Thanks to Steve for reminding me of the ABA convention where Larry
presented...actually, it was some preliminary data from his
dissertation for which I was his advisor. Steve neglected to mention
that it was at this same session just after panelists were introduced
(Steve was also a panelist) that the rest of us on the panel stood up
and brought out scissors and cut off our ties about half way up ...
all in honor of The Graffer whose data I recall were from his
daughter's free throw shooting practice over the years.


Larry's work was primarily tied to getting more out of practices.
Mt. Union was switching from a traditional run-oriented offense to a
pass offense...Larry and I created an observation system which
charted every pass and catch in practice, results of which were
posted immediately...it was a fairly complex system so required
trained observers..Goals were set for QB's and receivers and weekly
practice results became pretty important barometers of team offensive
improvement.Larry also created an innovation with his scout team (the
least skilled kids on the team who mimic the weekly opponents offense
and defense during practice)...He charted the scout team performance
in terms of running plays quickly, running them with accuracy and the
like...the +Re was that when the scout team met a specific criterion
for the week,they got to choose one of their own to actually be in
the starting line up for the saturday game...the kid got to start and
play a play or two but it was very motivating to the whole scout team
to have one of their own recognized and it made the week's practices
much more efficient for the regular players.

Daryl Siedentop



--
Daryl Siedentop
Director, OSU P-12 Project
153 Arps Hall
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210

Phone: (614) 247-6398
Fax: (614) 688-3942
e-mail: Siedentop.1@...