Youth Football: Conditioning

A proper conditioning routine during football practice is as important as any other elements that you have planned in your football practice. A football team that is well conditioned and well coached is a tough one to play against. Its important that as a youth football coach we balance conditioning as part of your practice routine.

Your practice plan should reflect conditioning drills as a team as well as incorporate conditioning right in your individual groups. A lot of teams now run team conditioning drills at the beginning of practice immediately after warm-up. The idea being that you tire your team out at the beginning of practice and then continue to work them through the practice at a fast pace similar to game conditions. That way they are used to playing hard and making good decisions even while fatigued. Practicing at a high pace similar to a game gives them mental toughness which is required in the latter part of close games and could spell the difference between a win or a loss.

Make sure that you do schedule your water and rest breaks efficiently during practice so that they do rest and hydrate properly but at the next element of your practice make sure they work hard at a high tempo without sacraficing proper form and technique. Probably at the beginning of the season your practice tempo won't be just there yet as players struggle somewhat fundamentally but as the practices pile up, emphasize to your coaches and players to practice hard and at a high tempo.