Team Challenges
Challenge 1:
Split the team into two teams.Give them a practice dummy and a football.
They line up on the goal line and have to carry the dummy to the five yard line and then run back.
Tag the next guy who then runs out and gets the bag and brings it back.
The next one in line goes with the football and puts it on the ten yard line then runs back tags the next player. He gets the football and brings it back and so on out to the 40 and then back.
This drill helps with conditioning and keeps the boys competitive.

Challenge 2 is with 2 tractor tires:
Have the boys start on the goal line.
They flip the tire 10 yards then back to the goal line.
Tag the next guy who takes it for the length of the field.
The boys enjoy it and it breaks up the monotony of practice.

Bloomfield Blitz
Taking proper angles to the ball carrier is a basic fundamental we want the kids to learn.

Setup 5 lines and then put 5 trash cans on either side of line 1 and line 5.

Space the cans 10-15 yards apart, this makes a 50-75 yard field.

We have the kids turn and face the line (back pedal position) and on the word “break” they turn left or right depending on coach’s instructions and sprint after the ball carrier running along side the cans.

The line closest to the ball carrier has the shortest path and the line furthest away will need to run 50-75 years to catch the carrier.

Tennis Ball Race
This is another great conditioning drill using tennis balls.  I set this up with two teams and run it as a relay type race. The kids love the competition.

Set 3 cones in a straight line 15 yds apart.
Set a tennis ball at the second and third cone.
Begin the drill at the first cone by running to the second cone picking up the ball, bring it back to the first cone, set it down, run to the third cone, pick up the ball, run it back and hand it to the next player in line.

The next player runs to the second cone and sets the ball down, runs back to the first cone, picks up the ball, runs to the third cone, sets the ball down, and runs back to tag the hand of the next player in line. Then repeat the drill.

Great fun and important eye/hand coordination and conditioning!

Obstacle Course Relay Conditioning Game
Players line up in two lines, one ball per group.
Set up two identical courses:
Jump over tackling dummies,
Cut through 4 pairs of staggered cones,
Run around end point (I.E.-cones, tackling dummy, coach)
Then sprint straight back and  hand off ball to next runner until all players have completed course.

I always start my drills with the snap count.  It gets the kids used to leaving on time.
My 7-8 year olds beg for this drill every practice.

Diamond Drill
We run a simple diamond drill to start practice off getting the boys into an aggressive mode.
Have one player chopping his feet facing two lines of players from his left and right.
On my whistle I motion for each player from left and right to fire out on the man, teaching him to take on a block and shuck him.

We repeat this drill over and over to get the boys making contact and getting rid of a block.

Youth Lineman Football Drill
We use cones and a stand up rectangular blocking dummy. First we set up the cones to create three “lanes” and set up the stand up  dummy behind the third lane as a ball carrier or QB.  Then we line up a defensive lineman across from an offensive lineman.

On a cadence call (or a coaches snap of a ball), the  defensive lineman and offensive lineman practice both keeping their feet moving and their blocking and rushing techniques.
Contact between the two lineman in the first “lane” then out and into the middle “lane” for contact and finally in the last “lane” the defensive lineman rushes all out for the stand up dummy (ball carrier) while the offensive lineman practices keeping the rush away from the dummy ball carrier.

This drill takes approximately 10 seconds to go through per group. Most times we set up two stations of this to get more reps in. Finally, since in our youth league all players play offense and defense, the players usually rotate lines so that each player gets an opportunity on both offense and defense.

We run this drill for approximately 15 to 20 minutes total and then we are ready to move on to a new drill.

Circle Up
The first drill is called “circle up” so you already get the first step.

I like to get my best hitters to start it off.
Match up 2 players from the circle and on the whistle they hit as hard as they can.
Second whistle hit again and on the third whistle they go for a take down.

This is not only working to improve our hitting but gets the boy’s working on out positioning and over-powering the opponent.

The reason I use my better hitters to start is to get the rest of the team pumped up and to follow their technique.

Tackle Drill for Youth Football
I take two tall tackle dummies, the ones that look like punching bags, held up by two coaches.

Split up the team into two separate teams and line them up 5 yards from the dummies.
When I blow the whistle one at a time a player runs to the dummies and aggressively tackles it to the ground.  They get up fast and run back to the line and the next player runs and tackles the dummies.

The coaches after each tackle stands up the dummies a few yards further down the field so each player after the one before has to run a few yards further.

After each player has tackled the dummies a few times and after a pre-determined length of the field each side of players must run down and pick up their particular dummies as a single unit, TEAM as you will, and carry it back to the starting line.

The team that finishes first wins.  I find this is a great end of practice ball buster drill that each player loves to do and promotes the TEAM environment.

Navy Seal Relay Conditioning
Set-Up:
Place 4 big blocking bags on the goal line that are seven to ten yards apart.
Set up four sets of cones 10 yards apart to the 50 yard line.
Split up your team in equal two man teams along the goal line behind the 4 big bags.

Have sets of two players pick up the blocking bag and carry it over their heads through the zig zag cone course to the end and back where the next two man team picks up the bag and runs the course until all the sets of two in all four lines have gone.

We make it a race and the kids are working hard and conditioning while having a great time pretending to be Navy Seals.

Tackling Tip for Mighty Mite Players
This is a tip for coaching mighty mite football.

I found to be extremely effective in getting my defense to “wrap-up” during tackling drills was to have each kid practice “bear-hug” each other for a few minutes.  You must emphasize having the tackler wrapping both arms completely around his/her opponent.

I like to refer to this complete wrapping of your opponent as “sinking” your arms around their bodies kind of how like wrestlers use the phrase when they get their arms (or legs) in a position of leverage.

Giving each kid a few minutes individually with a coach will go a long way on getting your defense to “wrap-up”.

Color Coding
Since I was coaching a team of first-time 5-year olds, I found that identifying positions by color worked well. Our practices include a magnetic whiteboard with colored magnets and the boys wear colored shirts which corresponds to their position color.

Our playbook was created with PowerPoint utilizing the same color scheme. For games, the boys wear colored wristbands-again corresponding with their position color.

I plan on expanding their vocabulary in the coming months – but for now they understand the two running positions are blue and green (running backs).

Hand-Off Drill
This is probably an old drill and I know I didn’t invent it. To coach a 7 year old team that can’t get the hand-off down I came up with this.

Put 2 cones about 5 yards apart and put a kid on each side. Have them go around with one bal–just handing to each other making sure the proper hand is up. They should learn quickly!

Snap Drill
My 7U QB was having problems receiving the snap. As much as we told him to keep the base of his palms together, he kept pulling his hands apart which was causing problems with holding onto the football.

We took a wristband and stretched it out a bit and placed it around his wrists to keep his hands together. This easy and cheap trick seemed to really help him…problem solved!

Tug of War
You get a tug-of-war rope, the thicker and heavier the better.
Place it one foot in front of the line of scrimmage.
Set-up a line, defensive or offensive, and have the linemen get in their set position.
While they hold their set position (good conditioning-no fidgeting or you start over), two “extra” players take the rope ends and hold the rope just above the linemen’s heads, one foot in front of the line of scrimmage, while the coach stands behind the rope showing the snap count or running gap (this ensures heads-up for linemen).

On the snap count, for offensive linemen or ball movement for defensive linemen, the players take their first explosive step forward AND stay under the rope.  If they touch the rope, drop their head, miss the gap or jump off sides; they go to the side and perform 5 mountain climbers to work the knee to chest motion of their explosive step.

Tip:
Our practices are 2 hours long, instead of finishing the practice with sprints and a lot of running, we have started doing our “end of practice conditioning” after an hour and fifteen minutes of practice and then spend the last half hour doing nothing but plays.

The kids don’t dread the running as much and their minds are on the plays.

4 Square
Setup:
8 cones (4 per square)

2 squares separated 5 yards apart.
Distance between cones is the coaches choice.
For younger kids we set at 10 yards square, 15 yards square for older, and 20 yards square for the oldest.

Divide the team up into two as evenly as possible keeping in mind to mix the starters and the non-starters as well as even amounts of your big guys on each team. Remember you want an EVEN competition.

One player at a time for each team starts.

The start point is 5 yards off the center point of your two squares. One team will go left, the other right.

• From the first cone to the second the player must backpedal.
• From the 2nd to the 3rd cone he will carioca,
• From third to fourth he will shuffle, and
• From the 4th cone to the start line (1st cone) he will sprint forward. He must tag the hand of his next teammate before the teammate can begin (just like a relay race).

First team that has all their players finish wins!

Tackling Sharks & Minnows
One of the football drills I love to do with the younger kids (7 – 9) is a variation of Sharks and Minnows but with tackling.

Divide the team in ½ and setup 2 20yard coned areas.

1 kid from each group becomes the 1st shark; all of the other kids line up at one end of the 20 and have to run to the other (2 groups going at the same time requires 40yds of field).
Keep track of who makes the most tackles.

When you get down to the last 2 minnows in each group the 4 combine. I then take the 12 best tacklers from the 2 groups (hopefully 6 from each) and they compete until there is one left.

Each kid that does not make a tackle is eliminated last man standing wins!

Red Rover
Another drill I love for the younger kids is Red-Rover–

Line them up 20yds apart.
Split the team in 2.
They line-up shoulder-to-shoulder.
The runner has to not only get through the tackler to stay in the game but he has to get through the other teams line to score (team with the highest score at the end wins).