Dear Football Officials:
I am the head football coach at Piedmont High School in northern, CA, and this past season we ran a new offense called (the A-11 Offense); which stands for All Eleven Players Potentially Eligible, see link below please:
http://a11offense.blogspot.com/2007/...1-offense.html
We are a small school regularly competing against larger schools and we had to try and somewhat negate sheer size from the defensive side of the ball vs. our offense. As you know, on any given play only 5 players can catch a downfield pass, and once a man is covered, he remains ineligible for that play, etc.
1. After much research and diligent study for more than a year, we submitted our ideas, X's and O's and interpretations for this new offense to the NFHS, and CIF and of course it was approved after they did their due diligence and also conversed with us on exactly what we were going to do. Not only should the those officials be applauded for their open minded approach to this new style of offense, but they should also be praised for not discriminating against us for being different and trying something new.
2. What is just a crucial, is that all of the actual Officials who worked our football games this past season were extremely complimentary of our new brand of offense, and they found it easy to handle. "Much easier in person than simply viewing it on a chalkboard," was the feedback we received weekly.
3. For college and pro teams that can recruit and/or draft the exact personnel they want to use, the A-11 is probably not a big deal to them (and we also know the rules are different at those levels). However, for a small public high school like ours, developing the A-11, using it this initial season and being successful is something our kids, coaches and now our entire community is truly proud of.
4. We have received 95% great and amazingly positive feedback: in person, phone calls and emails from coaches, fans, and Officials about how exciting the A-11 Offense is! What a treat for our program and the players are really proud of it. Now that we are openly sharing our system with fellow coaches, fans and officials nationwide, it is amazing and they can teach us too as we share together.
5. For the thousands of small schools like us around the country competing weekly against bigger faster stronger teams, this is a thrilling evolution of the game, and thank you again to the officials and open minded people for allowing innovation in football to begin at the high school level.
* If you need further info, please contact me direct:
Sincerely,
Kurt Bryan
Head Football Coach, Piedmont High School
C: 510-410-4717
E:
[email protected]