Football Game Planning

Game planning is an important part of getting your team ready for a game. Game planning is your strategy on how you will  deal with your opponent, some of their key players, as well as their different looks,plays, tendencies and how you will coach your team up to counter.

Attend a game between your up-coming opponent and another team. Bring along a parent or a friend to video tape the game. Video is great to have to view and confirm a lot of things that you observed or missed when scouting the match. Chart their plays and formations. Who are their key players? What are their tendencies in different situations and who are their go to guys. Identify players with poor fundamentals or technique and make a note. Record who the play-makers are and what positions.

Now review your notes, film, play charts, and begin your game plan. Set up your defence in order to be consistent with your opponents strengths. Perhaps they are a running team  first, so you set up your defence to be tough on the run, or perhaps they have a quarterback that likes to run more than throw so your game plan would be to contain him in the pocket, force him to throw and have good downfield coverage. Your scouting notes have indicated that the quarterback will hurt you more running than throwing so you make him throw the ball. Prepare your defence for situations for short and long yardage and what their tendencies are.

Offensively identify areas or players of their defence you want to attack.Set your offence up to run quick passing plays to counter a blitzing defence or run some trap plays inside to counter an aggressive defensive linemen.

One thing about good teams is that they do things well consistently all the time. The downfall to this is that because of it, opposing teams get to know their tendencies and players. The bottom line is that your players still have to play the game and stop them or move the ball, but, knowing your opponent and preparing your team for them will increase your odds and assist you in your game decisions.


Cheers