders, four infielders, a catcher and a pitcher. The pitcher throws balls from the pitching mound to the catcher who is positioned behind home plate. The batter from the other team, who is standing next to home plate, attempts to hit the ball.

There is an imaginary rectangle which is the width of home plate and extends from the letters on the jersey down to the knees of the batter. This rectanglular area is called the strike zone. When the pitcher throws the ball, to the catcher, if it passes within the strike zone and the batter doesn’t swing it is called a strike by an official called the home plate umpire. Also if the batter swings and doesn’t hit the ball, no matter where it is pitched, it’s also a strike. Three strikes and the batter is out. If the pitcher throws four balls (outside of the strike zone and the batter doesn’t swing) the batter goes to first base on a “walk”.

If none of the defensive players can catch the ball on a fly or field the ball and throw to first base before the batter can reach the base, the batter has a base hit. If the batter tries to extend the hit by running to second, third or home plate and gets tagged out when they’re not planted on a base or having touched home plate they are out. The last base they reach determines the type of base hit that is recorded.

At the youth levels, different age groups play a different number of innings and with different rules. Additionally, there are different sponsoring organizations in the United States that have different rules.

An inning is when each team has an opportunity to send at least three batters to the plate with a chance to get on base. Each teams “at bat” is not complete until three outs are recorded. The other team tries to get three outs as quickly as possible. The object for the defense is to limit the number of runs that score.

There are four types of base hits:

1) Single – The batter reaches first base safely
2) Double – The batter reaches second base safely
3) Triple – The batter reaches third base safely
4) Home Run – The batter reaches home plate safely

Whenever a runner circles the bases, either on their own hit or after reaching base and then being “driven in” by a teammate, their team scores a run. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.

There are many more intricacies to the game, but this is just a basic overview.

Rich Rosdal Parents Parlor athlete, baseball, catch, Child, defense, hit, Kid, player, position, run, sports, throw, youth

If you’re a sports fan, you’ve probably heard about the problems that brewed between Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels, head coach of the Denver Broncos football team. This blog is intended to put this situation in focus for youth athletes and parents.

Unless a coach is abusing your child, the coach is always right, period! Many things happened, behind the scenes, that led up to this disagreement between the coach and his player. Jay Cutler had hurt feelings over the fact that his coach and co-offensive coordinator/quarterback coach were dismissed from the team without his agreement. Now, listen very carefully, the quarterback is very important to any team, but he better not run the show.

Josh McDaniels, as the head coach of an NFL football team has made some mistakes. Who hasn’t?  He may have hurt Cutler’s feelings but we don’t know what happenned behind the scenes.   Based upon how Coach McDaniels has conducted himself so far, I think he will be one of the best coaches in the NFL.  The trade for Kyle Orton and three draft picks will probably help to rebuild the team.  I never felt that Cutler was accurate, at all, on long passes.  Orton or Simms can play within a system and that’s what Coach McDaniels was looking for.  Here’s a bet that the QB of the Broncos has a higher passer rating than Cutler this year.

To bring this back into perspective for kids and parents, there are times in life when we don’t get our way. It’s a shame, but life isn’t always fair! We must be resilent enough to “go with the flow” in life.  If a coach, parent, teacher or boss thinks that we should do something a certain way, then that’s what we should do unless it is illegal, immoral, or hurts people. As a person who has been a youth coach, I think it’s important to hear the player out, but at some point somebody has to make a decision. It can’t be the player and it should be the head coach.

Since Jay Cutler wanted to be traded, it would not have been good for the Broncos for him to have stayed.  He should have been traded. The Broncos received great value and Cutler will probably go back to being an up and coming player.  It sounds like a win/win situation to me.

It’s just my opinion, but I don’t recommend the Jay Cutler method as an approach to life and I have told my kids that I’d be disappointed if they lived their lives in that manner.

If you don’t agree with me on this or any issue, please let me know as I always welcome different perspectives. Just click on “comment” and you’ll be able to express your opinion.

Rich Rosdal Parents Parlor, Player's Panacea Child, Coach, football, player, Quarterback

America loves football, as evidenced by the fact that, according to Reuters, the cost of a 30 second Superbowl commercial reached $3 million dollars in 2009. Wow!

How did American Football evolve to the game it is today? There are many historical references on the web that differ in their facts, so the dates will be somewhat vague intentionally.

This series of posts, will provide an overview of the history of American Football. You’ll be able to read about youth, high school, college, and professional football. Since the amount of information about American Football is so vast, the subject couldn’t be covered, successfully, in one blog post.

We’re interested in your opinion on this subject. Please feel free to comment.

Rich Rosdal Sports History athletes, attitude, ball, block, catch, Child, children, Coach, College, football, high school, hit, player, position, primer, Quick, sports, youth

The first person that was paid to play the game of football was William (Pudge) Heffelfinger in 1892. In 1896, the first completely professional team played a two-game season.

The National Football League (NFL) was established in 1902; with Connie Mack, the manager of the Philadelphia Athletics Baseball team, contributing to it’s formation. The rules were continually refined over time, while the NFL initially mirrored rule changes made by colleges. In 1933, the NFL made a departure from college rules and began molding the professional game to reflect the style of play that they felt was most exciting.

In 1959, the American Football League was created and began a serious rivalry with the NFL. Throughout the years many leagues were formed to compete with the NFL, but not until the AFL was there such serious contention for players, fans, and interest. Finally in 1967, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs, 35-10 in the first Superbowl. The game was televised by CBS and NBC.

In a process that began in 1966 and was completed in 1970, the AFL was merged into the NFL. Besides expansion teams, that merger represented the formation of the NFL that we know today. Two conferences were formed, the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference which closed resembled the two merged leagues.

The game is still refined every year at the professional level (the NFL Competition Committee at the Annual Owners Meeting) to protect the players from career or life threatening injuries. There are many dissenters among the ranks of pro football alumni, but football is a great game and will not be harmed by an emphasis on safety.

References:

There are excellent historical videos that can be seen on the NFL Network on Television.

The most detailed historical reference, that I found, for American Football can be found at: http://www.nfl.com/history Just select a decade and enjoy the mounds of information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League

We’re interested in your opinion on this subject. Please feel free to comment.

Rich Rosdal Sports History Child, football, formation, NFL, refined, Rules, sports

Please Note:  These position primers are intended for the youth level of lacrosse only.

A seventh grade defenseman with his long pole.

There are three dedicated defensive players positioned on the field when a team is at full strength. Now this isn’t totally true as the three middies also play defense and they should be dedicated. The distinction is that the three defenseman primarily play defense. In most cases these defensemen will use a stick that is longer than the other sticks on the field. This longer stick is, fittingly, called a long pole.

The primary responsibility of the defenseman is to prevent the offensive team from scoring. The defensive player can be positioned on any offensive player in a man to man scheme. In a zone defense, the player will be responsible for an area or zone and will do their best to guard that territory.

Very often, coaches will place less athletic players on defense. This doesn’t work out very well since a good defender should have quick feet and be able to mirror the offensive player’s movements. As kids get older, it becomes apparent that good, athletic long poles are critical to the success of the team.

Strength is very important, as the defenseman will want to check the opposing player to disrupt the flow of a play. Since lacrosse is a team sport, it is necessary for a long pole to “slide” over when a teammate loses control of the offensive player. The sliding player becomes the secondary defender when this occurs.

Defensemen Attributes at a Glance:

Quick
Strong
Adaptive
Selfless
Physical
Aware

Rich Rosdal Lacrosse Positions aggressive, athlete, ball, block, catch, Child, defense, Fast, hit, lacrosse, pass, Play, player, position, Power, primer, Quick, reflexes, run, skills, sports, Strong, throw, tough, vision, youth

The attack player is primarily responsible for offensive production. There are three attacks on the field when the team is at full strength. Two of the attack players (wings) are usually positioned on the imaginary line from the front of the goal toward each sideline, which is called the Goal Line Extended (GLE). The other attack player should be at the X position, which is behind the goal.

The wings can be used to get an angle on the goal and score when they have an open shot. The X Attack player is similar to a point guard in basketball because they can create goals by finding the open player. It could be one of the wing attack players or one of the middies. This doesn’t mean that the X player can’t score, but it will be the second option after finding the open player.

Another responsibility of the attack player is to run after the ball, after a shot, since the closest player as it goes out of bounds will maintain possession. If the ball goes out of bounds on a pass, the last player to have touched the ball inbounds will forfeit possession.

There are many potential formations in lacrosse and the locations mentioned above, for the attack players, will be different in some other formations.

When the ball is turned over to the other team all offensive players become defensive players. If the attack players excel on defense there is an opportunity to recover the ball.

Attack Attributes at a Glance:

Quick
Great Stick Skills
Excellent Shooter
Good Passer
Vision
Tenacious

Rich Rosdal Lacrosse Positions athlete, Child, lacrosse, pass, Play, player, position, Power, primer, Quick, run, skills, sports, throw, vision, youth

Rich Rosdal Football Positions athlete, ball, Child, children, football, pass, Play, player, position, primer, Quarterback, run, sports, Strong, throw, youth

This is the second article in the series “Football Positional Primer”.

The running back can be the focal point of the offense, if you’re lucky enough to have that special player that possesses a good mixture of the attributes required. I have been fortunate to watch two of those players on one team. Both of those boys played with my oldest son and they are now, in fact, on the same high school team.

Speed, by itself, can be the difference between an average running back and a standout. In the earlier years, at the youth level, most players aren’t aware how to use angles to meet a faster player. This gives the faster player a tremendous advantage! I have often heard that speed can’t be taught, which I have learned is not accurate.

Balance is essential for a running back as they might receive multiple hits on any run. The ability for a running back to keep their footing after a hit, can lead to many sizable runs. If you have a running back who can average six to eight yards per carry and is not prone to fumbling the ball, you can dominate time of possession.

Power is a great complement to speed, but, in of itself, may be reason enough to give a player the ball. The running back who can run through tacklers is like a wrecking ball to the opposing defense. This has an erosive effect on the will of the opposing player. Eventually defensive players may be less inclined to get in the way of this type of player.

Agility is another desirable attribute for a running back to possess. The player who can make a quick cutback can turn a short run into a touchdown especially if they have speed as well.
Running Back Attributes at a Glance

• Speed
• Power
• Agility
• Balance
• Field Vision
• Quick Reflexes
• Good/Strong Hands
• Good Blocking Ability
• Lack of Height isn’t a Problem

Rich Rosdal Football Positions Add new tag, catch, Child, Fast, football, hands, hit, inside, outside, player, position, primer, Quick, reflexes, run, sports, youth

Rich Rosdal Football Positions Add new tag, athlete, ball, block, catch, Child, football, linebacker, Play, player, position, Power, primer, professional, Quarterback, run, sports, youth