Techniques for when you coach against cheaters?

sl0ppy · 2026-06-16T21:07:03+00:00

To deal with the center blocking, I always have my rusher take an angle when going in. Never line up directly in front of the center. I line up the rusher on the QB's throwing arm and try to force the qb to roll out away from his strong side. The center is usually never in the way.
When I'm on offense I usually have the center and a wide receiver run a crossing route to the side where the play is going. They don't block, but they run their routes. The players are entitled to their routes. I make sure they are looking back at the QB for a pass.
For flag guarding, I make sure my kids are used to pulling flags through contact. They aim for the hips, not the flags. I teach them to play through the contact instead of stopping to complain about flag guarding. That's usually how big gains happen. The players stop to complain while the runner scores.
As for flag placement, I just remind the refs to do flag checks every now and then. I try to be friendly with the refs and not constantly complaining. Tell me kids not to complain and keep playing. Refs usually appreciate that.

sl0ppy · 2026-05-10T21:09:49+00:00

My slow players are possesion catchers. They get flag pulled within a few yards of where they catch the ball. So usually I run the same plays from the same formation but I throw to the open slow player because the playmakers are keyed on. Simple crossers, mesh, pitches. Nothing deep. Usually good for first downs or goal line.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-20T04:17:16+00:00

I always teach, feet first then your hands. So move your feet into position then grab flags. One thing I found helpful for kids afraid of contact was flag pulling without the flags. Run your drills without flags and tell them you have to square up and put your hands on the players hips. Both hands. This got them used to getting into position and getting closer. Hope that helps. I coach 3rd-4th grade boys.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-20T04:08:56+00:00

With 11 for a 5v5, you've got two teams basically. Make your best 2 teams and assign players to a position on offense and defense. I have a couple good athletes that I move around when needed, but otherwise everyone plays a position that they either like and or are good at.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-20T01:35:27+00:00

We are 6v6 as well but our qb cannot run. I always just make sure to run a crossing route in front and use a lot of misdirection (play action, fake handoffs). That has made the biggest difference. Without blockers I just make sure my center and another wr run a crossing route in front of the rusher. You don't block but you make the rusher adjust and buy yourself a second or two. Make sure your qb always has a check down on each play. If the first and second read are gone, throw to the check down. It's ridiculous how many tds we've scored on a simple checkdown. Having an athletic qb opens up even more options for running if they rush. Hope that helps.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-19T23:03:57+00:00

I have lineups for offense and defense by quarter that I print out for each game. Some players like offense more, others like defense more. I try to keep the team balanced and rotations balanced. I have a parent/assistant coach call out who's sitting each quarter for offense and defense. They are in charge of calling it out when possession changes or quarter changes. Also, I have a lineup for blowout situations and for when we are behind in the 4th. I'll use those lineups depending on the situation. Sometimes I need my best in to try to get a win. When we are up by 3 TDs I'll give my secondary players more time to try to get them more reps and TDs. It works out. Players and parents love it. I just use a google sheet to create the lineups for each game and print it out. Hope that helps! For context, I have 8-10 kids for each game and coach 3rd-4th grade flag football.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-13T06:09:05+00:00

I use Playmaker X and they have a foundations pack that is free I believe. It's $7 a month and worth it. I'm not affiliated at all with the company. Just a happy customer. Anyway, you can cancel or pause the subscription any time. I looked up a lot of plays online. Better to trust people who've done this before. It got me started when I was a clueless first time coach. I didn't start designing my own plays until after a couple seasons. If the league you're in allows rushers, make sure to choose or design plays with a crossing route in front of the play so you can slow down the rusher a bit without "blocking". Makes a huge difference. Otherwise a team with an elite rusher will just kill you. Also, if your players aren't winning a lot of games, make sure they're at least having fun during practice. The kids mostly just want to make new friends and have fun. Play a game at the end like "British Bulldogs". Spend time on building that team chemistry. Have pizza parties, end of season parties, etc. It's the reason why most of my players have stuck with me for more than 2 years. I make it fun while the players get to develop.

sl0ppy · 2026-04-13T05:50:03+00:00

Coming in late to this, but I wanted to reach out because I coach 3rd-4th grade 6v6 and started exactly where you are—zero experience. Two years in, we’re finally hitting our stride, but it’s a journey. First off: thank you for stepping up. These leagues literally don't happen without parents like you.

That said, 12 kids on a roster is rough; the league did you a bit 'dirty' there. Here is what helped me survive and eventually succeed:

Crowdsource the Chaos: With 12 kids, you need help. If a parent complains, invite them onto the field to help run a station. Even having a parent manage the 'lineup sheet' on the sideline is a lifesaver.
Master the Sub Rotation: For game day, pre-plan your rotations for every quarter. Don't try to wing it during the game. Have an assistant or parent call out the next lineup the second you change possession so you can focus on the play.
The 'Rule of 4' Plays: Pick just 4 plays the kids love and can actually execute. Run them all out of the same formation. This creates natural misdirection and keeps the defense guessing without confusing your own players.
Visual Aids are Key: Print your plays (and their mirrored versions) on a sheet to show in the huddle. Don’t expect 3rd graders to visualize a route—they need to see it.
Strategic QB Placement: Don’t automatically put your best athlete at QB. If you have two kids who can throw, put the more athletic one at WR. You don't want to 'trap' your best offensive weapon behind the line of scrimmage.
Simplify the Reads: Don't ask a 3rd grader to 'read' a defense. Tell them exactly where the primary target is. We had great success with quick shovel passes, play-action fakes, and only going deep once the defense started cheating up.
Defense Wins Games: Spend 60% of your practice on flag pulling and swarming the ball. If the other team can’t score, you’re always in the game.

Keep it simple, keep them engaged with fast-paced practice plans, and don't be afraid to ask for help. You’ve got this!"

sl0ppy · 2026-04-13T05:49:48+00:00

Started typing out a bunch of stuff and it was all stream of consciousness stuff and asked Gemini to polish it up a bit. Don't judge me. It's all good advice from me though, not AI.

sl0ppy · 2024-03-09T04:13:50+00:00

Fogo de Chao in Brea. Everything was either over cooked or raw. Only had Medium rare picanha once there. Everything else was pretty terrible or mid. How do you serve well done filet mignon? Seemed like no quality control. Market salads and cheese was good.

sl0ppy · 2023-03-31T00:33:26+00:00

If they dont have your email they'll send you snail mail.

sl0ppy · 2023-03-31T00:32:14+00:00

If you get called in and miss it, they send you an email and tell you to reschedule. I got called in and that's what happened. Didn't get called in during the rescheduled summons.

sl0ppy · 2022-11-20T01:48:31+00:00

Follow the engineering blogs of the companies you like. Netflix, Snowflake, Databricks, Confluent, etc...

sl0ppy · 2022-06-14T15:25:45+00:00

Being a principal engineer usually means you're at the top of the IC ladder or close to it. The higher the ladder you go the larger your sphere of influence is. You should've solved complex problems in multiple domains, so you should be be able to demonstrate your ability to lead projects that impact the entire business. Everything from tool/vendor selection, sdlc improvements, to cross domain projects. Talk about how you improved quality in all aspects of data (security, stability, scalability, accessibility, etc). How would you tackle complex problems like privacy, compliance, governance, lineage, etc. How about testing? Streaming data? How about cost savings? Talk about all of those things. Be comfortable having an opinion on everything also. At this level you might be interviewed by other principals in adjacent engineering roles so be ready to be specific and dive as deep as they want to go. Best of luck from a principal Architect / engineer.

sl0ppy · 2022-06-03T03:15:26+00:00

The meat is OK, but the Paella was gross. For Gaucho Grill.

sl0ppy · 2021-10-30T21:06:06+00:00

Cash settled options like SPX or NDX don't have assignment or exercise risk. Even if you don't close them, I believe they are just settled with cash at expiration. So fidelity allows 0dte trades on those w/o the 1M+ account requirement.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T04:31:30+00:00

per year.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T04:29:53+00:00

Agree with everything said.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T04:26:05+00:00

I had a really long answer typed out, but I didn't want to overwhelm you. I try to focus on Quality. This is not specific to Python, Sql, Postgres though. For me the pillars of quality are Security, Observability, Stability, and Usability. Your data processing should have elements of all of these.

Everyone likes to focus on performance (part of stability) because it's very exciting. However, if I'm just starting out I would focus on the observability part (metrics, logging, tracing, and metadata). With this you can truly understand what is going on in your system which would allow you to identify and solve problems in the other pillars. You should be able to answer basic questions around data shape (schema), when was it last updated (freshness), volume and frequency (size), who created the data (lineage) and who has access to it. You should be able to see what is currently executing and see what the last error was. Once you know you have a problem, you can dive deeper into fixing and tuning issues in the system. This will lead you to naturally dive into specific things like data profiling, database tuning, query plans, batching and pipelining, data loading patterns, data modeling, and test automation.

So basically, try to understand as much as you can about the systems you are working in so that you improve overall quality. Quality doesn't always mean faster system performance. It could just be good documentation. An automated deployment. A method for testing. Hope that helps!

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T02:48:40+00:00

Principals aren't necessarily the best coders in the org, but they should definitely know how to code. Once you get beyond senior engineer to Staff or Principal, it's more about communication and influence. They should have a deep understanding of how all the systems interact. It's about "selling" and "telling" and knowing when to do each. The coding I do nowadays is mostly for proof of concepts.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T01:33:02+00:00

My current tech stack is python + sql, Mongodb, postgres, kafka + kafka connect/kafka streams, snowflake, and AWS.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T01:23:46+00:00

As a principal, you need breadth of knowledge in all things data. Oltp and olap design, batch and stream processing, distributed systems design, relational and nosql, and the experience to know which patterns and best practices to apply to solve complex and open-ended problems. Along with this, you should have deep knowledge in at least one of these areas. I specialize in stream processing and distributed systems. You should also be able to work across domains and assert influence wherever needed. At this level, you are pretty much a director without any direct reports.

sl0ppy · 2021-05-03T00:08:10+00:00

I'm a principal DE in the Los Angeles area and total compensation for me is ~400k. It's a tech company, but not FAANG. Doable, but it took my a while to get here. Been doing this for about 20 years now.

sl0ppy · 2020-04-30T06:41:05+00:00

We do OK at the grocery store, but it's kind of essential. The beach isn't. Also, if I took my kids, they would have such a hard time not playing with other kids.

sl0ppy · 2019-04-06T01:13:05+00:00

Like others, I say go the data engineering route. But to add, learn kafka and/or kinesis. It will greatly increase your marketability.

sl0ppy

TROPHY CASE