In football, as well as many other sports, you have the starters and those who don’t start. Maybe there is a first team, second team, and then every one else. I was recently talking to a player that wasn’t on our starting defense but was going to be one of the first subbed in. We were talking about expectations and I was talking to him about how much he has improved. He remarked that he wished he was a starter on defense. When I again started to talk about the rotation he simply replied, but being a starter sounds better. I understand what he was talking about. And yes, to others and to yourself, saying you are the starter on a team does sound better than I am the first sub or I am on the scrap team. But we need to understand the important role the scrap team plays in the team dynamic.
I was fortunate to play for some great teams. In grade school, we won the city championship, the metro championship and the regional championship. In high school, my class three games all 4 years with a state championship my junior year. We had some crazy good athletes on our team. We had an amazing line that was both big and fast. We had players that loved to hit. Most importantly, we bonded as a team. Everyone had a role to play. I was not one of the starters. I was part of the Scrap Team All-Stars.
Most coaches have the non-starters fill the role of the scrap team on the opposite side of the ball they are working. A lot of times those players become just tackling dummies. These players are nothing more than the fill in players as they are not the first or second string. Typically they are not in positions that they know or will be playing. Week after week they are sacrificed themselves to the first team.
What should the goal of the scrap team be then?
I believe the goal of the scrap team is to force the starting groups to become better. Not just to give them a look at what the opposing team will look like, but to push our team with the opposing team’s style. If your team dominates they scrap team right away, that doesn’t help your team. The scrap team should at first cause chaos for your team. It should cause your team to ask questions and cause concern. Remember, their job is to elevate your starters.
I remember a time on a team I played for where the head coach yelled at our scrap team coach. He accused our coach of telling us the plays they were going to run for us to cheat. While that was not true, our coach handed over the play call sheet to the head coach. He walked back to us and told us to dial it up. The next 3 play we proceeded to get a tackle for loss. The head coach was so mad the entire team had to run. As we got back and lined up, the coaches went over play by play on what we were doing and each assignment. That next game, we came out and dominated the other team. Why? Because our team had already gone over the different scenarios that they could do with players trying to beat them.
Would have just given the look done just as well as having someone try and beat them? Maybe. But the progression of seeing it on film, to the athletes stepping through the motions, to making contact with the plays, to getting beat and understanding the how and why they are doing this, to finally knowing the steps and motion you need to take to correctly do what is needed in those scenarios is enormous.
