If you’re coaching youth football,7 to 10 year olds especially, the best advise I can give is that you always need to let them know how good their doing (even if they’re not doing so good).

Be very positive with them and stop them if they are doing things wrong. Explain to them and show them time after time the right way. If you are coaching this age group and you are in their face every time they drop a ball or run the wrong play, or don’t hit the right hole, or if they are just scared, you are hurting them and surely not helping the football team.

Expect this age to make mistakes time and time again. If you expect something different, then you’re in the wrong league. The reason I share this is, I see other coaches all up in the faces of their players and this just makes them not like you. This doesn’t make them want to listen to you more. It’s a show and tell game with these guys and it works, have fun with them and they will make your job fun.

Hitting football drills and blocking drills are two of the best football drills at this age because it simply shows them that every tackle doesn’t hurt. You can show them the correct way to hit so that they are not hurting themselves. I see a lot of kids use the tops of their helmets and  this hurts their neck.

Proper football fundamentals are what’s important at this age.

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