Administration
As Head Football coach my biggest obligation is to foster a safe environment that promotes growth and well being in our student and to protect the integrity of our football program, our students, our community, and our school. The last thing that any of us want is to have an incident bring shame to our school. As a head coach you must be prepared and have a plan to deal with disciplinary issues, liability, and safety. You must be able to manage a budget, deal with player eligibility, make sure students are physically cleared to play, and be able to communicate with players, parents, and administrators.
As a coach I have seen numerous incidents play out at some schools I have been at and in the news. We must be prepared to deal with issues that are potentially season and program killing or that risk an athletes safety. In Central Florida alone over the past 5 years we have seen schools go through the following situations; student struck by lightning waiting for a game to come back from rain delay, "hazing" in the locker room resulting in charges being filed on a player, rape charges on 5 football players in one program, multiple students arrested for felonies, a football player shot during a fight off campus, on field fight resulting in multiple players suspended and being suspended from post season play, and playing an ineligible player who met the age of 19.5. These are just a small list of things that are a head coaches and an athletic directors worst nightmare. While some of these things may not have been able to be prevented when we hear of cases such as these we will make a plan in order to make sure that our players, coaches, and support personnel understand why these issues are important and how we can prevent them from happening. We will discuss these issues and practice any situation that we can in order to give students the tools to avoid these situations. We must coach character daily! We will hold players accountable to a standard of excellence. They are representatives of our football program and if their character does not match the expectations of our program they will not be apart of our team.
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Coaches Code of Conduct
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Parents Code of Conduct
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Players Code of Conduct
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Limiting Liability
Lightning Policy
One of the biggest threats of liability for a sports team is lightning. At Wekiva High School a few years ago a student was struck by lightning while waiting by a fence for a football game to resume. We will be mindful of state policy in terms of inclement weather and specifically lightning. The best course of action is of course to have a Lightning Guardian alarm in order to be safe as possible. Having a certified trainer or a administrator in charge of monitoring lightning is also recommended to keep coaches bias from getting involved. As coaches we will do our best to monitor thunder / lightning and provide alternatives in these situations arise. Social Media Policy
Student athletes will be required to follow or friend our coaches page on Facebook or Twitter if they have a social media account, if they lie to us and tell us they do not have a social media account that player will be subject to our team discipline policy. Our players are representatives of the football program. If a player gets arrested or is bullying via social media the paper will not say a "XX High School student" it will say "a XX Football player arrested." As coaches it is our primary job to protect the integrity and image of the program and protect the safety of our students. We will monitor their social media interactions and ensure they are presenting themselves in a good light. Twitter in particular is used by college recruiters and can negatively affect a players ability to play at the next level. Social media bullying is also one of the leading causes of teenage suicide, we will ensure that our players engage in none of those behaviors and conduct themselves in a self respectable manner. |
Dehydration / Heat Policy
Exertional Heat Stroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletes. In Florida our risk is greater. A wet bulb globe of 92, equivalent to a heat index of about 105 practice should be cancelled. Anytime the Heat index is creeping into the 100 degree range we should consider modifying practice or have alternative placements for practice. Restricting Access to Water is forbidden. We will always allow our student athletes access to water. We constantly remind our students to drink water throughout the day and encourage them to carry a gallon of water with them. We have worked with schools and teachers to allow athletes to drink water during class time. Physical, Injury and Concussion Policy
Students are required to clear a physical and go through concussion testing before being cleared for football practice. In addition players are required to go through a state mandated number of non contact practices in just helmets and jersey and in shells in order to acclimate to heat. A student will not be allowed to participate in practice without a physical or concussion testing. The head athletic trainer will be in charge of concussion protocol's. Should a player get hurt or injured he should report the problem to a coach or the athletic trainer first. Going to the pediatrician, doctor, or ER for an ankle sprain can result in the player needing doctor clearance to get back on the playing field which can take weeks or months. Always see the athletic trainer and allow him to evaluate and recommend the next step. All coaches will be trained in identifying concussions. In the event that a concussion is suspected, the trainer will monitor and evaluate the athletes readiness to return to play via the concussion protocol. We will never risk an athletes long term health for football. As soon as symptoms are observed or an athlete takes a shot to the head he will be evaluated before returning to play. |
MRSA Policy
MRSA Infections are a growing problem in locker rooms and weight rooms. We will always keep sanitizing spray in our locker rooms and weightrooms and will encourage our students to use them daily. We encourage students to take home their cloth and wash it as often as possible and will sweep the locker room before the weekend or anytime after a rain soaked practice to ensure that student's take their cloth home and wash it. Students will be assigned to clean and sweep out the locker room daily. We will take pride in our environment and we will take care of our equipment. We must prevent cleanliness issues. Hazing and Other Situational
Any form of hazing / bullying will not be tolerated. This includes name calling, exclusion, actions to be accepted, harass, and humiliate. We will coach our players relentlessly on treating others with respect and not violating a player privacy, personal space, or dignity. Any violation of the hazing and bullying policy can result in immediate dismissal from the team and will reported to appropriate authorities. In addition we will discuss and practice other situation events that can "kill a program" this includes things such as: Fight between two players on the field/sideline, stealing or policy if someone steals from you, handling disrespect, handling injustice, off the field conduct (alcohol/drug policy/drinking driving/fighting/taking advantage of people; especially women) All of those situations and more can bring great shame and destroy peoples lives, and destroy a football program. Our players will firmly understand their responsibilities. We will father these children and guide them. We cannot assume they know better. We will hold them accountable. |
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