Shield Punt Formation

I have always been a traditionalist when it came to punt team. Basically my thought was always to protect the ball and punter by using a closed punt formation with your big guys up front on the line with tight splits, two wings, and personal protectors. Just get the punt off, and worry about downfield coverage afterwards. I soon realized that the downfall to good protection up front was that after the ball was punted, they had the difficult task of running downfield to try and tackle the oppositions best player. It was a mis-match as the returner would run circles aroung the big men. I then read about the shield punt formation which is a spread formation with seven athletes up on the main line with huge splits that would thin out the rush, along with a shield of big guys in the backfield set up in front of the punter with their heels at 8 yards. The athletic linebacker types on the front line would be responsible for blocking their outside gap, so basically on the snap would shuffle out and two point punch the man in their outside gap, rip across his face and get downfield. The long snapper is free to get downfield after the snap so any single rushers in the A gaps would be allowed to go through to the awaiting shield players who with their size would be able to absorb any kind of agressive rushers. When there are two rushers in one A gap the Guard on that side would be required now to block his inside A gap and allow any single rushers in the B gap to go through to the shield. Rushers off the edge are just too far out to make a difference as the splits from Long Snapper to End are 2 yds, 3 yds, and then 5 yds. The result so far has been very good, and with speedier linebacker types on your front seven the downfield covergae has been greatly improved. Even the rush has slowed down as any rushers that get through now face a massive wall of big guys who have the ability to take on any player for the most part. The rush is thinned out now and if they try and overload the inside gaps with rushers they really are vulnerable to any outside run by the punter with the big shield leading the way. Cheers!

Football Game Film

If your not filming your games yet, please consider doing so! Reviewing game film and getting your players to watch game film will make your football team a lot better. Its one thing to talk about on field mistakes and its another thing to actually get your team to view the mistakes through watching film. Believe it or not, there are players that are shocked when they watch their on field play. Some can't believe that they are slow getting out of their stance, or slow pursuing to the football or running a terrible route. They never would have belived you had you not had evidence as indicated by game film. There are a few on-line programs now available to coaches that enables you to down load your film, have your players sign on to the program, and they are able to watch game film from the comfort of their own homes, whenever they get a chance. The coach is even able to e-mail players individually and get them to watch themselves on specific plays. The players can even creat highlites of themselves and save them and watch for years to come. As far as a coaching tool, it is very effective. As a coach you find yourself saying over and over " the film don't lie". Cheers!

Youth Football Spring Training Preparation

Spring is right around the corner and after a long winter I'm starting to think about the upcoming 2014 football season, our depth chart, as well as potential newcomers that will join our football team. As well, I'm currently evaluating our football systems in order to determine whether or not our current system compliments the abilties of our returning players. This is a very important component of being an effective football coach as sometimes we get so wrapped up in our system of choice that we fail to see that it does not fit the abilties of our players. The worse thing we can do as coaches is implement a system that our players will fail in. A good coach will recognize the strengths and weakenesses of his players and implement a system that they will thrive in! Other factors to consider would be where your football players are as far as experience and maturity and what they can handle.If you are in year one of a three year rebuild then probably your system should be simple but effective. At this stage players would be struggling with terminology and position assignments which basically is the "growing pains" of coaching a young team therefore you want to keep things simple but effective and keep building on it as they mature. Cheers!

Football Coaches Evaluation

As football coaches we can get pretty wrapped up in our systems spending endless hours trying to tweek and improve our offence or defence in order play more efficient football. As football stategies, systems or philosohies are a personal choice made by all football coaches there's only one true way to get a evaluation on your systems and thats to sit dowm with another coach that you trust and know is knowledgeable and have him critique your teams performance. I must admit it can be intimidating laying it out there for critism, however after going through it with a trusted coach I found it to be not so bad an experience. In fact, I belive that the constructive critism has made me a better coach in the end. Simply we watched film together, looked over the playbook and he pointed out a few things that I could have been doing better and after hearing it from him I agreed! Simply put I'd much rather be exposed by another coach by watching film,then to have the same thing happen during the big game! Cheers!

Youth Football Spring Training Preparation

After the winter break from football,and with spring football just around the corner, nows the time to begin reviewing our drills and practice plans for the upcoming spring camps that soon will be upon us. Lets face it we're only human and we need to review our football stuff to make sure we're up to snuff when the camps begin. Theres nothing worse than a coach showing up for a Spring camp session with many enthusiastic kids ready to go, hungry to play football, to find the coach not prepared or trying from memory to run a practice. Not a good plan my friend! Instead as coaches we need to be organized in our drills, and come prepared with a great practice plan.So take the time now to reveiw to yourself what you teach funadamentally and have a fluid organized practice that has the kids chomping at the bit to come back for more. Spring football is fun, its refreshing and exciting and a great time to coach without the pressure of preparing for a game. Cheers!

Fullback vs. H-back

Is the fullback position in football being slowly pushed out in favour of the hybrid H-back? My generation of football always featured a power I formation that featured a powerful crushing fullback blocking for a speedy athletic tailback. Until recently the fullback position was very prominent in most all offensive formations but in today’s football game it appears that the blocking fullback is being pushed out in favour of a more dynamic H-back that can line up as a receiver as well as in the backfield. Does it mean that in time the fullback position will be eliminated? No, not at all my friend! What it means is that for now the H-back is a more popular choice for offensive co-ordinators trying to gain an advantage over traditional defences in spreading out the defence as well as looking for mis-matches in downfield coverage. It’s all part of the evolution of the game of football. Similar to the ideas of the Wildcat formation which jumped on to the scene several years back with success, the H-back formation will have its success for awhile and then the game has a funny way of moving on or back to something else. Cheers!

The Pistol Offence and Youth Football

One of the things that you will probably see over the course of the next couple seasons is the evolvement of the Pistol Offence at the youth football level. With the success that the San Francisco Forty Niner’s have had running the ball with the pistol offence there will be many coaches around the globe trying to emulate this type of offence and to be honest, I think that it can work at the youth football level. Even though they run it at the Pro level it’s really not hard to execute. Basically the play breaks down to just three players. The Defensive End, the Quarterback and the Running back. It would be ideal to run for small programs that don’t have a lot of depth players but have a few good linemen as well as a couple of good athletes that can be placed at the quarterback and running back position. The basis of the pistol offence is designed to isolate the defensive end and make him choose whether or not he wants to tackle the running back or the quarterback. The key is that the quarterback reads the end every time , always shows him that he is going to hand off the ball to the running back and if the end bites on this, then pulls out the ball at the last possible second and runs around the outside of the box. The idea being that as soon as the end bites on the RB run, he is giving up his contain assignment and puts the defence in a vulnerable position. At the same time, if the end does not bite on the inside run and maintains his contain assignment, the quarterback reads this and hands off the ball to the running back that runs off-tackle. Now keep in mind that the Defensive End is left unblocked, so it enables the Tackle/Guard Combo on the play side to have good angles as well as double team opportunities on the Defensive Tackle and Middle Linebacker. Simple but effective don’t you think? Cheers!

Simple Defensive Line Key versus Zone Blocking Scheme

When coaching up your defensive line a lot of youth football coaches will give their defensive line either a man or gap assignment. In man the defensive linemen reads the offensive linemen based on his first step whether it be left or right or a drop step which would indicate pass. The step direction will determine the play and what side the ball will be going to based on the direction step of the offensive linemen. The d-lineman is taught to read the step, mirror with the O-linemen and fight to get up field and not get scooped or washed down. Usually when they are late reading the step they do get scooped as they are beat either on their outside or inside shoulder giving the O-linemen leverage to seal. One of the things you can do early in the season is start to teach your defensive line to read and mirror the offensive linemen’s first step. Through repetition and practice, it can be done quite easily and you keep practicing it until the defensive linemen is as quick stepping as the offensive linemen. This creates problems versus an effective zone blocking scheme as the defensive linemen begins to beat the offensive linemen to play side or maintain leverage so not to get scooped. Cheers!

The 4-3 Defence An Athletes Defence

The 4-3 football defence seems to be a popular choice these days among many players and football coaches. But there are issues with it and for the most part a youth football coach should avoid it. First of all it’s a pro-style defence, that being, you need to be athletic and versatile in order to effectively play this defence. In other words you’re strong at every position and you’re not hiding anyone. The 4-3 can look intimidating with its 4 interior linemen and three hulking linebackers but its vulnerability begins versus the outside run game. If your contain players are not strong football players teams will run around the end all day. Usually your contain assignment in this defence would be your Defensive Ends and Strong Safety’s and if they’re not athletic enough then you’re in trouble. At the youth football level you’d be hard pressed to find four of these types of players that are athletic enough to step up and contain, and that’s where the problems begin. I refer to the 4-3 defence as the Athletes Defence, and with an athletic line-up it can be a very effective and dangerous defence to play against. However, the reality of it is that we don’t get these types of players all the time at the youth level. Cheers!

The Key Blocking and Tackling Element

Blocking and tackling skills are the key components to any great football players no matter what level or age. Players with great tackling and blocking skills play the game with ease and confidence and are fun to watch. But what is the main correlation between the two skills? Its easy my friend! The key component in both key fundamentals is hip rotation.Thats right, hip rotation! Players that sink their hips and then explode up on contact rotating their hips upwards are great blockers and outstanding tacklers. Hip rotation is football! You heard it here! To take the time with your youth football players early in their developement and to emphasize hip rotation on every contact drill will develope them into outstanding contact players that run over players,make great blocks, and are heavy hitters! Cheers!

Body Mechanics and Youth Football

Football fundamentals such as blocking and tackling are key elements towards effective football play. Specific drills that emphasize fundamentals should be a big part of your practice plan and done daily in order to develope your youth football players. But more than just drills, you as a youth football coach, should take some time to really explain the funadamental as well as the key body mechanics that must be performed correctly that will enhance the specific fundamental. Lets face it great hitters have excellent body mechanics which enables them to effectively perform with power and speed. One of the things a youth football coach can do is really take the time at the beginning of the season and explain to your players the importance of sound body mechanics in order to have strong fundamentals in football. Such things would include head position prior to impact as well as having the body in a set position with knees bent and arms back so that when contact is made the body is set up in order to be able to explode up and through the opponent. When teaching tackling drills the point of contact of your player or point of impact should be explained as part of the body mechanics they need to know to be strong physical players. Sometimes you'll notice players will pursue hard to the ball carrier and then let up just before impact. This would be a good example of a player not fully understanding perhaps his own bodies point of impact on his opponent which is they are not as physical as they should be. If proper body mechanices were emphasized in fundamental drills perhaps it would have made a huge difference. Body mechanics teaches youth football players why they do what they do and in the end will give them super confidence. A lot of times the youth football coach gets so wrapped up in their drills they lose sight of the teaching side of the game specifically the communication to your football players the importance of good body mechanics. Cheers!

Football Strategies:Defending the Wishbone Offence

For the longest time I thought the wishbone offence was basically a power game that featured a trio of big power backs that would go head to head with your defence with the goal of over powering you at the point of attack grinding out hard yards wearing you down and patiently moving the football along down after down beating your defence up along the way.

I thought it was grass roots football at its best, a simple but effective method of playing football.

I always wondered why teams would choose this type of football offence with all the offences to choose from when they know that the defence will simply load up the box to defend the extra back.I always just viewed it as a power verus power match-up.

Then I realized that this philosophy on defending the wishbone is exactly why they run this scheme. They know that you will load up the box, and attack gaps. Its exactly what they want you to do. They use this predictabilty to their advantage. While the defence is becoming so wrapped up in stuffing the run, being aggressive, and looking for the big hit the wishbone is methodically luring you in, setting you up with misdirection and play-action, as well as bootlegs and reverses.

This is when the wishbone is most effective! They want you to load up the box and basically get your defence being over aggressive and ruuning around.

The key is to maintain defensive assignments.Contain guys must force and filter the ball effectively back inside. Middle linebackers must be disciplined in their assignment, key on their near back and play tough, and not being sucked in on play-action. You can bring up your strong safety in the box to account for the extra back and my most success was to man up on all of the recievers and coach them up not to veer out of this man coverage no matter what in order to take away the play-action pass. Again, contain is important! Contain players are coached up not to get caught up on the misdirection of the wishbone and be ready for a bootleg or reverse. All in all maintain defensive assignments and make them grind out the yards and pay the price while doing so!

Cheers!

Football Success through Practice Preparation

Football success is directly associated through practice preparation.

The more you know about your opponent and the abilty to communicate that effectively to your football team equals success. Having your team recognize and adjust to players and formations puts you in a better position to be successful.

By scouting your opponent and charting their tendencies, habits,and passing that on to your football players equates to a confident football team no matter what level you coach.

Teach your players to read and recognize whats happening in front of them and to adjust accordingly. Have them play with a specific purpose,to be thinkers ,and to make the right read and play. Hold them accountable to their assignments and watch your team get better and better!

Cheers!

Youth Football: Keep it Simple!

Keep it simple coach! Being a coach is a year round job. It becomes a big part of your life and an important part as well that is very satisfying and enjoyable. But, it takes a lot of hard work and commitment on your part. There are many dedicated youth coaches in our communities that shape the development of our children across the country and they play a vital role in their character development. It's important that they do a good job. As a coach it is was always important to me to be prepared, knowledgeable, and organized. The internet has a vast amount of information of coaching philosophies, strategies, systems, practice plans, whatever, for the aspiring coach. However, for the most part I find it can be too technical, too costly, or too philosophical for what I want to do at the youth level.
My philosophy has always been to keep it simple or for the most part and use the" KISS" philosophy: "Kiss" being" Keep it simple stupid! And of course, add in "Do it well".
By keeping it simple in both practice and game systems your players should better grasp their roles, be confident in it, and perform at a higher level. By keeping it simple, it is easier for you to make practice plans, game adjustments and get the response out of your players that you're looking for. To be able to adjust is the key. And its fun! To recognize what your opponent is up to and being able to adjust to it is very fulfilling, and gives you and your player's confidence. A simple system allows this to happen. Finally, become a student of the game and dedicate yourself to that commitment. In the end your players will benefit, win or lose.

Football Multiple Defence

In order to have an effective and efficient defence it must have the ability to change, bend or flex into a multiple look. That is your defence has to be able to adapt to whats presented to it. As a defensive co-ordinator its important that your defence has the abilty to counter the many different looks that an offence can present on a given series. Todays offence is very flexible and can shift from a run formation to a shotgun spread formation on the fly. Its important that your football defence is able to do that as well. A lot of teams have incorporated a multiple defence with the abilty to shift to different fronts and coverages without substitutions. Gone are the days where yoor football defence stays in the same front for the entire game. Its all about being able to adapt on the fly on a given series to what the offence is presenting otherwise your run stopping front may be great on first down but be very vulnerable when the offence switches to their shot-gun spread formation on the next play.

Cheers!

Football Practice Tips:You play like you Practice !

Its true, really, don't ever think otherwise. Your team will be as good as they practice.If they practice hard at a high tempo with a good practice plan in place with limited down time. They will be efficient on the field during the game. If they don't practice hard with a lot of down time and a limited practice structure the result on the field will be disheartening and frustrating. Challenge your players to practice hard at a high tempo. Encourage them not to walk but to jog betweeen practice elements. Insist that they always keep their helmets on except for designated water breaks. Stay on top of them relentlessly to work hard and be their best. Challenge them physically and mentally by working them in their assignments when they are fatigued. Follow your practice plan and work them hard! Make the practices harder then the games and you will see the results on the scoreboard.

Cheers!

Youth Football Playbook Tips

Football is just around the corner and its that time of year that a lot of coaches pour through endless playbooks and systems in order to find that perfect offence or defence. Endless hours on the internet has just made it more confusing. Well if you want a good tip, especially if you are just getting into this game perhaps coaching 8-9 year old players, the tip would be "Less is Better".

Yea thats right!

Less offence could be the key that launches your young team into that city championship or perhaps another tip would be "Keep it simple,do it well". Rather than have that multiple spread offence, keep the same look, run basic plays with simple blocking rules, place your best athletes at key positions and do it well!

Football can be such an easy game to play and coach if you let it!

Cheers!

Adjust your Football Practice plan

As a football position coach a carefully tuned football practice plan is important to have in place. An effective football practice plan keeps you organized, covers all of the elements of football fundamentals, skills and conditioning as well as motivates our football athletes to become better! A good practice plan keeps our football athletes focused by having good flow and purpose behind each drill, and as a coach it’s important that you stay on top of practice planning.

Let’s face it we are creatures of habit and it’s easy to fall back on the same practice plan day in and day out. You might be very happy with your drills but be cautious as your football athlete will eventually find your plan boring and mundane if you stick to it day in and day out. What’s important is that you change up and adjust your practice plan accordingly introducing new drills and different angles to cover skills so that your football athlete doesn’t become bored with it and unmotivated.

The challenge is to keep them motivated at all times!

During your off- season planning develop several different practice plans with different drill sets so that you don’t fall into a boring routine. You’ll find that your players will be more motivated to work harder by shifting and adjusting your practice plan.

Cheers!

Youth Football Dynamic Warm-up

Football is a game that is continuously evolving. New ideas, strategies, and systems continually evolve as our game improves each and every season. Practice time seems to be getting tighter and tighter and coaches are always tweaking their practice plan to make it more efficient.

One of the latest ideas that a lot of programs are doing now is to incorporate their dynamic warm-up as part of their individual position group. That is rather than have the whole team do their dynamic warm-up as one group, send them to their individual groups at the start of practice and let them warm up by doing their positional footwork and agility drills with their position coach.

When you think about it, especially at the younger levels, warm-up time can become fool around or social time pretty fast if you’re not on top of it. Breaking down the large team group and sending them to their positional groups for the dynamic warm –up will be more productive. In the end you accomplish the same thing and save yourself 15 minutes of practice time.

Cheers!

Chest Plate Tackling in Youth Football

Tackling in football is one of the main components of the game. Proper tackling or form tackling in youth football is a core fundamental that must be practiced each and every practice at the youth football level. A team with good football tackling fundamentals is a team with confidence!
As a youth football coach there is several key elements of form tackling that you must emphasize prior to contact drills. Body position is probably the most important element of tackling in youth football. They have to be taught how to set up their body in order to safely and effectively tackle with confidence. So let's begin.
First of all it's important that they have a good tackling stance. What I mean by tackling stance is that they have a good foot base with feet about shoulder width and slightly staggered. The knees are bent with the butt down with a straight back. The head is tilted back with the neck bulled and the arms cocked back and bent slightly at the elbows. Get them to set up their body position for tackling over and over again until they get it. Once they understand their football tackling body position, its important now that you explain to them the mechanics of tackling, that is, how their body moves and explodes on contact so that they are effective tacklers. Explain to them that with their bodies in tackling position that they are like a coiled spring and all of its energy ready to explode up and through the ball carrier.
At this point it's important as a youth football coach to explain to them their point of contact. That is, what part of their body will contact the ball carrier first when tackling. We teach them at the youth level to make contact with the chest plate of their shoulder pads with the head back and neck bulled. The head is never in the equation as far as contact is concerned and is always, always, tilted back! You cannot emphasize this enough! We also emphasize a "chest on chest" contact during football tackling, again, with the head back. We do not teach shoestring type tackling as we believe that it teaches the youth football player to drop his head and expose the football player to more chance of being concussed or neck injuries. We believe that with good form tackling practiced over the season that if they are fundamentally sound in the mechanics of form tackling that they will be effective tacklers regardless of size.
Now, with these elements in mind the mechanics of tackling would fall in this sequence:
Stance and body position followed by a simultaneous explosion of hip rotation and leg extension driving up and through as the chest makes contact with the chest of the ball carrier, the head is back, and neck is bulled. As contact with the chest plate is made, the arms drive up under the arm pits of the ball carrier, the tackler locks in maintains his base while chopping his feet, driving his legs, with the head back until the ball carrier is taken down.
Coaching in football requires that you communicate effectively with your players. It's important to take the time and explain each element of tackling and body position to your football players so that they understand why they are being instructed to do things a specific way. If they understand the reasons for it the probability of them doing it increases.

Cheers!