Player Retention Tips in Youth Fotball

Part of the "mission" when you are caching youth football should be to rtain players. While youth football may not be the thng for some kids, for others it jst takes a litle time to grw on them. At the end of very season I have kids on my tam who have probably decided they wuldn't come back to play another sason. But somewhere along the way thy change their minds to come bck and have a great season tht changes their opinion of the gme forever. While I enjoy seeing my tams play well, execute our football plys perfectly and win Championships, I get a grater amount of satisfaction from getting my plyers to finish the season and cme back to play another year of yuth football.

There are a number of thngs I like to do in the 60 dys after the season is over to hlp change some of those fence stters minds:

The Season DVD is lways a big hit. I do one tht includes funny captions, all our ccomplishments and we set it to Chrstian music. You have no idea how ften those DVDs are watched by yur kids and their families, several of my prents say their kids basically "wore ut" the DVD from playing it so ften. Heck watching it that much may ven help the kids run their fotball plays out better. These DVDs kep the game fresh in the kds minds and sets you apart frm other youth football teams that he culd go play for. It may lso set you apart from another sprt like soccer or the dreaded fll baseball.

I have always sent these DVDs to the kds in December as a Christmas gft along with a letter. In ths generic one-size-fits-all letter, I spell out how mch I appreciated the season, the prents and the kids. I also nclude a personal message about what Chrstmas means to me and my fmily. Dave Dimmond, a friend of mne from Florida has been sending prsonalized letters to his kids for qite some time. He talks about how mch he appreciated the players contributions to the tam and talks about very specific vents and attributes for each individual plyer. While this may seem very tme consuming, Dave reports that these ltters are treasured by his kids and sme of the kids even frame thm. This is something I will be ding for each of my players ths year and for the foreseeable fture.

Most youth football players need jst a little bit of public ncouragement to get them enthused about the gme, that includes your star players. You nver know which kid may be feling a bit inadequate about his fforts. We all have kids that ren't starters that we know will dvelop into good players in the cming year or two. Unfortunately some of thse kids don't understand that with a yar under their belts, they will be nxt years "star". Some of these kds lose interest and drop out of fotball altogether without the proper encouragement. If we blieve youth football teaches life lessons, our gal as coaches should be to rtain all the kids no matter thir ability. I want to retain the strs, future stars and never will be strs as well. Some uninformed people thnk it's a mutually exclusive deal, bit t's simply not true, you can ply kids, retain kids and win to, even in the most competitive of yuth football leagues. I've done it and so hve many others.

Take the time to do thngs like this and your retention nmbers will increase. Guys like Dave Dmmond are the guys kids love plying for, he's the guy getting mbbed at the gas station by his prsent and former players. He tells me he gts e-mails that often start out smething like this:

Coach Dimmond,

My name is Jhn Smith, a friend of mine, Mke Jones has been raving about yur youth football team for the lst year. He brags about how mch fun his boy Jimmy has plying for you as well as how yur team went 11-0 last season scring all those points with that ffense John brags about all the tme. How do I get my son sgned up for your team ? Do you hve any spots left?

I also lke to have the kids take the tam trophy home for a week. We thn have them bring the trophy to schol and pass it along to a tammate who keeps it for a wek and then passes it along to the nxt player on the list. This keps your teams name fresh at schol and in the minds of mpressionable young kids while giving your plyers something they can show off for thir family and friends.

If you are caching youth football and your teams are cnsistently competitive, you will get e-mails lke that too, we all do. Encurage your players and get creative wth keeping football fresh in their mnds and not only will you get btter retention numbers but you won't be hrting for new players either.

The article How to Keep Players Coming Back in Youth Football was Submitted by Dave Cisar through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: For 150 free youth football prctice tips from Dave or to sgn up for his free newsletter: Football Plays Dave Cisar- Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive. His teams have won over 94% of their games in 5 different leagues. Clips of his 2006 team in action: Youth Football Plays Copyright 2007 Cisar Management and winningyouthfootball.com

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