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!