Nabor

The offseason is upon us here in Prague.  The junior season finished a month ago and, while preparations are being made, the senior season has yet to begin in earnest.  So what does a young football coach do with all of that time off?  Nabor.

Nabor is an interesting Czech word with really no English equivalent.  If you type it into google translate, the word will not be translated.  As far as I can understand it, Nabor is a series of practices that combine recruiting and tryouts and basic skills development, as well as some physical fitness.  At this point, the people attending Nabor are almost fully committed to the program.  Nabor practices started during the junior season, so some people have washed out. 

Our goal is to provide a base of skills that the new players will need once their respective teams begin organized practice.  We generally have all players do all drills.  We are not position specific yet.  Everyone works on blocking, tackling, catching, backpedaling, running the ball, and whatever other skills that are necessary to learn.  This also gives us a chance to evaluate players and see where they may fit best on the football field, as well as if they fill a position where our various teams need depth. 

Some guys are easy to evaluate.  Linemen are linemen, from size to personality.  This is cross-cultural.  A tall guy with some speed will inevitably end up playing receiver.  The tougher positions to evaluate and decide whom to put where are the linebackers, running backs, strong safeties, tight ends, and a few defensive back positions.  While in America we can generally look at a guy’s size and speed and determine which of those positions he should play, those boundaries are not so static here.  I can kind of understand how a junior high coach feels or a high school coach with a new batch of freshmen feels during the first couple weeks of camp. 

Lately I have been the only coach to come to the practices.  On one hand, it is nice because I can coach proper technique for blocking and tackling.  On the other hand, I also need to coach other skill sets that I am not as familiar with.  Nabor is certainly a learning experience for all involved! 

One of the biggest challenges for me is that we are recruiting for three different teams.  In addition to the junior team (high school age) and senior team (ages 18+) that I have written about in the past, we are trying to add a cadet team, which would serve roughly junior high aged kids.  So we have a wide range sizes, ages, and physical developments at Nabor.  For drills, it is easy to simply divide them up by size.  Most of them have a similar knowledge of the game, no matter the age group. 

One observation that I do have is that the younger players tend to learn the skills quicker during practice and retain what they have learned so that they can build on those skills in the next practice.  The older players tend to be more focused, though.

In addition to preparing these guys for the football season, I also get the rare opportunity to mix with them before the season and before they get absorbed into their various teams as a whole.  I see this as a great ministry opportunity.  I have been able to meet and get to know quite a few of them.  I can try to lay a good ministry foundation before football and the rest of the team distract them.  Football can be an overwhelming sport, especially for beginners, so for guys to know me from the beginning is good.