Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Middle School Tries a Trick Play

Tricked or taught? I'd say it was a good lesson at a tender age that will likely not be forgotten. That's entering into that priceless realm.

Ricky, what you wrote should be the last word on this!

All through life what some people do and some things that happen are not going to seem fair. It begins way before your 13 and never stops.
Get used to it kids, welcome to the real world.

Not sure I agree with how that play was done or think it was great. I have very conflicting opinions about it. It's just another day in the life, and another lessoned learned. Some are not so pleasant.

I noticed that too , but wasn't going to say anything.
There is a reason it's called a game.

Scott, you apparently missed the part about them being poorly coached. All coaches think of silly [bleep] like this to take up practice time. Don't you know that?

Like I said before....losers ALWAYS have a good excuse for their failures.

Also...saw the QB and 2 coaches from the "tricky team" on the CBS Morning Show this morning. Middle school QB had a mustache, and 3 all needed their green cards checked.

And people who can't beat you straight up are still losers.

Actually that team that got tricked didn't lose. The game ended in a 6-6 tie, and, according to the Mexican coaching the tricky team, some Tx state tie breaker rule declared the other team the winner. So, screw them, now the tricky ones are the losers in more ways than one.

Without commenting on the sportsmanship thing either way, I'm astonished that the defensive line didn't go when the ball moved.

I was a big ol' nearsighted boy, so I was always a lineman, sometimes O and sometimes D. But from the D side, one of the key fundamentals was that when the ball moved, you went full speed. Period.

Maybe it's not taught that way any more. I guess I'm old now.

I don't know how I got involved in this becuse my undersized free safety was instructed to never let anyone get behind him...and, being smarter than I am, he never did. I really liked that kid.

But the trick play was still bush league.

The little league emphasis on "sportsmanship and fair play" and deferral to marginally competent officials (most of whom mean well) is not where you are supposed to learn the cruel lessons of life. That happens in practice.

Plus we had a rule that after the third grade, the ball had to be delivered between the legs. Obviously that isn't the rule in Texas...not saying right or wrong, just the way it was.

We coach that too...assure you our 11 and 12 year old kids would still have been fooled by the way it was done, and especially the coach yelling on the sideline.


http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2010/11/09/exp.am.intv.coach.quarterback.cnn

The coach was yelling move the ball?

Funny, my coach (and damned near every coach I can recall playing for or against) would say the same thing.

Ball moves, no whistle... HIT the ball carrier.

Defense, at it's base.

The offense might have run a trick play, but the defense forgot it's fundamentals.

Amen to that... Defense goes for the ball till the whistle blows. They tried the same stunt on my sons 65lb team. The resulting tackle caused a fumble and we recovered the ball.

This is a legal play... What makes it work is handing the ball back and not hiking it. But once that ball moves the defense should be reacting.

Sure, it's legal... Great...

But, with the coach hollering on the sidelines to his team that the officials need to move the ball up another five yards is NOT the same as a simple side-hike which catches the other team off-guard. It gets drilled into kids to listen to the coach. I suspect the defense heard the coach hollering, too (it's part of the "trick," right?) and listened to the coach (hey, coach said the officials need to move the ball...) so were caught off-guard when the quarterback actually started running with the ball.

Were they caught flat-footed? Sure. Should they have nailed the q-b as soon as he took the ball? Probably. But I still believe that at that age (12-13) kids should be taught good sportsmanship and that games will be won through hard work and building your skills.

In no way do I see the success of that play as being attributed to the skill of the offensive players. It was the result of an ADULT coach managing to trick a bunch of KIDS, and nothing more.

Chris

Waaaaa....it's not FAIR. He TOLD me not to tackle the quarterback and then took off.

It's just like that other play when that mean defensive end TOLD me I wasn't supposed to block him and then sacked our now injured quarterback......it's not FAIR when people don't tell the truth!

Whatever...

I just don't happen to coach like that, and i don't agree it was a "great" play. Pull it off against the Pittsburgh Steelers and I'll say it was great. Pull it off against a bunch of kids and it is what it is, an ego trip for the coaches.

FWIW, I've taken our teams (not football, admittedly) to two state championships, so have some experience with winning... Managed to do it without resorting to faking out a bunch of kids, too...

Chris

If my excuse was "well, but, coach, the other team's coach was saying that they needed to move the ball, and I listened to him and didn't do anything like I was coached by you to do, like hit the ball carrier when the ball moved and the whistle hadn't blown"...

I'd likely still be doing push-ups.

Here's a little hint: coaches at all levels are supposed to come up plays, calls, schemes, and sequences that fool or outsmart the other team and coach. Thus, different routes, blocking schemes, blitzes, formations, coverages, etc.

"Trick" plays are part of the game, and if the other team sticks to fundamentals, they don't work. If you go lax, or start hedging, or backing off fundamentals, then "trick" plays have a chance.

Do your job, follow through on your assignments, stay grounded to the fundamentals, and stay focused on the game, at all times, and you don't have to worry about "trick" plays.

Poor coaching of the defense. Opposing coaches are to be ignored, and the ball moving after settling into the center's snapping hand is the hair trigger.

This wasn't little league. These are 13-14 year old kids going into high school next year. Saw the QB and coach being interviewed on TV today. The kid is old enough to shave.

If they didn't know better beforehand, they sure do now. Gonna get mad at a coach, get on the coach of the defensive team. Just another version of one of the oldest plays in the book. The defensive teams coaching staff was either very young and inexperienced or stupid. There was plenty of time for a coach to warn his players that the play was live and stop the play for a short gain.