Is Your Football Clinic Talk Interesting? Is It Good?
If you have ever spoken at a football clinic you know that a lot more goes into it than meets the eye. Unless it’s a football clinic talk that you have regurgitated over several years, you are spending fair amount of time preparing for it.
I once heard a weathered football coach say that in some ways speaking in front of coaches is more intimidating than coaching your players. This is because at a clinic you are teaching your peers instead of young players.
Hopefully your players won’t call you out if you are full of it. A room full of football coaches can be a tough audience. They all have opinions of their own and they will absolutely confront you if they think you are wrong. Worse yet, they may keep quiet and write you off as a fraud.
As a young coach I attended every clinic I could possibly make it to or more honestly put, every clinic that I could afford. I learned a lot but I understood very early that some coaches are better teachers than others. Some coaches were prepared with an organized football clinic talk that included the right amount of diagrams and video clips. Some were even prepared to pull coaches from the audience to demonstrate.
When my time came where I earned enough respect to be asked to speak at clinics, I was determined to be ultra prepared. I knew that I had an edge on some coaches because my background as an NFL quality control coach. That meant I could use professionally drawn diagrams for my presentations.
When A Football Coach Speaks At A Clinic He Is In Front Of A Tough Audience…His Peers.
Back to my original point, I remember spending a lot of time making sure that my clinic talk was not only interesting but also helpful and good. A big part of my clinic talk was the play diagrams. Sure, I had tape just like any other coach speaking at a clinic, but I also had professional diagrams that allowed me to teach and communicate well. It also gave me a tool that I could even make available to my audience if I wanted to.
These days I still stick my head into a clinic talk every now and then. It hasn’t changed that much. Sure there is better technology but there are still coaches trying to teach with black and white diagrams. Using drawings that don’t have curved lines because the tool they used doesn’t even allow it.
It’s a shame too because the football clinic talk is often good. However, the coach has bad video because it was taken from the top of some bleachers. Combine that video with less than professional football play drawings and you have coaches leaving for another clinic talk or the bar in a matter of moments.
Speaking At A Football Clinic? Let Adam Know At (512) 814-6158 or Firstdown@playbooktech.com
So here is the important part of this blog. FirstDown Playbook wants to help you. If you are speaking at a clinic this winter just let us know and we will set you up with a FirstDown PlayBook membership. Obviously, it’s a win win. Your talk will be a lot better and we are happy to have football coaches see our football playbook tool. You can now even pair your clinic video right inside of FirstDown PlayBook!
Just contact Adam Gum at (512) 814-6158 or email him at firstdown@playbooktech.com. Let him know what clinic or clinics you are scheduled for and he will set you up. That means you too, flag football coaches. Trust me when I say FirstDown PlayBook can save you a lot of time and help you make the right impression in front of your peers.
