Football Practice: Eliminate Interceptions and Fumbles

Football statistics are a big part of the game. First downs, penalties, time of possession, yards rushing, yards, receiving, tackles, all are a big factors in the football game and poor statsistics usually results in a loss or a poor performance.

But at the same time great football statistics don't always mean that you will get the win and be successfull on the football field either. The biggest killer in a football game is turnovers, that is, when a football team turns the ball over to the opposing team via a fumble or interception and as a result gives up a quick score. These quick scores can be game breakers no matter how good statistically you are on the football field during that game.

Your team can be playing great, rushing the football, passing the football, and even stopping them with your defence and then "boom" a turn-over happens and worst of all a touchdown results. Not only does it deflate your team but it gives the opposing teams the momentum and confidence and turn around what was a great game statistically into a disaster. So it really is possible to outplay a football team statistically, lead all the categories and despite this lose the game as a result of turn-overs.

For the most part the rule of thumb is that if you turn the ball over a minimum of three times per game your chances of winning that game are diminished severely.So as a coach how do you eliminate turn-overs in a football game? The fairest answer to that question is that you probably will not eliminate turn-overs completely from your game, but if you practice football fundamentals effectively in practice, then you can manage the turn-overs and reduce them significantly. Most turn-overs are mental errors caused by poor fundamentals or poor judgement. For example, your star running back does not hold the ball properly as he runs through the line of scrimmage. An opposing defensive linemen slaps at the ball as he runs by and causes the ball to pop out and create a turn-over.
To sum it up if the running back had good ball carring fundamentals and protected the football then it would have limited the chances of being stripped out by the slap of the defensive linemen. This mistake could have been prevented in practice.
Secondly, your quarterback trys to jam a pass in to your reciever downfield who is running a poor pass pattern. The quarterback  makes a poor throw resulting in an interception. Now, we have two mistakes that occurred which resulted in a turn-over. First of all, a poor route by the reciever as well as a poor decision by the quarterback to throw the football resulted in the interception. Both mistakes are mental errors that can be easily fixed in your football practice. All in all turn-overs can be a big factor in any football game. One of your goals through the football season is to efffectively minimize your turn-overs. This can be done mainly by practicing good football fundamentals as well as working with individual players and groups during your football systems time on either offence or defence and coaching them up to be solid fundamentally as well as to make good football decisions on the field.

Youth Football: Keep it Simple Coach

Keep it simple coach! Being a youth football 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 football 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 football coaching philosophies, strategies, football 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 football practice and football game systems your players should better grasp their roles, are 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 football player's confidence. A simple football 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.


Cheers!

Youth Football Systems

sAll youth football levels whether it is High School or Middle School, implement their specific systems in order to be organized and effective in both side of the football. Football systems are constructed in order to place your players and their abilities in the best possible situation so that they thrive and have a better opportunity to be competitive. All coaches have their football systems that they prefer to run each and every season, but, is the system that they prefer to run right for everybody? For instance, the local High School coach approaches the local Middle School coach about implementing his system. He explains to the Middle school coach that by implementing and practising the High School System that the players that learn it, will be more effective and be closer to the field once they arrive for High School.

Take a minute and decide if you agree with the High School Coach! Certainly there's a lot to consider!

For example, it's normal to have a favourite offensive system that you like to run year in and year out but is it practical to think that every season you'll have the personnel to run it? My opinion would be that it would be not practical. For the most part, probably with some tweaks you could run a similar system but not the same system each season. There are a lot of variables to consider such as athletic ability, size, and experience that you have to consider and they will be different every season as new players arrive and older players move on. If your system is one where you can recruit specific players for roles within your system then you can run it each and every season, however, if your players are limited to a specific area or region prepare yourself to tweak that package.

Now let's get back to the original question I posed earlier in this article. Is it right for the local High School Coach to ask the local middle school coach to implement his system? Well, I don't think it's wrong but I also think it's probably not practical. For the most part the terminology would be a benefit as the players that arrive for High School the following year would understand it, but if they do not have the tools to run it in Middle School then I don't think it will be effective.

It's not fair to ask players to do something that their not capable of doing. In fact it would be frustrating to play in it as well as to coach it. It would be more reasonable to evaluate your roster each season and determine where your strength's are and effectively implement a football system better suited to their strengths. I think it would benefit the high school coach more in the long run if they thrive in a system that's designed for them or tweaked for them as opposed to asking them to do something they cannot do. The coaches concern should be that they are getting and practising good football fundamentals so that when they do arrive in High School they are ready fundamentally and it's just a matter of fitting them into the system or tweaking the system so that they can thrive in it. It certainly makes it easier when they have good fundamentals!



Cheers!

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Youth Football Fundamentals

While participating in a youth football camp last week I heard an interesting comment from a youth coach while he was running offensive plays with his players. " You fellows have to learn how to tackle". I stopped what I was doing at the time and watched a bit of this group and the phrase" You guys gotta learn how to tackle" has been with me since.

Spending time on football fundamentals such as blocking,tackling, and footwork will pay dividends with your football team. Runnning plays with players who have poor fundamentals will be frustrating, sloppy, and ineffective come game time regardless of whether or not you play offence or defence.

You will not be successful!

Once again as I watched them try and run plays I noticed that the coach was spending as much time correcting stances as he was running plays. He would have been better off just canning the offensive plays for the day and work on their stances and first step, then a session on basic blocking. Once his players had basic fundamentals his offensive plays would have been a lot smoother and his players would not have struggled so bad.

A lot of youth coaches jump the gun too quick and try to implement their systems with players that have poor fundamentals. One thing I've learned is that they will never get it unless they are fundamentally sound. Again, it comes down to implementing a solid practice plan. Training camp is the ideal time to begin to develope football fundamentals and as they progress, introduce slowly some of your basic schemes and do not move on until they get it. If the stances are poor or the blocking is brutal, then schedule in stance and blocking segments in your next practice. Sometimes its necessary to take a step back in order to gain two steps forward.

Cheers