COACHING TIPS FOR YOUTH FOOTBALL

The following points have been compiled from various clinics attended in recent years. These points came from experienced college, high school and youth coaches.

1.Foster development of all football skills in all players. Not every player will have the opportunity to play a ball handling position in a game but each should be encouraged and afforded the opportunity to learn ball handling, kicking, passing and other football skills. Young athletes develop at different rates and today’s nose tackle may be a tight end or defensive back in high school. One of the purposes of this program is to set the table for the athlete’s realization of his full potential as a football player as he grows and matures.

2.Coaching a young athlete, is fundamentally teaching and mentoring. IF YOU ARE NOT TEACHING YOU ARE NOT COACHING. It should be done in a positive and encouraging manner. No player should be ridiculed. Whenever possible, individual reprimands should be delivered privately, praise should be delivered publicly. After criticism give the player something to build on.

3.Placing too much emphasis on contact is misguided. While we all have war stories of big hitters the truth is that collisions of the type that occur in football are not natural. It is a learned behavior and it should be taught safely. An over emphasis on contact may intimidate some young players and turn them away from the sport. Several coaches of college programs limit full contact drills or scrimmaging at their practices to 5-10 minutes per week. While the big hitter catches a coach’s attention the fundamentally sound tackler that also knows how to position himself and shed blocks will be the more effective player.

4.Fundamentals must be broken down into basic components and drilled. Start with fit position and work backwards. Use drills to teach and create muscle memory of basic movements. Bag drills are excellent for footwork for tackling. Kids at lower levels do not have core strength to hold 3 point stance properly. Need to practice getting in and out of correct stance. Form is critical. “You run with your arms and your throw with your legs”. Running techniques should emphasize elbows in and pumping arms. In blocking and tackling keep hands and feet inside your body. In tackling chop the feet (4 in the bag drill) and close the distance. Thrust through the runner with chest and grab jersey.

5.Teach all fundamentals to all players, including 3 point stance, 4 point stance, and defensive stances. Run drills to teach blocking techniques, shedding techniques, tackling, taking a handoff, cutting, backpedaling and catching. Teach all players how to block. In blocking teach first short step, hands in, then drive step. Feet stay under the blocker. Preach importance of downfield blocking and show how to stalk or shadow block.

6.If you ever justify not playing someone or taking an action in the name of “teaching the kids how to win” then you are kidding yourself. If your players master football techniques and have sufficient talent, they will learn how to win on their own.

7.Teach importance of team. Do drills as team or as units. Teach all players that the offensive and defensive lines are the most important positions on the field (Note – several youth coaches emphasized that your best coach should be assigned to the offensive line as that is the most important component of winning football). Make sure all players get to the ball on offense and defense to help each other. In practice no play is over until all players arrive at the ball. Assign players a buddy and during water breaks make them learn something about each other and have buddies carry dummies together.

8.Have fun. This is a cliché that is talked about a lot and frequently ignored. The more you yell, the less kids will listen. Don’t yell it – drill it. Make drills fun. Demonstrate and have them do it. There should be consequences for inattentiveness or poor behavior, but not for lack of ability or difficulty in mastering a new drill. If the effort is there, the encouragement and reward should follow. Game day should be a reward. Let the kids play.

9.Prepare for game day so that kids can play with minimum of interference. Practice substitutions in advance. Have preset substitution patterns to minimize disruption. Have multiple defensive and offensive units or subpackages for group substitutions. For example have a jumbo backfield for short yardage or clock icing situations to give some of the bigger slower kids a chance to run the ball. Focus on whether kids are demonstrating grasp of what has been taught during the week.

10.Conditioning. Running sprints at end of practice wastes 15 minutes of teaching time. Have kids get conditioning through drills and through running 20 yards after each play or getting to the ball. You need all the teaching time you can get.

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