Football Drills & Plays

I received these suggestions on football tips from George and from Joel. Keep em coming!

From George,
My quick football tip seems rather obvious but a lot of teams don’t do it:

On punt and kick teams, always kick the ball to the side. Never kick it down the middle. This effectively makes the field smaller, and I have found you frequently will get a recovery, on kickoff, as most little league teams do not spread out to cover the field on return teams.

Also you avoid the return teams “best back,” as he is typically sitting in the middle of the field waiting for the ball.

From Joel,
The purpose of this football drill is for “Line Get-Offs”. Its called Tag.

Pair football linemen together. One Defense and One Offense. The Offensive player stands at the depth of an offensive guard or tackle.
The defensive player is in his stance (Take Charge or Jet).
At the simulated snap the Offensive player back pedals as fast as he can and the defense player explodes of the snap, shooting hands and grasps the offensive player as quickly as possible.

Technorati Tags: football tips, football tip, football drill, football

Take a look at these submissions from Jason and from Mike.  Two great football drills for coaching youth flag football that work well with your younger players.

From Jason,
This football drill is great for conditioning and the kids really enjoy it as well.
Form large circle with helmets, 30 ft wide.
Have boys take off shoulder pads…
Have them take their shirt or jersey off and tuck in back of pants with good amount hanging. Have all kids in circle, blow the whistle and they have to take out the shirt of others. Last one standing with shirt wins. They get to sit out of sprints. It really wears them out towards end, staying alive. If they go outside circle they’re out; if they hold their own shirt they’re out; and if they hold or push they’re out.

From Mike
My football drill has to do with the backfield.
I need to remind you that I am working with 4-5 yr old kids. Their minds seem to wonder off. But anyway, my idea is to have a wishbone formation and have one of the backs run to the left and the quarterback follow the other backs to the right. The reason for this is to draw the linebackers and safety’s toward the back who runs to the left.

Technorati Tags: football drills, coaching youth flag football, football drill, football

Last week, I sent out a request for my newsletter subscribers to send in their best football coaching styles. Check out this one below; very helpful for all youth football coaches.

From Patrique,
I am a youth league football coach and just like most coaches at all level we have pre-game on Fridays (Just helmets and game jerseys). I like to shut practice down about half-hour to forty-five minutes early. Before practice I call ahead to have some pizzas delivered to the field. I usually shows up on time for our final stretch.

We all break out of football practice, head over to my truck, sit down and eat. The kids can come out of football mode which a lot of coaches don’t get to see. I have learned so much about my players. Their lives at home, school, and even relationships. I tell you what, you get a much better idea of how or why a child functions just by listening to some of the things they tell you about themselves. It has brought me closer to them and I know it has brought them closer to each other.

Sometimes I get so involved with the game, that I fail to realize that football is the only stability in a child’s life. One child for instance, I had know idea that his parents were recently separated and involved in a serious custody battle over him and just to get to practice everyday he takes 3 different buses in full gear with his homework and backpack. That is just one example. So many children are displaced or having some sort of issue or problem in life. We were all kids and you were either one of them or you knew someone like that. It made me realize that sometimes football isn’t always about football.

I know this isn’t really a football coaching drill, but maybe some friendly advice. Me getting to know my kids outside of football has made me a better football coach.

Technorati Tags: football coaching styles, youth football coaches, football coach, football practice, football, football coaching drill

I’ve gotten a whole bunch of requests for fresh ideas for football practice over the past few days.  Here’s an idea from Chris that works well and is an excellent football conditioning drill.  Give it a try!

From Chris…
I play a game called ultimate football with my youth football players.  It is like ultimate frisbee only with a football.

We play sideline to sideline and use cones that are about 20-30 yards apart, depending on how many players on each team, for the field (so the field is 20-30 yards wide by 51 yards long).  The idea is to move the football down the field by passing it.  If the ball is dropped or a pass incomplete the other team takes over from the spot of the incompletion.  If a pass is completed the player who catches the ball is not allowed to run with it, he has to pass it to another teammate.  The pass can be forward or backward and the team can take as long as it likes to move the ball down the field.  If the ball is moved past the sideline (end zone) that team scores (6 points).  Then they kick off to the other team from their goal line.

Play first team to score 3 touchdowns wins or whatever number of scores you want.  Sometimes we will play 2 or 3 games of this at once.  Maybe have linemen going against linemen, receivers going against receivers,  and QBs and running backs going against other QBs and running backs.  The smaller the numbers on each team the more everyone is involved and the less chance for someone to get hurt.

Very good for conditioning because everyone is constantly moving/running.  Good for evaluation purposes too, football coaches can watch and see who can throw the ball well, who can catch, who is competitive, who can cover, etc.  The younger kids love it.

Technorati Tags: football practice, football conditioning drill, football, football coaches

Looking for a new football training drill?  You’ve come to the right place!  Try out this football tackling drill below and let me know how it goes for you.

From Wayne…
This is a football open field tackling drill that I do with my players.  It emphasizes proper foot width and proper steps approaching the tackle and through the tackle.  There’s a diagram of the set up at the bottom.

Have the players partner up.   For each set of partners you will need an agility bag (or a step over bag as some like to call it.)  Then what you do is put the partners 10 yards apart.  Then you put the A-Bag in the middle of them with it barely overlapping the line and the majority of the bag on the offensive players side of the line.  On the coach’s command the defensive player sprints from his stance to the bag and when he gets to the bag, he runs with a foot on each side of the bag and throttles down to make the tackle on the approaching offensive player.  The offensive player will start to jog 1/2 speed from his starting point once the defensive player reaches the bag.  Once the defensive player gets over the bag, he should explode through the tackle and run his feet through it for five yards.  You can also have the offensive player break to the right or the left when the defensive player is finished coming over the bag.

Coaching Points:
1. No false steps for defensive players at the start of the football drill.
2. Ensure that the defensive player sprints to the bag to work on closing the distance between himself and the ball carrier.
3. Good pad level/ arms extended at 45 degree angle/short choppy steps while going over the bags.
4. Good form on the tackle at the end and running the feet through contact for 5 yards.

________OP_________    Offensive player

_________I________    A Bag

________DP_________    Defensive Player

Technorati Tags: football training drill, football tackling drill, football, football drill