It’s an interesting phenomena.
We see our players at meal hall. Loud. Raucous.
In the meeting room before the meeting starts, nothing but chatter.
Then we get out onto the football field.
Crickets. Maybe even a tumbleweed.
They’re quiet.
But if we want our team to communicate more, we can’t just tell them to communicate.
Here are a few specific tools that can help turn up the volume on the field.
Create the Vocabulary
A good starting point is telling them what to say.
By the end of a football season, we basically have our own language as a Defence.
We’ve created buzzwords and shorthand to identify certain things that might happen on the field.
Motions, routes, blocking schemes — they all have names.
The names show up in the playbook, we use them in meetings, we practice them on the field.
They become a part of our vocabulary.
Sometimes, with a veteran team, the players will make up their own words to identify something new they’re seeing.
That’s when you know you’re on to something.
Empower Individuals
For some of the more important bits of communication, I might designate a certain player to make the call.
The Free Safety calls out the Formation, for example. Or a certain Linebacker calls out the Tight End adjustment.
Assigning a responsibility to a specific player sometimes helps them get out of their shell. Their calls get louder as the season progresses, and eventually they’re calling out more than what’s required.
This can also help avoid confusion on the field.
If you give this player the call, then whatever they say, that’s the call.
Instill Confidence
This is the big one.
A player will not be vocal on the field unless they are confident enough to open their mouth and speak.
If our systems are too confusing, the players will be too busy trying to remember their own assignments. This makes communication impossible.
Also, as coaches, we must create a space that encourages loud communication.
If players are too afraid to say the wrong thing, they won’t say anything at all.
Final Thoughts
Whenever I’m noticing that our Defence is not being vocal enough, I first look at myself as the coordinator.
Did I make things too complicated?
Am I empowering the players to speak? Am I giving them a vocabulary to use?
At the end of the day, some teams will be more vocal than others.
But with these tools, hopefully you can help your team get louder on the field.
All the best,
Jon Svec
Defensive Coordinator
St. Francis Xavier University
X-Men Football
IG: @jonsvecx
Twitter: @jonsvecx
To read more, check out the Canadian Football Chalk Talk e-books series, which includes: Defensive Basics, Linebacker Toolbox, and Modern Pressures.