Letter to the parents

Hi Parents,

Let me start by saying what an honor & privilege it is to have the opportunity for us to coach your kids!

I have included the coaches contact information below. Call me first about anything (being late for practice, going to miss practice, etc or just to chat about your son). If you cannot get hold of me, work your way down the list.

I’m sending this to find out how many email addresses I have typed incorrectly and to let you know about a few of the things we are working on that I have asked the boys to do:

1. Homework assignments due today:
• Write down on paper and bring to practice 2-3 TEAM goals for the year
• Code of Conduct: Please review this with your child. Write in their names at the top and each of you sign it and return to practice. I will copy this and return to you.
• if you disagree with anything on the Code of Conduct/Team Rules, please come talk to me about it.
2. Speed Training: Hopefully by now, you know that we are doing speed training as part of warm-up & conditioning. Not only did I study this over the winter “football break”, but I also implemented it during the last 6 weeks of the “football break”. Between the 4 boys that I was training (2 of which are VERY active year round with Comp soccer so are already in great shape and sprint a bunch), we had an average improvement for those 4 boys of 0.37 seconds in the 40. That is a difference of 2-3 yards in the 40!!! And all 4 of the boys already had above average speed.
• So, I have told the boys to ask their parents to time them in the 20 yard dash (3 times) and the 40 yard dash (3 times).
• Just have Dad “walk-off” the 20 & 40. As long as the same person does it each time, you will be able to see if your child has improved.
• About every 3 weeks, time them again, take the average of their times
• I would LOVE to hear how they are doing. Send it to me via email
• Just to provide you an idea about this age group, here are the Average times for a 20 & 40 yard dash (based on my research):
• 20 yard dash average
• 10 yr olds: 3.93 s
• 11 yr olds: 3.87 s
• 40 yard dash average
• 10 yr olds: 7.05 s
• 11 yr olds: 6.85 s
• As a point of reference, here are the average times for the 4 boys I worked with prior to football:
• The boys that I timed (all 10 yrs old) started at an average of:
• 20 yard dash: 3.70 s
• 40 yard dash: 6.73 s
• The last time we timed them (right before start of football) they had an average of:
• 20 yard dash: 3.53 s (decrease of 0.17 s = 1 full yard improvement!)
• In football terms, that means that in 20 yards, we could close and tackle someone that started with a 1 yard lead!
• 4 yard dash: 6.36 s (decrease of 0.37 s = 2.5 yards improvement!)
• In football terms, that means that in 40 yards, we could close and tackle someone that started with a 2.5 yard lead!

Ok, ok, enough about speed training. But if you do have any questions, please talk to me about it. Your reinforcement at home helps tremendously!

Man, I love football…

Head up, ALL OUT! Go Seahawks!

Rhett Whatcott