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As a father of 3 boys, I guess it was unavoidable that sooner or later I'd be coaching something. At first I thought of it as a burden, now I see it as a responsibility and a joy. Many parents come up to me each week and thank me for doing what their schedule wouldn't allow them to do. It's not that most parents are losers; it's just that life has them by the horns. So if my coaching little league flag football is helping out our society then so let it be. If anyone is considering or has been coaching some kind of little league activity then this blog is just for you.

During this 10-week season, I'm the head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, which consists of 9 boys between the ages of 6 and 8. I've been an assistant little league basketball coach before, but this proved to be a real challenge. I learned quickly that I couldn’t spend too much time on the offense other wise the defense would get out of control and vise versa. That first practice I thought that I was gonna go crazy until one of the parents stepped up and said that he would like to handle the Defense end of it and believe me; it has been a blessing.

When it comes to competition I don't go with the flow, I play to win. Coming into this my goal is to have the best team in the league and to be the Jimmy Johnson or Don Shula of Flag Football but in order for me to meet those lofty goals I would have to understand a few things. So I started studying on kids emotional behaviors and what the purpose of little leagues are. My results lead me to the following conclusions:

1. The Kids need to have fun

If they can't have fun, they won't do what you want them to do and they won't want to return. What this meant for me was that I couldn't be strict with them all the time I had to give them some freedom and even let them be loose in a controlled manor. Another thing I came up with was some fun exercises. Even though our goal is to win, you just gotta let the kids be kids otherwise it won't work.

2. The kids must be able to relate to what I want them to do

In order to get the kids to remember the plays that I'm running I named all the plays after cartoon characters. This really seems to work. If fact it's working so good that within the next week or so we might become the only no huddle offensive team in this league.

3. I must be firm

It's very hard to find the balance between being firm and being fun; I can't explain how to find it other then to pay attention and experiment. If you're too firm, they won't like you thus they won't listen to you. If you're too fun, the kids will love you but you'll have the same results. One thing I have learned is that kids who are not allowed to express themselves, will express themselves one way or another. With that said, I allow the kids time to express themselves at the end of practice and as the weeks go on I'll tell you how it's going.

4. I must be a positive source for the kids.

Every Practice and every game, everyone must get a compliment at least once. Another thing that I'm doing is passing out prized each week for the kids with the best offense, best defense, team player, listening skills, and best effort. I don't give them a prize for the same thing twice so I challenge them to try and get prizes for all the categories. At the end of the season the ones who can accomplish this will get certificates of self-improvement.

As the season goes on, I'll write about how the team is doing and all the things that are working and not working. See ya next week.