S B Coaches College - Point System for Athlete Accountability and Responsibility




		Point System for Athlete Accountability and Responsibility *Robb Rogers, M.Ed., CSCS*

In today’s fast paced world with the myriad distractions and opportunities that face athletes it is easy to place the commitment to prepare for the upcoming season somewhere down the priority list. Rather than the coach being the person that will be enforcing compliance in order to ensure improvement, implementation of a point quota system can provide the solution. This can free the coach up to be the motivator in order to inspire the team members to attend and improve in preparation for the upcoming season. The point system is individualized for each participant based on prior production. Here is an example of one I developed for football from the format used by Larry Smith, the former very successful head football coach at the University of Arizona, Southern California and Missouri and one of the best bosses I ever worked for in sport.

FALL REPORTING POINT SYSTEM

1. BODYWEIGHT – IF YOU ARE WITHIN 2% OF YOUR GOAL WEIGHT WHEN YOU REPORT YOU GET 1 POINT.

2. BODY FAT PERCENTAGE – IF YOU ARE ON OR BELOW YOUR ASSIGNED BODY FAT PERCENTAGE THEN YOU WILL GET 1 POINT.

3. STRENGTH TESTS – IF YOU ACHIEVE YOUR STRENGTH GOALS YOU WILL GET 3 POINTS. IF YOU ARE 5 POUNDS ABOVE YOUR GOAL YOU WILL GET 4 POINTS, 10 POUNDS ABOVE YOUR GOAL YOU RECEIVE 5 POINTS. IF YOU ARE 5 - 10 POUNDS BELOW YOU ONLY GET 2 POINTS, 15 – 20 POUNDS BELOW IS 1 POINT.

PTS. POWER CLEAN BENCH PRESS *LEG CIRCUIT

5 +10 POUNDS +10 POUNDS 5 SETS IN 90 SEC.

4 +5 POUNDS +5 POUNDS 4 SETS IN 90 SEC.

3 GOAL WEIGHT GOAL WEIGHT 3 SETS IN 90 SEC.

2 -5 POUNDS -5 POUNDS 2 SETS IN 90 SEC.

1 -15 POUNDS -15 POUNDS 1 SET IN 90 SEC.

*YOU WILL BE EXPECTED TO PASS ALL 5 LEG CIRCUITS IN 90 SECONDS W/2:00 REST!

4. CONDITIONING TEST – 16 TIMES MODIFIED 110 TEST IN 15 SECONDS. LINEMEN 90 YARDS; QB, LB, TE, FB, K, 100 YARDS; SKILL 110 YARDS.

5. YOU GET A FREE POINT IF YOU HAVE NO MISSES FOR THE ENTIRE SPRING SEMESTER OF OFF-SEASON AND SPRING BALL.

YOU MUST SCORE 23 POINTS OUT OF A POSSIBLE 33. THAT IS A SCORE OF 70% IN ORDER TO PASS.

IF YOU FAIL TO PASS, EACH POINT YOU FAIL BY WILL BE AN EXTRA DAY OF RUNNING AFTER PRACTICE. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU SCORE 20 POINTS YOU WILL RUN EXTRA THE FIRST 3 DAYS AFTER PRACTICE.

HIGH POINT PERSON WILL EARN THE BEST CONDITIONED ATHLETE AWARD

The first way to earn points is to report at your assigned weight and body fat. This was determined by the position coach and strength coach. Some athletes were asked to gain muscle mass and some were asked to lose body fat. Some were asked to do both.

The second area of emphasis was strength. This was based off of the individual spring maxes and was used to provide accountability in training for the summer. As you can see, it is fairly easy for the athletes to earn points in the strength area. An increase of 5 pounds ensures 3 points for that lift. However, if you slack off for the summer, it is nearly impossible to earn some points in lifting. I did not squat max the guys or girls in pre-season testing. Yes, girls. We used this system for men and women’s basketball, baseball and softball. It was fun, created competition and was easy to administer. Back to the squatting issue, I did not feel comfortable squat maxing many of our athletes just prior to the beginning of camp or practice. Therefore I used Vern Gambetta’s Leg Circuit as the test for leg strength, power and endurance. It worked. This and the conditioning test were the two tests the athletes dreaded which told me these tests were the most demanding. The leg circuit is 20 prisoner squats, 20 alternate push back lunges, 20 alternate power step – ups and 10 squat jumps. These 70 reps are executed in a row one exercise after another and the athlete must be done in 90 seconds. After 2:00 minutes of recovery, the next set is started. The entire test is a total of 5 sets or 350 reps executed in a little over 15 minutes. There is no added weight in the test, it is bodyweight only for resistance. The squats are thigh to hamstring parallel. The lunges are with the hands on the waist. The step – ups are executed with one foot always up on the bench and one on the ground. The bench should be high enough so that when the athlete has his foot up on the bench with the foot, knee and ankle joints all at 90 degrees the knee will be slightly below the hip when the foot on the floor is flat.

The conditioning test is the 110 test, but everyone runs for 15 seconds and recovers for 45 seconds. I needed two coaches, two watches and four eyeballs and could run everyone at one time. The distance changed which made the administration of the test much easier on the coaches and the sprinting turnover was better for the linemen. Plus, I could move some guys to 105 yards (great for the slow but quick speed guys and the little fast middle group members) or 95 yards (perfect for the plugger middle guys and the lighter, quicker linemen).

The final way to earn points was to do what was asked of you in the spring. If you failed to earn the minimum number of points (23 out of 33) then each point under 33 was a day of extra running. This was handled by me after the morning practice which did not interfere with the evening schedule in football. In other sports a failing score required the athlete to get up and attend an early morning session in the weight room of interval sprints on the bike so as not to interfere with regular practice schedules. The person that scored the highest point totals (usually a perfect score) earned the “Best Conditioned Athlete Award” and was duly honored.