Grade Letter 12/3/2015

Hello All,

I am getting great feedback about the text message today. I wanted to answer questions in mass. I have shut down football related activities in lieu of the guys getting academic support after school. Like all of you I want our young men to do their absolute best in all areas of their lives. As a coach I realize the influence I have on our young men. What better message can I send to our guys when I see A/B intelligence and intellect getting frivolous C’s. I have spoken to a number of the guys and they are in fact working very hard, but some of them are not and they have settled with, “Coach I am passing.” Quite frankly as a teacher/coach and a parent that is just not acceptable.  The staff here at Hickman High School is excellent. Teachers are available to support your son academically before and after school. There is question I have asked the players over and over, “Is this your best effort?” In some cases it is and I respect the effort. However in some cases that effort is minimal or the answer is “But coach, I am passing though.” This is a young team, 60% of this team are freshman and sophomores. These are great kids and many of them are very smart. I want to and will continue to reiterate the importance of academics every moment they are near me. As parents you would not accept anything but their absolute best effort. We all remember a difficult subject. We also remember how hard we had to work in that class and the feeling of accomplishing a hard earned grade. Finally, there have been reports of behavior that has been called anything from “immature” to “distracting”. As I said I will address this with those individuals. I have also encouraged their teachers to contact home. For those kids that may need to stay after school to receive academic help, I am here Monday through Thursday until 6:30 if a ride home is needed. Grades will be sent home tomorrow. I encourage you to sit down with your son and pose that same question. Again if I or my staff can be of any service let me know. My coaches teach everything from Social Studies to Math. We will begin workouts again in January and you will receive information concerning that in the coming weeks.

Coach Monroe

2016 Offseason

Hello All,

Please click here to view the calendar. It will also be updated on the google calendar on this site.

Right now I have the weight room open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as I stated I would at the banquet. I am not keeping attendance and the workouts are more aimed at recovery and core strength. I strongly encourage any student not involved in another sport to be there, if and only if they have no real academic concerns. These workouts will continue until finals week.

Offseason workouts for football will begin in January. The lifting schedule for winter starts January 5^th. I will be keeping attendance from that date until July 1^st. This means that if your son is going to play football and is not in another sport he should be lifting with us. I have, and will continue, to coordinate our workouts with our strength and conditioning coaches so that even if your son has a strength and conditioning class there will be a purpose and benefit to that second work out. Added with that fact is the point that the weight room and the workouts are where we really form the team concept.  If your son is in another sport he will not be expected to lift with us. However it is strongly suggested that he enroll in an advanced strength and conditioning class.

As promised I posted the summer schedule in as much detail as I have at this time. For multi-sport athletes, especially baseball, I worked with Coach Mershon with the lifting schedule and the June camp schedule. The summer workout sessions will be conducted as follows:

• The weight room will be open Monday through Thursday at 4:30 to 6:00 pm.
• Coach Mershon who is a Certified Strength and Conditioning/PE teacher and our Assistant Head Baseball Coach will set our workouts and conditioning in concert with the football staff.
• Athletes will have four days to get three lifts in.
• Attendance will be taken and participation is expected.
• If you chose to hire a personal trainer for your son that is your business. Please remember that the weight room is an area of evaluation for your son also. Our workouts, our team building exercises, our tests and measurables are what we will use to determine your sons’ role in this program.

In June we will have a mini camp which will conclude with our participation at the University of Missouri Football Camp. I do not have the particular details at this point but I will have them by the February 6^th parent meeting. I have spoken to the Hickman baseball coaches and they know that your son will be playing football this week. As for your select baseball teams you and your son will have to make a choice.

In July I ask that football be the priority. As you can see from the summer schedule I have taken in consideration all of the potential summer activities. However if we expect to turn things around football needs to be the priority during this time. Remember all contact day practices are considered mandatory. Again if we want to get better we will need to practice as a team. We had a lot of absences for various reasons last summer. I hope by getting the schedule out this early you will be able to plan as a family to make football a priority.

Coach Monroe

Football Banquet

The football banquet will be Sunday, November 8th. Please complete the RSVP form and turn it in to the main office.