Football Fundamentals: Blocking and Tackling

Youth Football Coach: Football Fundamentals Blocking and Tackling


As a youth football coach its important that in every practice that you focus in your group work specific fundamentals. More importantly this group work should include drills that cover what we refer to as core fundamentals such footwork, tackling, blocking, and block shedding drills. They are the cornerstones of our game

Plan your practices so that each week you cover all of these core blocking and tackling fundamentals. Include it in your group work and focus on at least 15 minutes per fundamental. Try and keep good flow to your football group so that players don't get distracted or fool around. Don't spend more than 15 minutes per fundamental as youth football players will become bored with it easily. Make sure that their blocking and tackling drills properly. The best approach is to have two football coaches work the group, one football coach runs the drills while the other coach points out mistakes and makes adjustments.

With so much to cover in your youth football practice each week to get ready to play, do not veer away from practicing core fundamentals. They are the center stone of good football. If they have good football fundamentals, it will reflect in your football systems, they will have confidence, and it will show in their performance.

A good block or tackle can spell the difference in any games.


Cheers!

Youth Sports- Coaching a Youth Football Defensive Line

Did you ever imagine that you would be discussing defensive line strategies? Most youth football coaches just line up their biggest, slowest defensive linemen in the box and tell them to plug and penetrate into the backfield. But did you ever consider taking that defensive line a little further?


Yea, sure you want to get your defensive line to get up field but how many times have you seen these big guys miss the running back or worse run right by him oblivious to where the football is at. As well, how many of your defensive tackles have caught the quarterback from behind on a roll-out or have been fooled on a screen play?

Give your defensive line assignments and responsibilities!

What if you taught your defensive linemen to read their football blocks and only penetrate to the heels of the offensive linemen and let the ball come to them? By reading the offensive line based on how they are being blocked a linemen can get in a better position to make a play! By penetrating only to the heels of the offensive line a defensive linemen will stay in the play, be harder to trap and not over pursue the ball.

Teach your defensive linemen to keep their heads in the game, know the situation, down and distance and react accordingly. If your contain guys do their job, they will filter the running game back inside to your defensive tackles who await patiently and are responsible to stop the oppositions running game from inside the box from offensive tackle to offensive tackle.

And move that line around. In other words the worst thing you can do is keep them in the same look all during the football game. Give them gap assignments and coach them to control their gaps. Either one or two gap assignments based on their alignment. If your front calls for them to line up in the gap then coach them to shoot the gaps as hard as possible and get double teamed all the while trying to penetrate into the heels of the offensive line. If your front calls for them to line up directly over an offensive linemen, have them jam the offensive linemen on the snap using a two point punch technique, and play two gap responsibility while making a read where the ball is going. If the ball is coming into one of your two gap assignments either to the left or right of the offensive linemen your engaged with then shed the linemen and get your head and body into that gap.

Cheers!