I’m holding a thick stack of paper.

It’s so heavy it takes both hands — one on top, one on the bottom.

The pages are worn, the corners turned.

I hover them over the recycling bin, hesitate, and then drop them in.

Spring Cleaning

They’re doing renovations on the facility, so everything in our office needs to be boxed up and placed in storage for the time being.

It’s an opportunity to do some cleaning. Get rid of some old materials.

I’m not comfortable with this.

I’m a saver.

I hold onto things.

Because you never know.

I don’t mind tossing the old practice plans, the call sheets. Scribbles on loose sheets of paper, they can go.

But the playbooks? That’s another story.

The Keep Pile

I head back to the shelf, dig under more loose sheets of paper until I find an old binder.

It’s a playbook from years ago.

It had found its way onto this shelf at some point over the years, only to be buried by loose papers and envelopes.

To be almost forgotten.

Almost.

I place it neatly in the keep pile.

Because you never know.

A New Wrinkle

When we get back into our office there will be less clutter.

It will be neater.

One day soon I’ll be sitting back down at my desk, coffee at the ready, to dig into some film. I’ll analyze all the modern-day formations, motions, and schemes. Place them into familiar buckets.

At some point, though, something will catch my eye. My eyebrows will raise, and I’ll sit up sharply in my seat.

A new look!

A wrinkle!

Something I will need to dig into, draw up, plan for.

I’ll get to work on it, but with time and study the new look will begin to take a more familiar shape.

Ah, they’ve dressed it up, but they’re just doing this.

We’ve seen this before. How did we handle it back then?

Oh right, I’ve got that saved somewhere. Let me just look…

Repeat

Everything happens in cycles. We can’t help it.

Old schemes get dressed up and re-packaged until they resemble something new.

Over time the patterns repeat

and repeat

and repeat.

One side of the ball makes an adjustment, so the other side advances, and so on, until one side has gone so far away from centre that the other side just brings it back around again.

And repeat.

What’s Old Is New

Yes, the game has changed.

It’s changing every day, and as coaches we must work hard to keep up with the times.

But there are some fundamental concepts that will likely never go away completely. Even if they get dressed up a bit from time to time.

And if you’re ever feeling nostalgic for an old offensive system or defensive scheme, just wait a little bit longer.

It’s sure to be back in style again soon.

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.