Introduction/Review of New Team Football Plays

When introducing new offensive or defensive plays, it is best to go over them at the beginning of practice before your team has tired mentally and physically. Explain to your team how long you need their focused attention to help reduce distractions. By providing a timeframe to the players of how long they need to focus on a task, they will generally be more committed. My experience is that a player who knows he needs to focus on a new play for 10 minutes will generally outperform a player who was not given a timeline.

When reviewing a new play or defence, focus first on specific assignments. Give a quick explanation followed by a run-through at half speed. If possible, try to only introduce one play at a time and no more than two plays. It is much better to have a team who can execute a smaller number of plays than a team who does a poor job executing a large number of plays.

If you do not have new team plays to review, this time is best spent on conditioning exercises. Completing conditioning exercises towards the start of practice will prepare your team for success in the second half of games. Players need to be able to play good football even when they are tired.

Cheers!

Youth Football:Offensive Line Building

Whether or not you believe it, you soon will understand that you need to have your offensive line in order if you are going to be successfull in youth football or at any football level.

Without a doubt your offensive line is the single most important group of your football team. Without a decent offensive line it really doesnt matter who your quarterback and running back are, if they don't get the blocks then they will struggle.

Yea for sure I have seen, especially at the youth level, where a dominant athletic back can overcome poor blocking and use his size and athleticism to move the ball and score touchdowns. But I also have seen the same back struggle down the stretch against more formidable opponents.

Bottom line, get your offensive line house in order and with that athletic back dominate the opposition. Evaluate your personell and build that offensive line into a solid unit. Size helps but isn't the deciding factor. Perhaps the slowfooted middle linebacket that can hit like a mule would make a great center or pulling guard or that large slow moving kid, with some work on his footwork, can play tackle. Look for certain strengths in the kids that you have not placed in a position and mold them into offensive linemen.

Size can be overcome by designing a blocking scheme that has more downblocking, better angles, traps and double teams. Speed and quickness can be a factor as well and close the size gap, hit fast and hard, and get a jump on the defence.

Cheers!

Youth Football Practice Plan

We have all heard that saying "practice makes perfect". Repetition of skills is the best way to get your players to perform better. Knowing what to do in a given situation is one of the characteristics of a good player. The more you practice, the more inclined your players are to do the right thing at the right time.

A majority of successful football coaches share one very important characteristic- they are organized and structured in their approach to practice planning. Football is one of the most challenging sports to coach because there are so many different positions, skills, and plays that need to be worked on throughout a practice.

Having an organized, structured practice plan allows you to cover the most amount of material in your allotted practice time. The most effective football coaching practice structure involves dividing time into structured “Training Elements”.

There are 7 key Training Elements which should appear in each of your practices:

Warm-up & Stretching
Review of New Team Plays and/or Conditioning
Individual Techniques by Position
Special Teams
Group Work
Game Preparation and Team Drills
Cool-Down

Make sure that you cover each training element during your practice and allot a specific time for each element. Once the time is up, move on to your next scheduled element. Stick to your schedule and your players will get the most out of the practice. You'll have good flow to your practice with very little down time!

Football and Troubled Youth

I have come across many troubled youth over the many seasons that I have been involved in coaching youth football. Youth from all different backgrounds, and social levels. Youth addicted to drugs and alcohol with poor attitudes.

Youth that nobody wanted to even be around!

I always gave them a chance

I figured that it was the least I could do, and if they didn't work out nothing ventured, nothing gained!

Most would quit on their own, but some stayed with it and football became an outlet for them. It became their family. It kept them busy, made them be responsible. It took idle time from them. It made them feel important!

Football has turned the lives around for many of our youth. It teaches commitment, and dedication and an opportunity for them to change. I had a small running back once play for me that was impossible to bring down and in the open field impossible to catch. He was driven, broken home, death, foster care, he had every reason to be bitter. He was a relentless machine, a good kid that turned it around. He managed to graduate, the first in his family to do so!

Yea, football can make the difference in somebody's life; don't deny any kid that opportunity! Besides why do we do what we do?

Cheers!