ST. CHARLES NORTH
NORTH STAR FOOTBALL
WEEKLY JOURNAL
February 10th-15th
Friends vs Teammates
Word of the Week: Accountability
Phew… what a busy week for the St. Charles North Football Program. Whoever said football is only from August to November is lying. I truly believe the formative months are from December to June, that is when the trust is built. This week had so many amazing opportunities, I am forever grateful for being able to share in this journey with all of you. On Monday Coach Shannon and I represented the program at the Summer activities fair held at Wredling. The goal was to connect to a few more community members and promote the family experience that North football has. I was humbled by the positive feedback from the parents about our players, parents and the program in general. It goes to show that if we all take ownership in the experience we give the impact can be monumental. On Wednesday we celebrated our graduating seniors who signed a national letter of intent to play football at a 4 year institution and then immediately switch gears to welcome our incoming freshman at our Athletics Night. Signing day is always a special moment. Very few times do we get a chance to experience a lifetime goal being achieved and for our players and parents I congratulate you. A special thanks to Trish Sharky and Lance Erickson who absolutely killed it with the set up and refreshments. I had a head college coach tell me that the experience we gave the families that night is the best he has seen in his head coaching experience. That is what it is all about!!!
Incoming freshman night was a smashing success 35 freshman came in to hear about the program. Zach McClure was the highlight of the evening giving his real life experience about being a player in our program. It makes it easy to sell the program when you have players like Zach leading the charge. Zach is a great example of a player who has accepted the standards, met them and now works to hold others to them.
That leads me to our theme of the week, “Friends vs Teammates”. As a leader, I often struggle with the role I must play in this organization. Most people want to be liked, but very few of us are okay with the discomfort that comes with holding someone accountable. In my opinion a friend is anyone who is a good person who we enjoy spending our time with. A teammate is a member of our organization with whom we will accomplish a mission. There is a difference , I will go to the movies with a friend but do battle with a great teammate.
How does this relate to us as a program? It all comes down to standards. A friend will allow their friend to act below team standards because that is the “friendly” thing to do. It will cause the least amount of friction. While this type of relationship is good it can be an achilles heel for a program trying to become ELITE.
“ When getting along supersedes the values of getting better, there will be a ceiling put on the success a team can have.”
This is an extremely strong statement in my opinion. Holding a teammate, coach or parent accountable to the program standards is uncomfortable. It can upset them, make them angry or even cause them to not like us. While team cohesion is essential it is not more important than helping to make each other better. Our program is built on pushing our limits and stretching our comfort zones. Great teammates meet the standards and then hold their teammates accountable to doing the same. It is not dissimilar to being a parent, we often must be the unpopular vote but we do this because we know it is what is best for the family. My dad said it best to me when I was 16
“I am not your friend…I am your dad! There is a difference. I love you”
This week I encourage all of us to be the best teammates we can be. Find those opportunities to attack the uncomfortable moment in order to strengthen the team. Be great this week!
WINTER TRAINING IS NOT DONE WE HAVE 2 WEEKS REMAINING IN THE 12 WEEK CYCLE
Monday February 10th
8PM LEGACY TRAINING
Tuesday February 11th
2:35-4:15pm Whole Group
Wednesday February 12th
8PM LEGACY TRAINING
Thursday February 13th
2:35-4:15 WHOLE GROUP
Friday February 14th
6am Polar Bear
2:35 Valentines’ Day Workout
Saturday February 15th
8am Feed the Cats Speed Training
LEGACY TRAINING
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
COLLEGE SUPPORT MEETINGS ARE CLOSED
SUMMER CAMP DATES
- TIMES HAVE BEEN SOLIDIFIED AND UPDATED ON CALENDAR
- PLEASE TRY ARANGE VACATIONS DURING DEAD WEEKS
- https://store.d303.org
- http://scn4thphase.org/schedule/
- 2020 SUMMER ATHLETICS CAMP ALL
- 2020 SUMMER FB CAMPS
- SUMMER STRENGTH CAMPS NOT LIVE YET BUT TIMES ARE SET
- FURTHER EXPLANATION BELOW
COLLEGE RECRUITING
- FEBRUARY DEAD PERIOD
- D3/NAIA CAN STILL VISIT
- NCAA RECRUITING CALENDARS RESOURCE
- http://www.ncaa.org/
- Want to play college football? Register above 1st thing!
MARCH 21ST YOUTH CAMP/PARENT NITE OUT
- AGES 1ST-8TH SKILLS/DRILLS/GAMES
- 5PM -8PM PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD
- SCN FOOTBALL CAMP FLYER
ALL AMERICAN 7 ON 7
- SPRING 7ON7 INFO COMING IN LATE FEB
SUMMER CAMP LIST
This year we will have the usual camps listed below .
*June 1st- 4th is designated for youth and individual skills camps.
* We have added a new camp opportunity. June 6th – July 30th we will be running a separate strength & conditioning class. Bryce Biel of Legacy Performance and his staff along with our Staff will be running a 75 minute strength & speed session M-R. Camp times will vary from June to July. The availability of this camp will allow us to separate our football and strength development. While this is an extra cost, the development to the athlete is well worth it in my opinion. Prices have yet to be released but I can assure you it will come down to less than 10 dollars a session which is well below Bryce’s usual cost. We took this step as the logical progression in our program’s development. We have always felt that our strength development conflicted with our football development in the summer. This will alleviate that problem. Additionally, we start official football camp on June 22nd. From June 1st – June 18th we will be having OTA (organized team activities) film and scheme sessions from 6pm – 8pm. These are non padded classroom based sessions. A full curriculum is being developed to better prepare our athletes cognitively for the summer installs. Again we feel this aligns more consistently with our 4 quadrant development model. There will not be a camp sign up as these opportunities are free of charge.
* I appreciate the monetary investment you make on your child’s behalf. If you have questions please contact me.