Experienced volunteers
Lee Franconia has dedicated, experienced coaches. All are volunteers. Most of our coaches played high school or college football. Some start to coach when their children join the Wolverines, and stay with Lee Franconia for years. A coach may specialize in a particular age/weight group, or move to a different age/weight group or division each year.
How is a player assigned to a coach and team?
New and returning players do best when team assignment is based on the player's skills and potential (as well as age and weight). Team assignments must also follow the rules of our parent league, the Fairfax County Youth Football League (FCYFL). The commissioner of the Lee Franconia Wolverines is always willing to talk with parents about team assignments.
Each season, coaches, players, and parents become attached to one another and may want to stay together the next season. In accordance with FCYFL rules and in fairness to the other players and coaches, the only players who are always permitted to remain with a previous coach are the coach’s children.
In any case, it would be impossible to keep a youth team together year after year. Players grow at different rates and have different birthdays. Very often, half of this year's team will need to move to a different weight class next year.
But rest assured: returning players usually know several teammates from previous seasons, promoting both friendships and team development.
As coaches move to different weight classes, they work with the players eligible to play in that weight class. At weight classes above the Anklebiter group, experience and skill level are factors in determining placement on a team.
At no time should a coach attempt to pull players from one weight class to another. A player might be skilled enough to move to another weight class, but if the player's age and weight meets the lower weight qualification, the player should compete at that lower weight class. This practice ensures that players of roughly the same age and size play together, promoting fairness and safety.
Taking players from lower weight classes and moving them up would not only hurt the integrity of the game, but also reduce the number of skilled players in the lower age group, severely affecting the competitiveness of all teams.
How are coaches trained?
Wolverine coaches are required to take and complete a USA Football coaching education program. Head coaches also attend monthly open meetings of the Lee Franconia board during the off-season. Open meetings are held November through July (for details, select the "Calendar" menu item for the schedule, and "Volunteering" and "Board").
Assistant coaches are often parents of players who decide to get more deeply involved with the Wolverines. As they learn more about coaching, they may decide to serve as head coaches. Some specialize in coaching a particular age/weight category; others coach players of different ages every season or two. As coaches gain seniority, Lee Franconia gives them opportunities to coach Wolverines in more advanced divisions.
All head coaches and assistant coaches undergo a criminal background check.
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