As I sit here on Sunday night, I have just a few items that I wanted to post for parents, players and supporters of the Hampton Football Program. My last post got a little bit lengthy so I'll do my best to get right to the point.
Schedule Changes:
This week presents quite a few challenges to work around. Many of which are out of my control. First of all, the Junior High Football team gets to play its first home game of the season on Monday. Due to the fact that it takes a little bit more man-power to host a JH game, many of the varsity players will be asked to help out with the game by running the clock, being chain-gang, water boys, etc. we will not be able to start our varsity practice until after the game gets over. I'm hoping that it will conclude around 5 or 5:15. Those players that are not helping should be able to stay and get help with schoolwork after school and possibly complete their homework. My goal is to have most varsity players dressed and ready to go for practice at 5:00. They will get warmed up, stretched, and ready to go on their own so that when the coaches complete their work with the JH game, we can get right to practice. Practice will be shortened some as we will have to shuffle some things around and deviate from our normal weekly routine.
Tuesday should be more like a "normal" day with practice right after school starting at 4.
Wednesday is a 2:00 dismissal due to Parent-Teacher Conferences going from 4-9pm. We will start practice as soon as the boys get dressed out after school and Coach Klute will finish the last part of practice while Coach Ediger and myself prepare for conferences. I'm looking forward to visiting with as many parents as possible during conferences about your son's work in my classroom.
There is no school Thursday due to all day teacher inservice. we will begin our pre-game practice routine at the normal time of 4 on Thursday.
Friday we will take on Nebraska Lutheran at 7pm in Hampton. Please come and show your support to these young men that continue each week to improve themselves and make the Hampton Hawks even better.
Thank You's
I wanted to share out that I really appreciate the positive comments that I got from different parents last week concerning some of the issues that I had to deal with. I appreciate your support and hope to continue to provide a program with rules and structure to help these young men to grow, learn from their mistakes, and mature. My hope is to be fair and consistent in all of my decisions.
Moving On:
As I told the team after the loss at Meridian, that was not the direction I expected that game to go. I think each game (win or lose) provides our team an opportunity to get better. There is nothing we can do about the past outcomes of games but we can learn from our past to improve our future. Nebraska Lutheran will be another quality opponent which we must respect. We as a team have to also believer in ourselves to be a quality team, work hard this week, listen to the coaching staff as they build a game plan and above all, execute for 4 quarters on Friday night.
Life is not always fair. Those that are able to handle adversity will rise to the top in life and be successful.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Meridian Week Thoughts: Be a STUDENT-athlete!
So far, this season has been a challenging one. In fact, each season is a challenging one as they all create different obstacles and hurdles along the way. That is one of the joys of teaching and coaching is that there is always something different to try and conquer each and every day.
As I write this, I think of the challenges facing this football team this week. Things like:
Injuries
Number of FB players on the down-list
Members of the football team misbehaving in the classroom.
At the end of each practice, I always try and provide announcements on upcoming events, bus departure times, encouragement to ice, stretch and see the trainer, etc. Many times, I stress the importance of being a STUDENT Athlete. This week, it seems to be a continuous speech. Our football team has got to understand that STUDENT comes before Athlete for a reason. Students just need to do the following:
1. Show up for Class on Time!
2. Sit down and listen to the teacher whether you like them or not and do what they say
3. Don't screw around with other classmates verbally or physically in class
4. Make sure to record ALL assignments and complete them by the due date.
5. Ask for help from the teacher when you begin to struggle in the class, don't wait till its too late!
These seem like 5 simple rules to follow. Teachers are in a position to help students learn. Students have to do their part in order for learning to happen. Members of a team, need to do their part to make sure all members of the team are getting to class on time, listening, completing homework, etc.
This past week, I have had conversations with multiple parents concerning students' grades and their ability to participate in the sport of Football. I've also had conversations with parents concerning classroom behavior issues which have lead to suspensions from this Friday's game. I've learned that coaching is about a lot more then designing X's and O's and scouting opponents films and that has rang true this week. Coaching provides me an opportunity and a platform in which to help STUDENT Athletes grow. Sometimes the lessons are hard and difficult to enforce but needed for the well-being of not just the reputation of the program, but the betterment of the individual football player.
For those parents that read this, please visit with your STUDENT Athlete and encourage them to follow those 5 simple steps to have success in the classroom. Success in the classroom will lead to success on the athletic fields and ultimately ensure that your child will be successful in life.
For those STUDENT Athletes that read this, please do the following so I can see you on the field on Friday nights with your teammates!
1. Show up for Class on Time!
2. Sit down and listen to the teacher whether you like them or not and do what they say
3. Don't screw around with other classmates verbally or physically in class
4. Make sure to record ALL assignments and complete them by the due date.
5. Ask for help from the teacher when you begin to struggle in the class, don't wait till its too late!
Go Hawks!!!!
Coach Miller
As I write this, I think of the challenges facing this football team this week. Things like:
Injuries
Number of FB players on the down-list
Members of the football team misbehaving in the classroom.
At the end of each practice, I always try and provide announcements on upcoming events, bus departure times, encouragement to ice, stretch and see the trainer, etc. Many times, I stress the importance of being a STUDENT Athlete. This week, it seems to be a continuous speech. Our football team has got to understand that STUDENT comes before Athlete for a reason. Students just need to do the following:
1. Show up for Class on Time!
2. Sit down and listen to the teacher whether you like them or not and do what they say
3. Don't screw around with other classmates verbally or physically in class
4. Make sure to record ALL assignments and complete them by the due date.
5. Ask for help from the teacher when you begin to struggle in the class, don't wait till its too late!
These seem like 5 simple rules to follow. Teachers are in a position to help students learn. Students have to do their part in order for learning to happen. Members of a team, need to do their part to make sure all members of the team are getting to class on time, listening, completing homework, etc.
This past week, I have had conversations with multiple parents concerning students' grades and their ability to participate in the sport of Football. I've also had conversations with parents concerning classroom behavior issues which have lead to suspensions from this Friday's game. I've learned that coaching is about a lot more then designing X's and O's and scouting opponents films and that has rang true this week. Coaching provides me an opportunity and a platform in which to help STUDENT Athletes grow. Sometimes the lessons are hard and difficult to enforce but needed for the well-being of not just the reputation of the program, but the betterment of the individual football player.
For those parents that read this, please visit with your STUDENT Athlete and encourage them to follow those 5 simple steps to have success in the classroom. Success in the classroom will lead to success on the athletic fields and ultimately ensure that your child will be successful in life.
For those STUDENT Athletes that read this, please do the following so I can see you on the field on Friday nights with your teammates!
1. Show up for Class on Time!
2. Sit down and listen to the teacher whether you like them or not and do what they say
3. Don't screw around with other classmates verbally or physically in class
4. Make sure to record ALL assignments and complete them by the due date.
5. Ask for help from the teacher when you begin to struggle in the class, don't wait till its too late!
Go Hawks!!!!
Coach Miller
Sunday, September 8, 2013
9/8/13 - The Start of Giltner Week!
Hawks and friends of the Hawks,
A lot has happened since I last blogged. I'll do my best to consolidate my thoughts but still get some things that need to be covered.
Shelton Game Comments: It was good to get a game under our belts. The outcome was not was everyone was hoping for. First and foremost, Shelton has a very good team with lots of numbers. They were a team that made it very deep into the playoffs last year and likely will again. Even though the score was not a good indicator of this, the Hawks showed improvements in many areas from a year ago. When the offense was able to execute, it can be very explosive very quickly. The defense was in the correct positions (especially after half) but we were just not able to make tackles. Last year after game #1 our offense was not "fluid" at all and defensively we just could not even get close enough to tackle. Improvement is there and that shows a lot of promise of good things to come during the season.
Some concerns that I saw from this game include execution and not just for the first 1-2 seconds of each play but maintaining effort/execution for the duration of the play. Don't quit until the whistle blows.
Staying Healthy: For the betterment of our program, its important that every player does everything that they can to stay healthy. After the Shelton game, we had some guys that took a beating playing both ways for an entire game. Hopefully they took the coaches advice and either went to physical therapy in Aurora Saturday morning at 7 AM or stretched and iced as much as possible over the weekend. We need each player as close to 100% for each practice during the week. My hope is to have all bodies "on deck" for every practice.
We have a PT guy (Jordan) that comes to Hampton on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and will evaluate our athletes free of charge. Also student athletes can receive free evaluations by going to the Memorial Health Physical Therapy offices in Aurora West of the hospital. If you get to Aurora by 7 AM M-F, they will get you in, get you treatment and get you out so you can still get to school on time. Please take advantage of these free sources. They have been very good to us and kept many of our athletes able to go when otherwise they probably wouldn't be able to.
PLEAE INFORM THE COACHES OF ANY INJURIES THAT YOU MAY HAVE SO THEY CAN HELP YOU PROCEED WITH TREATMENT!
Links to pages: I'm placed a new "widget" on the blog. On the right had side, I've listed three links to places that likely would interest members/viewers on the blog. If there are other links that you would like to see added to this list, please let me know and I"ll add them.
Stay tuned for more but out of time for now.
Coach Miller
A lot has happened since I last blogged. I'll do my best to consolidate my thoughts but still get some things that need to be covered.
Shelton Game Comments: It was good to get a game under our belts. The outcome was not was everyone was hoping for. First and foremost, Shelton has a very good team with lots of numbers. They were a team that made it very deep into the playoffs last year and likely will again. Even though the score was not a good indicator of this, the Hawks showed improvements in many areas from a year ago. When the offense was able to execute, it can be very explosive very quickly. The defense was in the correct positions (especially after half) but we were just not able to make tackles. Last year after game #1 our offense was not "fluid" at all and defensively we just could not even get close enough to tackle. Improvement is there and that shows a lot of promise of good things to come during the season.
Some concerns that I saw from this game include execution and not just for the first 1-2 seconds of each play but maintaining effort/execution for the duration of the play. Don't quit until the whistle blows.
Staying Healthy: For the betterment of our program, its important that every player does everything that they can to stay healthy. After the Shelton game, we had some guys that took a beating playing both ways for an entire game. Hopefully they took the coaches advice and either went to physical therapy in Aurora Saturday morning at 7 AM or stretched and iced as much as possible over the weekend. We need each player as close to 100% for each practice during the week. My hope is to have all bodies "on deck" for every practice.
We have a PT guy (Jordan) that comes to Hampton on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and will evaluate our athletes free of charge. Also student athletes can receive free evaluations by going to the Memorial Health Physical Therapy offices in Aurora West of the hospital. If you get to Aurora by 7 AM M-F, they will get you in, get you treatment and get you out so you can still get to school on time. Please take advantage of these free sources. They have been very good to us and kept many of our athletes able to go when otherwise they probably wouldn't be able to.
PLEAE INFORM THE COACHES OF ANY INJURIES THAT YOU MAY HAVE SO THEY CAN HELP YOU PROCEED WITH TREATMENT!
Links to pages: I'm placed a new "widget" on the blog. On the right had side, I've listed three links to places that likely would interest members/viewers on the blog. If there are other links that you would like to see added to this list, please let me know and I"ll add them.
Stay tuned for more but out of time for now.
Coach Miller
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