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Homecoming or Rally Night for Youth Football
I hate homecoming games for youth football. My record with the last five teams I have coached is 1-4. What is the purpose of a “homecoming”? I believe it is for prior players and families to come back and support the team. What a bunch of hogwash! I have never seen any returning players come back to watch a game because it was a homecoming game. The other players will come back if they have a sibling playing on your youth football team.
The truth is the players get completely distracted. They want to screw around, paint their faces and pig out on junk food. Some parents want to have parties before and after the game. A double dose of BS as far as I am concerned.
Once again, we live in a democracy so I need to deal with youth football homecoming. I have found it best to use that Team Mom and depending on how she and the other parents feel about it let them have at it. I ask that the festivities be held after the game. Let Team Mom put together a committee and make homecoming as big as they want. I usually leave after the game to go scout. Some of my assistants have enjoyed hanging out after the game for the social event. I know it is for the kids so I try to keep a low profile regarding homecoming. You will want to check with your league as to what the require you to do. Make sure the Team Mom coordinates with the cheerleaders since they live and die for this day. Some years the cheerleaders have made a banner for the kids to run through. This really keeps the focus in check before the game (joke).
One youth football league I coached for had a rally night. I thought this was a good idea. They had the Youth football Rally Night before the first game. This is brilliant since all teams are undefeated at this point and optimism is at the highest level.
All the youth football teams would line up and each player had his name announced. The player would run through a large inflatable helmet. This helmet came from a local high school. Each player gets his moment in the sun by running through this helmet. I believe they even used a fog machine so the players ran through a cloud of smoke. They had one of the families donate hamburgers and hot dogs. All food was cooked and given to the players free. The league bought Gatorade which was given free too the players.
This was well run and fast. There was no youth football game following the event so the kids were able to be as crazy as they wanted to be.
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