Engineering a complete overhaul in youth soccer
Last weekend I was a speaker at the Pop Warner Treasure Coast Trainers Clinic held in the West Palm Beach, Florida area. Also speaking was Bill Powers, head football coach at Jupiter Christian High School. The Bills teams have won back-to-back state championships and are on a 28-game winning streak. The amazing thing about this story is that Jupiter Christian before the Bills arrived had never had a winning season. In fact, the 2 years before the Bills arrived, the team went 2-17 and was outscored by over 600 combined points. The previous head coach resigned, declared the football program “dead” and suggested it be discontinued.
Under the leadership of Bill Powers, the school not only went 45-5 and won 2 state titles, but now competes with and outperforms schools with much larger enrollments. Jupiter Christian has only 250 students, but Jupiter regularly competes against schools with student populations of 400, 600, 1,000 and yes, even one with over 2,000 students. In 2008 they played 3 different 4A schools with enrollments of 1500 or more. Perennial powers like Glades Day dot the calendar for Jupiter Christians, as well as even outside state powerhouses of North Carolina and Georgia. This season their schedule includes several 4A schools again and even a 5A school (Lake Worth) with over 2,000 students. These guys are Fresno State high school football, anyone, anytime, anywhere.
What type of ammunition?
What seems so strange about this story is that the team is not made up of big kids or great athletes. Not a single Jupiter Christian player from a Bill Powers team has played Division I football on a scholarship. In fact, starting quarterback Marshyl Rothman wasn’t even sure he liked football, he was a hockey player and only 5’8″ and 170 pounds. Starting fullback/linebacker Will Powers (son of Bill) he started as a sophomore on the offensive line, before moving to fullback. At just 5’7″ and 185 pounds, he looks like a throwback in those game clips from 2007, wearing jersey number 65.
Watching the Jupiter Christian game movie is like watching a David vs. Goliath movie in almost every game. The first thing I noticed was the startling size disparities, especially on the offensive line. In many of the shots, it looked like a college team lined up against a Pop Warner Midget team. The second thing I noticed was the incredible quickness of Christian’s offensive line, as well as the excellent execution and constant effort of this entire team.
From junior coach to high school state championships
Another kick to this unlikely story, Bill Powers and his staff had never coached high school football before taking over Jupiter Christian. Bill was a former state trooper, then a stockbroker, and then a successful business owner. However, he had been a very successful Pop Warner coach. Yes folks, he went straight from youth soccer to winning state titles through the high school ranks. His offensive line coach Tom Morton, offensive coordinator Jim Davis and assistant Tim Derrico all worked out with Bill at Pop Warner.
Fortunately for me, my good friend Kevin Justice knows Bill Powers well and arranged for Bill and I to have lunch and dinner together during my stay in Florida. He wanted to know what was special about Bill Powers and how he designed this amazing change. Bill Powers has a very strong presence, at 49 years old it seems that he was a few years away from being able to strap himself in and play himself. Like his offense, he’s very economical with his words, he uses only the bare minimum to get the job done, no fluff. Confident, but modestly giving credit to his assistants, players and support administration, he’s an easy interview, my kind of person.
how they did it
When asked which 5 actions of his had the greatest impact in changing the program, he didn’t have to think about a thing, the answers flowed quickly. She felt that the number one reason for the change was to make the kids believe they could win. She constantly bombarded them with stories of the unlikely hero, the player or team everyone thought was too small or not athletic enough to prevail, but did. He told his players about his friend Sam Mills, a 5’7″ Pro Bowl linebacker, whom no one wanted out of high school. After a stellar career at Montclair State, a Division III school, Mills was eliminated from 2 NFL squads as well as a CFL team Two full years after playing his last college, he caught on in the USFL and his coach Jim Mora took Mills with him to the Saints and then the Carolina Panthers , where he went on to play in 5 professional Bowls.
Powers sold his sons on the idea that they had no choice but to out-compete their opponents. He made them face the harsh realities of the disparities in numbers and size they would face and sold them that the only solution was to outmaneuver their opponents. His mantra is “overachieve”, guide his every action, break all obstacles with him. They’re relentless, whether they’re lifting weights, doing speed training, doing 7-on-7 or playing lacrosse for Jupiter Christian with, you guessed it, Bill Powers at the helm. Bill is a huge fan and supporter of football players who play lacrosse.
Powers and his staff started at ground zero with this team and haven’t deviated much from their ground zero practice plans. They are fans of perfect fundamentals, the level of the bag, the footwork, the swing of the hips, they leave nothing to the imagination. They don’t play much, but they work every day on the basic blocking and tackling that is the cornerstone of any great team. The schemes that Bill Powers’ teams run are not complex, in reality they probably run fewer than 20 different plays. But they use a lot of formations and moves to gain an advantage. The Bills’ offense reflects his minimalist approach to the game, breaking the game down into a few critical success factors and requiring perfect execution and sustained 4-5 second effort on every play.
The Jupiter Christian coaching staff demands that their players play with enthusiasm, 100% effort and execution. They hold the kids accountable to that standard, and from all appearances it appears that the kids are “all in,” to use a popular poker phrase.
Coach Powers was also quick to credit the school administration for their support, as well as the hard work of his very dedicated but now growing coaching staff. They study cinema endlessly to improve their equipment. While they certainly meticulously scrutinize every opponent’s film, you find this team of movie junkies looking more for how they can improve their execution and get every last bit of talent out of the hand they’ve been dealt. That includes things like having one of your best young running backs starting on the offensive line.
Learned lessons
One of the biggest benefits I get from all the coaching clinics I do is getting to sit down and learn from guys like Bill Powers. Luckily, I get the benefit of his 4 years of real life experiences, without having to go through them myself. Simply put, there aren’t many like him though, having done so much with so little in such a short period of time and with a coaching pedigree that many long-time coaches would turn up their noses.
For those of us who are trying to change a difficult situation, there is hope, there is a template that you can follow, it can be done. But the answer is in the economy, don’t try to do too much, but what you do, perfect it. Make the children believe in themselves, that they can succeed, give them hope. Know what you have and what you need to do to succeed, be the best fundamental blocking and tackling team in your league.
Hold your kids accountable for playing with enthusiasm, 100% effort, and perfect execution. Take care of your players so they go “all in” and you can get the kind of effort that Bills kids give. Train with enthusiasm and intensity and lead by example, you can teach work ethics. As Coach Powers showed, there are some concepts that are universal to both youth and high school football teams, it’s up to you whether or not you decide to apply them.
Many thanks to Bill Powers for spending time with me to help me understand how they accomplished this remarkable turnaround so that other coaches can help their sons have a much more enjoyable season. He is the best, best of luck to him and the children of Jupiter Christian this year with the brutal schedule ahead.
Here are some clips of Bill’s son Will Powers and the Jupiter Christian Eagles. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BvtjYIhUKk