The 2015 CanadaFootballChat.com (CFC) Coaches Clinic kicked off on Friday evening with some of the most decorated college and youth football coaches in Ontario in attendance.
The annual two-day event was held at Clarkson Secondary School in Mississauga, where coaches presented their ideas on how to improve youth football in the province.
The speakers on the first day where broken into sections, from offense, special teams, and getting more dedicated coaches in High school football.
Anthony Maggiacomo: Linebacker Play & Fundamental Improvement
Jacob Hespeler Hawks coach Anthony Maggiacomo spoke to those attending about the importance of improving the linebacker play in youth football. Maggiacomo presented a variety of ideas from new technique for Middle and Outside Linebackers, including what he calls the “Chase and Scrape technique.” This technique stresses the importance of down linebackers closing holes in the Read Option, and tracking the quarterback on a zone run scheme.
Also, Maggiacomo stressed the importance of linebackers paying attention to the fullback in the pass game, Linebacker bumping, and finding running backs out of the backfield.
Maggiacomo believes that his message got through to the coaches, he stated. “I hope that these coaches can take what they have learned today and at least try it,” Maggiacomo said, “if one coach tries what they have learned and it works, then I consider my job well done.”
Master Coaching Series: (Dan Domenico, Mike Circelli)
Former Northern Secondary School head coach Dan Domenico, and Mike Circelli (CCH) Spoke to the coaches about the importance of OFSAA Football and cumulative bowl games, discussing the history of The Metro Bowl, and all bowl games surrounding the OFSAA Championship Series.
Domenico went into detail about the history of the OFSAA Committee, using the Rogers Centre as a venue, and discussed some of the hardships his committee had to deal with in terms of funding.
Domenico recalls a time in which he had a problem with being able to afford to play The Metro Bowl in the Rogers Centre. Domenico recalled a conversation he had with then Rogers Centre head “ “
“I remember a time when the price to play in the Rogers Centre went through the roof,” Domenico said. “It was crazy, it went up to $40 thousand dollars to play our championship game.”
“It got so bad that I had to go to “so and so” office to try and reason with me to give us a break.”
Circelli discussed the importance of full time coaching in high school football and used CEGEP as a model that Ontario high school football should follow.
“I can tell you that the coaches in CEGEP are very well paid,” Circelli said. The main goal that Circelli has is to hire full-time football coaches. For Circelli this is the main problem with Ontario high school football.
“The main problem is that our coaches are not full time,” Circelli said. “We have to have full time coaches in order to be successful.”
Domenico believes that if OFSAA Football where to return to a venue such as The Rogers Centre or BMO Field it would allow the players to gain a unique experience, something they would cherish for the rest of their life.
“Something like playing at BMO Field would give these kids a unique experience that they will never forget, something they can cherish for the rest of their football careers.”
Jeff Reinebold: Special Teams
Before his presentation, Jeff Reinebold tried to instill one very clear message into the coaches memory.
“You may be the only positive roll model that may be in that young mans life,” Reinebold said.
Reinebold mentioned the importance of having the best coach on team to coach special teams. He also stressed the value or repetitions, demanding the best out of their players, and making his players work extremely hard to get better day-by-day.
Reinebold believes that the teams with the best fundamental hitting are the ones that will be the most successful. For Reinbold, being a better hitting team is one of the number one key for a team to get better.
“My players come from USC, Notre Dame, and a lot of high class schools, we still teach hitting everyday,” Reinebold said. “We have to teach hitting because it is the most important thing for us to become successful.”
For Reinebold, the value of repetitions is the most important thing a player can do to become a better player.
“Pavarotti was the best opera singer of all time, do you think he still practiced his scales?” Reinbold said. “You’re damn right he practiced every day.”
“That’s the only way you can get better.”
Fundamentals to Reinebold win over scheme every time. He believes that “Fundamentals will allow you to dominate the poor player, Win against the good player, and compete against the great player.”
Missing tackles to Reinebold is the worst thing you can do, to him it costs you games that was something he stressed to the coaches. Tackle properly so that your fundamentals are always perfect.
The key thing that Reinebold wanted the coaches to remember was what he calls The Giant Lift.
“What we want is for players to hit on the run, hit on the rise, and hit through,” Reinbold said.
Farhan Lalji: Program Building
Farhan Lalji spoke to the coaches about program building, and making high school teams better overall, both for established and struggling programs.
Lalji spoke to the coaches about leading their schools to becoming better programs overall. He emphasized the point of never making excuses, making sure that you get along with your athletic director and principle.
For Lalji, the most important thing to instill in young players is Selflessness, hard work, accountability, respect, and passion. For him holding your younger players accountable is vastly important, if coaches keep their players accountable, it allows them to fully grasp the reality of their ways both on and off the field.
“Excellence is an all the time thing,” Lalji said. “Not every kid is able to get straight A’s, but the kids will be held accountable.”
Academics are very important to Lalji for building a better program. At Westminster, he has created an academic approach program that keeps the kids on his team on track of assignments and classes; if those are not met Lalji has no problems sitting them.
“I am not afraid to bench anyone,” Lalji said, “We are building future leaders of our community, this goes past football.”
“It is a good thing, every kid on my team has to volunteer in the community three full days a year.”
Finally, Larji stressed to the coaches that building a better program is more than football.
“Team building is key for us, we need to create memories.” Laji said.
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