Week one of Men's Softball

Team has a new name.....Mature Rage. To start off the season we drew first draw on a team, the Wreckers, that was in the Metro tournament last season and few of on the team had played them last season. It started out one particular guy kept hammering it over the fence. Well the only get one HR in this league and the next are outs. I still don't know why this "stacked" team is in the division. Anyway we lost the game 19-10.

Second game was pretty interesting and had a dramatic ending. We went up against a team called Hit-n-Run, they had won their first game blowing out a team and I though we were in for another battle. This game was a battle to the end. The first innings we jumped on them for 9 runs and after three innings it was 9-6. Fourth and Fifth innings both teams managed to get a few runs. Going into the top of the sixth its was 13-11, US. By the time we got up to bat the score was 17-13 and looking very grim, but we were able to pull it off and win 18-17. There pitching became the problem and we were able to get base hits and walks.

Softball season is here

Taking a break from flag football. I think Flag football spring season starts up in April. Now is the time for some Softball, adult style.

I currenlt running two teams, a mens and coed. The coed team is called AccuTech. We had our first game this past sunday and we endedup losing 15-5. A total of 18 errors, unbelievable. Outfield had a hard time judging the wind on the ball since it was very breezy. Anyway, we will rip it off seven straight wins for the remaining season. The coed team looks sharp with the new uniforms.

The mens team, FNIS, is my company's team. This is the 1st year we dropped down into a lower bracket to be more competetive. the upper divisional teams where just wailing on us last year. Hopefully we will come out the gate slammin. So much for that thought, already have a couple of people quit the team due to contraints, but i filled them up with my coed team memebers. Tonight is our first game, 855pm, amn that is a long time to wait to play.

Top 10 Sports Rituals

Per AskMen.com

10. Stomping on an opposing team's midfield logo. Thanks to the "U" for starting the trend back in the 90s.

9. Chicago Bulls opening player introductions.
8. "God Bless America" at Yankees stadium
7. Gatorade bath
6. Playoff beards in the NHL
5. "Take me out to the ball game" at Wrigley field.
4. Hat Trick in the NHL
3. SCRIPT OHIO by "the best damn band in the land"
2. Detriot Redwings octopus thrown onto the ice.

1. All Blacks Haka dance.





Missing the cut:
Lambeau Leap
Sweet Caroline at Fenway

Leagues Playoffs and Signups are Looming

The winter season is winding down with playoffs in several leagues such as.... 4on4 of Jax, Jax Beach Rec League, Creeks Athletic Association and i9 Sports. Over the weekend I will update the playoff picture in these leagues.


Since the Winter leagues are coming to a close that mean signups begin in March for Spring Flag Football. Two significant youth leagues, i9 and the YMCA NFL Youth, will be kicking off the signup around the first week in March. If you are considering coaching youth and have never done it, here are some things to consider to run your team:

1. field markers/or cones
2. play calling wrist bands for 10-15 y/o
3. extra footballs
4. coach's laminated placard
5. first aid kit
6. Coach's whistle

I used the cones to set up my drills and sometimes half the field for scrimmages.

The play calling wrist band, I think is an effective tool for youth. I usually have two wrist bands for the players; 1 for the QB and 1 for the hot WR. My playbook is color coded so that the players understand what patterns they are running and who is in motion. Color codes I use are; Red for #1 WR, Blue for #2 WR, Green for #3 WR, Orange for Center and Purple for QB. If you draw out the routes in color it reduces time in the huddle. I usually have the same placard so that way i can call the plays for them, for instance. I can say "RED 7 or BLUE 1" . That means the QB will run play # 7 and the "Hot" WR will be the color red and he or she should get the ball.

First Aid kit is a biggie. Recently i had one of my players break his wrist during a tournament. So you can get a good first aid kit for about $20-30 at a Target or Wal-mart. Believe me you will need it.

In the next couple of days I will be posting some of my practice drills and plays.

Day #2 Let it Fly

So this was it, I told the kids "win and your in the playoffs, lose and we go home." Our first game was going to be very physical, We had to play the Longhorns, a traveling team that came from Dallas. They were 0-2 and were looking to play lights out. Started out with Tyler at QB and two quick plays they were in the endzone. So they go up 7-0. After a 3-n-out for the longhorns. Tyler got them to score again, up 13-0. Another 3-n-out for the longhorns. So as the Spartans were driving towards a TD. Kevin went up for a pass in the endzone with two defenders and came down onto his wrist breaking it. With this news of Kevin being hurt, the boys lit it up on the Longhorns winning the game 26-6.

In the playoffs we were scheduled to meet the Eagles, a team from Wolfson HS. Apparently they were scared as they didn't show up for the game. Spartans 6 Eagles 0...Forfiet! In the semi-finals the Spartans were facing a team that was called the "Geek Squad". They had the Geek Squad logo and was a team comprised of Orange Park HS kids. The Spartans started out flat and the Geek Squad were throwing quick strikes and soon they were up 23-0 at half time. The Spartans gathered themselves and played defense and the offense kicked in.Before you knew the Spartans were up 25-23 with less than 2 minutes to play. Remember the game either stops at 28 pts or times up. The Geek Squad were driving and all the Spartans had to do was stop the 3rd down play from them getting a first. What happen was they got the first down but flag guarding was called by one ref and the main ref didnt see it and the kid went into the endzone. game over. After arguing with the ref, it didnt matter what the other ref saw. he said he was the main ref and the call was final. In the end first tournament that these kids played in and they ended up in 3rd place.

Day #1 Let it Fly

To start off the bracket had eight teams placed into 4 team pools. Here were the teams in our pool: Team Next, Longhorns and "?". The first team that the Spartans tangled with was the team called "?". This team was comprised of high school kids from the Bishop Kenny. The team was very tall. They had a few kids over 6'3". Anyway, game got underway and ended being a scoreless first half. The second half starts out the other team scores 6pts but fails to score the xtra point. With the game winding down, the Spartans scored a td and score the xtra point. So the score is 7-6 Spartans, less than a minute is on the clock and the other team is running a hurry up offense. I had to argue with the refs on the "?" team offense because they wern't set and were offsides. The other ref called it but didnt have a whistle. So they restarted the play and we were able to hold on in the last few minutes.

The second game was a blow out. The team called Camp Next were comprised of kids from Fleming Island HS. Apparently these kids have been playing together since the age of eight. Alot of the calls didnt go our way and we did lose 28-7. It was the first time the kids lost in over a year, so it was painful for them.

So 1-1 for the day, the next game was a real challenge. I will get to that tomorrow.

Let it Fly Tourney

Well it has been awhile since the last post, work has been killing me plus the fact that I was trying to rearrange the blog into three columns. Now that is complete, the Let it Fly 4on4 tourney rolls into Jax today. I have to attend the pre-event meeting over at Orange Park Mall to pick up the brackets and other stuff. I did have to "iron" out an issue with the Let it Fly personnel on the age requirements for the youth. The website has one requirement age while the local sponsor flyer had a different age. After a few phone calls, my wife straighten them out, so now they are playing in the 16 y/o bracket.

The youth team, Oakleaf Spartans, is gelling pretty good. There are five players on the team; 2 from Orange Park HS, 1 from Middleburg HS, 1 from Bishop Snyder and 1 from Forrest. Basically I have two great QBs and some quick receivers. So far we have had three practices, each practice we had a decent scrimmage with players that were older then they were. The last scrimmage was against men in there late 20s, who are also playing in the tourney, and they held their hold against them. The jerseys for the team look great, so I thank the sponsors for their support. Recently one of the sponsors had her grand opening of her store, PostNET. So I gathered 4 of the 5 memebers of the team and had them at the opening with their jerseys on. It was really nice, the sponsor their had Jaxson DeVille, Jax Jaguars Mascot, out at her opening as well. So the team had some great photo shots with the sponsor, Jaxson DeVille and ate some good grub before taking off.

Lastly, on other leagues. I did gather some notes for the Upward Youth Flag Football league and will be posting this information after the tournament.