By: Chad Wilson – All Eyes DB Camp
We are smack dab in the Internet era and furthermore, knee deep in the social media movement. As such, there isn’t anything we can’t see online from people anywhere and everywhere. One of the biggest things existing on social media are trainers.
You can get trained to do just about anything on social media these days. It’s up to you to believe whether or not the guy who says he can teach you can actually do so effectively. I am not a trainer.
Before I took on this endeavor of teaching defensive backs from far and wide how to play the position, I played it first. After I played it, I coached it. After I coached it, I taught others how to coach it. There’s something different about coaching and training, especially when it comes to football and defensive back. First of all, there’s something to be said for having been in some of the situations I am trying to teach athletes to excel in. Someone who has not actually been in the shoes you are in is going to have a limited knowledge of what you are experiencing and how to handle it.
Despite that, I am not saying that it is impossible for someone to coach you if they have not been exactly in your situation. However, I am saying, for them to overcome the fact that they have not had that playing experience they are going to have to do many hours of studying and many more hours of coaching others that have been in that situation to actually get good at doing that. A majority of “trainers” you find on social media don’t fit this category. They “think” they have an idea but they really don’t.
Now, let’s move on to the coaching aspect because that’s really where the gaps get filled in. One thing I found myself saying over and over when I became a coach was “I wish I knew this when I was playing.” It is amazing to flip over to the other side as a coach and view the player. Many of the things you thought as a player were just flat out wrong. It’s crazy to realize that. Had I had the knowledge of a coach, while operating as a player, there’s no telling what I could have done.
All the knowledge I speak of is not just in movement, drills and technique. It also exists in how a coach views a player as a whole. It means how a coach determines if he can trust a player and who is actually going to play on game day. The view of how that works is vastly different as a coach than it is for the player.
So in teaching a player how to play defensive back, I bring along with knowledge of the techniques, an understanding of how things should be done to excel in virtually every situation that the player may find himself in. Playing the position is not simply about how you move, it’s also how you think, how you react, how you affect those around you and how you fit into the entire schematic puzzle. Some of these factors rarely ever visit the mind when you are a player. Part of my job is to make you realize them so that the movements you make have more purpose.
When you have coached a 6 year old who knows nothing, all the way to a 28 year old that is very experienced and getting paid handsomely to perform the tasks, you get a rather unique perspective on how skills are developed and applied to achieve success.
All of those long Saturday afternoons and intense Friday Night Lights coaching account for something. They allow me to give the athlete a perspective that is valuable to the people actually in charge of teaching them a team’s scheme and giving the player playing time required for them to shine. That person is the athlete’s actual coach.
If you are considering becoming a trainer, give coaching a try first. The perspective it gives you is invaluable. It is important to know how the individual athlete piece fits into the whole team puzzle. If your interest is in just teaching someone how to move their feet then so be it but understand, it has it’s limitations.
Want to learn how to play defensive back at a high level? If you are in the South Florida area, drop me an email for information on coaching cwilson@alleyesdbcamp.com. If you are out of the area, I have an outstanding member’s area that defensive backs at all levels and from many areas of the country are using to excel in their game. Join it now by clicking here.
For more on Chad Wilson – click here.
Chad Wilson is the owner of All Eyes DB Camp and author of "101 DB Tips". He played college football at the University of Miami and briefly in the NFL for the Seattle Seahawks. Over his 15 year high school football coaching career, he tutored over a dozen Division I defensive backs and as a trainer has worked with NFL All Pros, first round draft picks, college football All Americans and Top 10 ranked high school football prospects.
