Player Evaluation

One topic I have been thinking about for a long time is the topic of player evaluation. In my opinion, this is one of the most important topics that a coach must do. It is more important than research for new ideas and crucial for a coach if he wants to measure his ability to communicate, educate and motivate his team.

Definition of Player Evaluation:
For me, player evaluation is two phases. First is to measure the player to find out at what level of athlete he is. This is done more often than any other evaluation. This is measuring his size, speed, strength, speed and explosive abilities. We do this in the Bench Press, Squat, Power Clean, L-cone, Broad Jump, Vertical Jump, Pro-Agility, 40 and/or 20 yard dash among many other tests. This gives us an idea of where each player is as simply an athlete. When we accumulate this information, it will help us determine whether or not a player has the desired physical abilities he needs to play football. This information can be compared by position and by "standards" that have shown up in other research. Here in Sweden, we have all this information filled in on a portal the player reports to and are able to rate a football player's results. Each player can be compared to the team standard for international competition or the world standard. The portal allows a National Team coach to go in and review the results of a player over a period of time and also to compare those results to other international averages. It is a great way to identify athletic ability. It is also clear as to where an individual is in regards to his physical abilities. I mean a 5.0 forty-yard dash is exactly that. If a player can rep 100kg (225lbs) 15 times then that is what he can do. Club teams can use the same evaluation process and put together a battery of tests to measure the athletic ability of their players in Speed, Strength and Explosiveness. Compare to the other players on the team or the same standards at the national team. One super important key is to then monitor these results to see a steady rise, a platue or a dip in results, then  manage that situation correctly.

The second phase of the evaluation is all football. Now, I will interject this here. I learned this grading system from Tony DeMeo when I worked for him as his OL coach at Washburn University. So I give all credit to this idea to Coach D. Of all the different football grading systems I have used or seen, this was the one that I truly believe is one of the best I have every used. You can read more about Coach Demeo at his website and also more about the "Gun Option" along with thoughts on leadership and coaching http://tonydemeo.com/ That is simply giving credit where credit is due...
What we did basically is Coach wanted us to define "Effort." When you think about each position on the field, we wanted to give the players examples of things they could do that would show extra effort. It is so much better for a player to understand what the definition of effort was than to just hear a coach say "come on, you just gotta give me more effort" or "Try harder." By having a definition of what extra effort was, the player would have a clear picture of what it was we were looking for. Now, when a player was in on a play he would be graded simply with a + or a - based on whether or not he did his job on that play. We will say that on the play we are talking about, the player executed his assignment correctly and used good technique. So he did his job. He would get a "+" on that play. Now in order to get a "E" or effort point on the play, he had to do one of the things that were defined as extra effort on that play. Here is a sample of what an offensive lineman could do on a play, that if he earned a +, he could have the opportunity to earn an extra effort point:

• Pancake: Blocking a defender and planting that defender directly on his back.
• Heel Shot: A second level of the defense block where he cut blocked a defender and the defender went down to the ground, usually head first with his heels flying high into the air.
• Road Kill: What we called Lineman's block on a DB where he runs over him like a Mack Truck hits a deer.
• Wired: A pass block where we pass set and stick the guy right on the line of scrimmage and he gets no rush at all.
• Knock Down: I used this one for anytime an offensive lineman knocked a defensive lineman to the ground on a pass play.
• 2 Blocks on a play: Any time an OL blocked more than one defender on a play.
• Blitz Pick-up: Picking up a blitz by the defense.

There were few other things, but this will serve as a good example of what we defined as "Extra Effort". If we look at the examples you can see that if a lineman is doing these things, they require more than just blocking your assignment. We were looking for guys that "can play the game with passion" or guys that "had a fast motor." I will interject this...my own opinion based on my work on many different levels of National Teams here in Sweden along with 11 years worth of club coaching, is we need this type of performance evaluation in our clubs and national teams. Here in Sweden we have this "krav" (standard) we want players to be at physically in order to play at the National Team level. Niclas Carlsson is the mastermind behind this and I do mean mastermind in a good sense!! He has information based on the physical testing where we can  evaluate if a player SHOULD be able to physically compete on an international level. Those physical tests are compared with other national teams that take the same tests and the World Team. The first thing we as coaches usually say, is "old Sven is a hell of a player but he doesn't meet the standard so we can't look at him." This is where we need to be open and have a system where we can evaluate old Sven as a football player. Then if we see that he his an "effort" player, then maybe we can work with him on the physical part, which in turn will make him a better athlete and raise his level of play even further. At the same time, this gives us a chance to evaluate Björn, Sven's brother, who is one of the best "testers" but can't seem to block a pee-wee player. If we evaluate Björn we can work with him to develop his football playing technique and then he will become better at playing football, because he already has all the other tools...So back to the "Extra Efforts" you can see that a player who grades out at 95% with 3 EE's in 10 plays is a solid performer. He is doing his job good and he his giving extra effort about 30% of the time.  Now, if the other guy is grading out at 80% and getting 6 EE's in 10 plays, I would tell you to evaluate that boys mistakes and get him to do his job correctly at a higher percentage, but get him on the field. He is giving you a 60% Extra Effort quotient...he is out there knocking people off the ground, picking up blitzes, getting two blocks on a play...he is performing the game at a level that is great.

Now let's take a step back and evaluate the minus. If a player made a mistake on a play, meaning he did not do his job. Then we would not just write - on his grade sheet. We would identify the minus. Coach DeMeo had a system we used where the minuses were broken down into 4 areas:

• "A" was assignment. The player simply did the wrong thing on the given play.
• "C" was concentration which was technique. The player was not able to do his job on the play because he did not use the proper technique. Coach used to say that in order to use the right technique you had to "focus on the task at hand."
• "E" was a lack of effort. The player did not get his job done because he loafed. He didn't give effort. If this accord, it would most likely occur on the backside of a play. Isn't the backside of the play important to cut off the defensive pursuit? I will add here that the first two mistakes, are easily corrected by coaching. This mistake was simply not tolerated. This player needs to be set down an talked to as to what the problem is.
• "S" was a synergy mistake. In other words the player did not do anything to help the team on that play. Most usually was a penalty on a play.

So we would take all the minuses and see where the mistakes were being made. This is an extremely useful tool for a coach, because it is your report card on how you are coaching. Here is an easy example. You look at a game and you see that the majority of your minus A's (assignments) are happening on a certain play. Well that tells you as a coach that you need to get those guys together and work out what they don't understand in order to run that play. If you see that the majority of minus C's (concentration = technique) is on your pass sets on your 5 step game, then you need to spend some more practice time teaching the players exactly how you want the pass set executed. This allows you to really keep tabs on how to improve your players and get the most out of them and also allows you as a coach to evaluate the job you are doing.

Wrap up and Confession:

I know this has been a long one and I have had this on my mind for a very long time. I am a true believer that we are headed the right direction here in Sweden in most clubs and at the national team level. I also believe that if we are going to have a physical standard, we should also have a football performance standard. A system where live scrimmages, insides runs and 7-on-7 drills are graded at a camp, then you as a coach will really find who is the best player right then and there. I mean if you have a new guy that shows up at a camp and he is grading out higher than an old favorite. He is getting more effort points, then you have to get that player on the field. Now, time for the confession part...I was never able to totally use this grading system when I coached here in Sweden at the club level. It is a little bit time consuming. Back in the day when I was at the WU, I could come in on a Sunday morning after a Saturday night game and sit in my office and grade out every lineman that played in the game on his own individual sheet. It would take from about 8:00am to noon to get done.(Then me and the DL coach would go get a bucket a KFC and start getting ready for the next week). I had planned on using this grading system in preparation for the World Championships in 2007. I went as far as go through with the entire staff how it should work. I was not available to be at that camp because my new born son was in the hospital and the grading didn't get done like I wanted. But I think in a situation nowadays where you have film systems like Hudl and film after a practice is readily available, something like this would be extremely important and effective to develop players to their max and help coaches find the best players for the given game or tournament. At the club level, to be one or two coaches grading all the players, well it's tough, but it is do able. Some clubs do have bigger staffs and I think it would be able to develop those players to reach their potential faster. And don't forget that the players grades are also a report card to you as a coach on how well you are communicating your expectations.

Oh yeah, one more thing:

This system is built on the "Reward the behaviour that you want" philosophy. We would keep a chart of EE's throughout the regular season on a big board so every player could see how many EE's everybody else had. It increased the competition to be the "Effort Leader." We also had a standard set for each positon that if they graded out at or above a certain percentage and at or above a certain number of EE's they were awarded a certificate on Monday's practice following the game. We used unit EE's. Example, anytime the offense had a penalty on a drive, but over came that penalty and got a first down to keep the chains moving, everybody on the field received and extra effort point. It rewarded the behaviour we wanted. I could go on all night here, but this has been the most I have every written since I did my Senior English paper back in 1982. I hope that you find it useful, I hope that it is something that you can use and I hope it gets you thinking about how you can develop players both physically and in the area of football performance.

Good luck to all the Junior teams who have kicked off their season here in Sweden and good luck to the Senior teams that will kick-off soon. Also, to you Junior players that want to and will be apart of the adventure to the European Championship tournament...keep working, keep believing take it one step at a time. To you Senior players who are working to make the team for the World Championships 2015 which will be played here in Sweden...seize the opportunity...work hard, be physically prepared and be an EFFORT player!!

Good night...

And...I'm back

We have moved with a little help from our friends.

Well, since it has been over year since I have updated this blog, I thought it would be a good time for a post. So much has happened since my last update. January of 2012...seems like it has been awhile...anyways, We are now living in Karlstad, Sweden. This will be the first year of my life, since the fall of 1987, where coaching football is not my career. As of August 2012, I have started working at a school called Internationella Engelska Skolan in Karlstad. My job is Activities Director for the 7-9 grade. I also serve on the student care team and assist with the jr club one day a week. It is a good job and I work with great people and great students. My role allows me keep that "coach" feeling. 

But as I said, coaching has been my job and passion for the greater part of my life, so I have decided to use this old blog as my "team" and continue to post my thoughts, ideas, opinions about what is going on in football here in Sweden.

Finding Some Inspiration in Perspiration:

I have been following a lot of what has been going on in football here in Sweden over the past several months. I have had some good opportunities to be somewhat involved. I am currently coaching Sweden's Junior National Team (U-19) offensive line. There is a camp coming up this weekend with a game against Holland on Sunday April 28th in Helsingborg, Sweden. Another thing I was able to do was spend a Saturday in Örebro working a one day camp with their OL. We had a practice followed by a film session. It was a very fun and rewarding day (for me anyways...I am assuming the players enjoyed it too :-). I have had a couple of other opportunities working with individual players here in Karlstad and also a few opportunities that I could not fit into my schedule, but all in all, it sure has been fun to keep the whistle a little wet anyways.

     The other inspiration to re-activate this blog is actually because of the perspiration of others. If you want to really follow American Football in Sweden you need to follow SFN (Swedish Football Network) http://www.swedishfootballnetwork.se/ the guys that work the site are doing a really great job with articles, videos and news about what is going on in Sweden. You may have to use some google translate if you are not fluent in Swedish, but you will find the site very professional and it seems to be going strong and is here to stay. Another thing that has really inspired me lately is the formation of a coaching group on Facebook called SAFCO (Sweden American Football Coaches Organization). I have been around Sweden for just over 10 years. I have been involved a few times (sometimes with more effort than other times) with trying to get this organization up and running. It seems with the formation of this group on Facebook, it has stirred up a higher level of information sharing among the coaches here in Sweden than what I have ever noticed before. 

So that's it. After spending a very long time thinking some updates to "the old blog" it seems I have found a little inspiration out there to start it up again. No club team to coach this year. Going to finish up with the JLL soon, but no matter what, I guess I am and always will be a coach. So I'll use the time when I find it to update and share some thoughts around the game and also a few good stories. You may have heard the stories before, but I have a special talent to change them just ever so slightly each time...keeps them exciting every time.

Fundamentals, do you really have the patience for these?

How much time do you spend teaching a lineman (or any position) the proper stance? As an offensive lineman, your stance is THE "fundamental" that puts you in a position to execute your assignment. It's that simple. Without a good stance, a lineman will reduce his chances of taking off on the correct angle. If the stance is too wide, he will not be able to take a proper step, if there is too much weight forward he can't pass set quick enough, if he has his weight back on his heels, then he can't fire off the ball. It is extremely important to be in the right stance. So, the question is: do you really have the patience to teach the proper stance? I had this thought the other day after I had worked with some young linemen (and linewomen) here in Karlstad. I was watching the film of the drills I took these young players through and one of my repetitive notes was "need to correct stance."  That got me thinking, let's say I had these same players in the weight room and we were squatting. Let's say that one of them was putting their chin down and looking at the floor during the squat, what would I do? Well, I sure as heck wouldn't add any weight to the bar and just tell them to keep their eyes up. I would go back, review proper squat technique. Lower the weight if necessary and have them squat using the best possible form. Why would I take these same players and keep doing different blocking drills, without getting them in the best possible stance? That is the challenge for coaches today out here in Europe where you may be coaching alone. You may have a young player who is trying out this thing called American Football. Do we take the time to teach him the proper stance and see that he can repeatedly get in that stance before going to block somebody? Now don't panic here, I am not saying that you should have a two week camp where all you do is get in a stance. What I am saying is that as a coach, you have to have a high level of "attention to detail" and continually coach it to the players. Use a stance and start drill or block progression drill and write yourself a note on the practice schedule "check stances." Go into the huddle before the first play of team and tell the linemen, "gentlemen, make sure your stance is perfect every play." Follow that up by checking out the stances, praising the good stances and correcting the ones that need to be corrected. Stay on those little things. Those little things make big things possible!

If you broke down why a block failed. Why a lineman was not able to make that gap block or reach that guy. You will get back to one of two break downs in technique. One: it will be a bad step or footwork. Two: the stance the lineman was in did not put him in a position to take off properly to use the footwork he needed. Pay attention to detail. Start out with the fundamentals of a good stance, get in it often and fire out of it often.

Final words after a long break from the blog world:

So looks like my next update might just be how to get in a good stance...have done that earlier but that was a long time ago. In the meantime, it will be fun to keep up with the football scene in Sweden as just a fan. There are a lot of great things coming up. This year the Swedish Championship will be played at the new big arena in Stockholm. In 2014 the first ever University World Championships will be played in Uppsala, Sweden and in 2015 the Senior World Championships will be played at the same arena back in Stockholm. So it looks like American Football will have a chance to make a big move here in Sweden. Let's get the game out there and see how big it can be.

And lastly, a little look back at "the winter that just won't let go"

Early Morning Thoughts

Up early this morning, sitting on my front porch, thinking about football...and having some coffee...

A Good Read:
Just finsihed reading Pete Carroll's book "Win Forever." I would suggest this book to all young (and old) coaches for that matter. I would not say that there is earth shattering revelations in it or even things that you might have not heard before, but the book takes the reader on a journey of self discovery that is very interesting. Of things that stood out in the book, the idea "to do things better than they have been done before" stood out the most. That statement hit home the most in our little football community here in Sweden. I can assure you that you will here about "how good it was back then" or "things were better then" or "we should do like we did back then" in just about any conversation. I would say why don't we say "Let's do this BETTER than it has every been done before." That is not to say it wasn't good "back in the day" or put any disrespect on the pioneers of the past that have built the sport up here from scratch. It is putting our chin out there and saying, "OK, now is the time for us to build this sport and do it better than it has ever been done before." It would sure lead to some exciting times. How do we do that? In my world it is simple. We start as individuals doing our jobs in our clubs and trying to do them better than they have ever been done before. The more people (clubs) that do that, the stronger the "team" of American Football will be. Sound simple..it is..will there be set backs and bumps in the road..there will be...will it be worth it in the long run...yes it will.
So, read the book for a little inspiration. I get no kick back from Coach Carroll. I don't know him and the chances of him coming over to Sweden to say hi are slim to none..but it is a good read. By the way, it is NOT an X's and O's book. The X's and O's are the easy part of coaching. The book is about developing a philosophy and building relationships. Check it out...

A Quick Apology to Mrs. Ritchey and Mrs. Lewis:
Here is a thought that has been on my mind since I started to try and write a blog. I must apologize to the two English teachers I had growing up in Blanchard. Mrs. Lewis and Mrs. Ritchey were my english teachers from grad 7-12 at good old Andrew J. Terrell High School in Blanchard. I am openly apologize to them for my sentence structure and potential spelling mishaps. Sentence structure is just something we are going to have to live with.. The spelling will get bettter when I figure out how to get the setting on my spell check off of Swedish and on to English....anyways, ladies...my apologies..but it if fun to right stugg....I mean write stuff....

What's happening in Football:
SAFF just relased the names of the players called to the Juniour European Championships. This is an exiting time for those young men and it shows in their facebook status when they post about how excited they are that they saw there name on the list!! Great to see young people fired up about the upcoming tournament. You can read the names on the roster here: http://www.amerikanskfotboll.com/110729jem_slutlager.pdf
The Jets have 4 young men that have made that roster and I am quite proud of them and happy for them. I know they are serious and will have a great tournamnet. Two from my Elite program in American football have been picked. Markus Grip and Mark Rosenqvist. They are very hard workers and have done quite well in developing in the weight room and on the field this last year. Mark is one of only two young athletes that was born in '94 that made the roster. Best of luck to Team Sweden at the Junior European Championships. Work hard Coaches and players and build a great memory!!
The other big tournament that will actually kick off in a few days is the Senior World Championships. I had the honor of being the Head Coach for Team Sweden in Kawasiki, Japan at the World Championships of 2007. We finsished in 4th losing to Germany 7-0 in the Bronze medal match. USA beat Japan in overtime to win the gold. This year the tournament is in Austria and you can follow along at the following website:
http://www.americanfootball2011.com/en/ I can assure you that it is an ubelievable event to be at. Football players, coaches and fans from all over the world there to cheer their country on...maybe even NFL Network will cover it since there isn't too much happening right now with the lock-out. My predictions...USA vs Japan for the gold USA wins...surprise team for the tournament Austria takes on Mexico for the bronze......can Austria upset Mexico?? Wait, where's the Germans....will be fun to follow the tournament...some day I hope to get the opportunity to coach in it again....

Other good blogs:
Here are some blogs to keep in touch with about football in Sweden..some are in Swedish, but there is googl translate now..
http://coachingforpizza.blogspot.com/
http://leobillgren.wordpress.com/
http://bogorans.blogspot.com/2011/07/juniorsatsning.html?spref=fb
http://lirresblog.wordpress.com/
http://thecatch.se/sebastian/
http://thecatch.se/om this is a page that is the main communication in the our little world (besides the main SAFF sight)

Until next time...when you pull right...hit with your right shoulder...when you pull left hit with your left shoulder.....

Halfway through the year

Well, since we are at July 1 and 2011 is on the "way out", I thought it would be a good time to update the old blog again. We'll start with the official report on 2011 New years resolution:

• Update blog every two weeks--Result--there's always next year...
• Learn to play the guitar--Result--there's always next year...
• Have a date night with my wife each week--Result--need a better definition of date night...
• lose weight--Result--am down 13kg's but seemed to have hit a plataue--maybe I have found my ideal weight???

Here's is what's happening so far this year:

FOOTBALL WITH THE JETS:
To say that we are struggling would be an understatement. We have tied one game and lost 5. The guys are  playing, but we just can't seem to put it all together. On offense we have some serious struggles. The biggest challenge we have is that we have about 25 guys playing so a lot of players have to play both ways. That is ok if your opponents are having guys go both ways, but when they are not, the advantage goes to the opponent later in the game.
The thing that I can promise is that we will keep having good practices, we will keep working on the fundamentals and we will get better.
I am totally convinced that if we could combine our "B" team and our "A" team we would be more competitive. The "B" team is a good idea, but, in hindsight, I have to say it all happened a little early. We'll see what we can put together for the second half of the Season...You know, the season where we have played our last game on June 11 then we will play our next game on August 6th...then we play again on August 27th...Anyways, Coach Parker has a BBQ party scheduled on Monday the 25th of July. So we'll kick things off for the second half of the season....

Youth Football:
We are on summer break for our U-11 & U-13 age groups also. We had an end of school camp on June 20-22. It was not as well attended as we had hoped, but the kids that came had a good time. We will keep doing this camp at the end of the school year and again before schoo starts. The next camp will be scheduled to be the 17-19 of August. It should be a fun time.

I might finally get it:
In my 9 years I have been involved in American Football here in Sweden, I have been in a million conversations, emails, committee meetings, disucssions over a beer, phone calls and forum posting meetings regarding how to make football better here in Sweden. There are as many ideas and opinions as there are days in eternity. That is somewhat normal, when people are passionate about something. Finally, I have come to the realization that the best use of my time and energy is to concentrate on where I am at and try to do what I do better than it has been done before. This is the secret to making football great. Sure, we need those people with the ideas and vision to push the sport forward here in Sweden. That, of course, is essential to growth, but if more time was spent by us trying to make our clubs as professional and good at producing football players as we could be, then the game would improve. Committ to getting out to the local schools and recruiting kids to come and try some football. Committ to going to the local hockey, soccer, handball and basketball clubs and see if there are some players that want to play two sports. More importantly, find those that have been cut or stopped playing and get them to try something completely new and fun, like American Football. Committ to not just saying we can "play some kids up" when you don't have enough U-13 guys to make a team and you want to move up some U-11 kids so you have a team. Go out and find enough players in that age group. It is not easy and it is not easy for us at the Jets. It takes a lot of work and not by just one person to make it go and keep it going when the numbers are low. I can't say it enough...If you want football in this country (Sweden) to grow, then make it the best it can be where you are at: That, my friends, is the secret...In my opinion anyway...if you don't think I am correct, then just keep watching...but don't invite me to one of those meetings where we all sit around and have coffee and brainstorm about what needs to be done...because that is the slowest way to get something done...wait..if you have good pastry & coffee....yeah...then invite me...lunch included..could get me there also....

Senior National Team:
Things are starting to get rolling for the Senior national team. They are having a "combine" type camp at the end of July. This is a great idea, in my opinion and it gives the coaching staff an opportunity to take a look at what is out there and an opportunity to set standards (which has been done in the past via Niclas Carlsson) to show the players where they should be physically. I hope that all the guys that are serious about football take the time to go to the camp and show what they have. I have met and spoke with John Konecki and he seems like a really good coach and he is excited about leading Team Sweden to the next European Championships. I would also encourage any coach that wants to be apart of this camp to show what they can do and help work the camp and meet with the coaches currently on staff to contact Patrick Lundqvist and see if more help is needed.
A few people have asked me about me roll. As of this moment, my roll is to be a fan. I cannot committ my free time right now to the national team. I am full up with the Elite gymnasium program, school visits, u-11 and Senior team football...and when you are employed by a club, there is an "other duties as assigned" clause. But someday, somehow, I hope that I can be involved to some degree. I truly enjoy the idea of international play, The European Chamionships & The World Championships.
Here is a link with information regarding the Senior National Team camp: http://www.amerikanskfotboll.com/110728senior1.pdf

Vacation in Sweden:
I have four (4) straight weeks of vacation. As an American, I can say that I think this is really cool. But now as the owner of  a summer stuga I can say that it means that for 4 weeks, I do a different kind of work than what I do on a regular basis. But all in all, I love being at "The Kennedy Compound". Lots of projects going on and a few visitors coming by, before we head back to the big city....

Well until next time, and you know I can't promise when next time will be, I hope all your blocks are pancakes....also keep in mind that all the things I write here on the blog are my thoughts on how things are and are not intended to represent Arlanda Jets or SAFF ect...