CoachSteve

Coach Breck, I bet you are climbing the walls with excitement. I was about to go bonkers yesterday at the office - this was a very long offseason. It was great to be on the field again last night. I really like the look of our team this year. Our problem in the past has always been size. We just don't get a lot of bigger and stronger kids as they tend to go try out for Jr. High - we have 4 Jr. High programs in our area. What we try to avoid is going toe-to-toe on the line and maximize angles and double teams. When we get into base blocking situations, we try to run quick hitting plays as we are usually able to base block, just not very long so slow developing plays like double reverses and such are just out. Speed and misdirection have been our friends. Good Luck and have an awesome season! Steve

We gave out pads last night....I took the scales position last night so I could see the weights and talk to the kids. We are going to be a lot bigger than I thought we would...things are looking bright so far! Can't wait to see the 40 times come in tonight.....I made sure I am holding the stop watch tonight.... While we were talking, I noticed a couple of our players had found a football and were throwing it around on the other side of the field....one kid is new to our team and I about messed my britches when I saw him throw the football.....kid has a laser and a cannon.....QB tryouts are going to be fun!!! Anyway, it all starts tonight....I wish you all the best of luck and a great season!!!

that is a good variation. typically, when we run them though our QB's and receivers are off doing something else. Often, the backs too....I sometimes have to run this with an LB carrying the ball. If I have a lot of kids, we have one coach run the drill over here and another coach run the drill over there. It is a great drill and sits very nicely between individual skills and full plays in the progressions.

I love Oklahoma's as you describe them. There is another drill commonly called an Oklahoma as well - two O-linemen and a back going head to head with 2 D-linemen and an LB between a couple of cones. That is great stuff too. ------lb ---- ---DL--DL C------------C ---OL--OL -- ------B Where C is the cones. Back has to run to one of the three holes and the Defense has to make the play.

no problem and thanks for the kind words. Stay on board hear and let us know how it goes. BTW - 7th and 8th grade is a lot of fun. It is the last step before HS and we have been working with our HS coachs a lot this year. They are excited about our commitment which will mean they get players with stronger fundamentals and who hear a lot of the same terminoligy. anyway, it is a great age to teach, they are very coachable and you can do a little bit more advanced stuff like some run blitzes and a bit more passing. Good luck and have fun!

That is a tough one - in my opinion, your heart was in the right place and I understand the stress completely. In a game last year, a kid on the other team got hurt near our sideline (not serious but was down for a bit) and our kids started goofing nad playing and I heard one taunt. I was irate. I did bite my lip and told them to all take a knee and not to speak. It worked well and we did it for all injuries the rest of the year. I later explained the lesson - to respect all players no matter what the color of their jersey. The kid who was hurt was a player and he kid just like them and he went to practice and sweated and worked hard just like them. Jeering him and clowing around was disrespectful. Truth be known, I wanted to pop my top when I heard the inital jeer. We have to remember, these are kids. I coach Jr. Midget and your kids are younger. So, yes, I think yelling was the wrong approach. However, I do understand the frustration and concern. that said, I would assume you have learned from the event and if you love coaching, go make ammends and see what the league has to say. Coach's are human too and we make mistakes. Unfortunately, sometimes the community believes we have to be infallible. Good Luck.

Look down the list a bit in this forum and you will see similar threads. Outside of that, there are some good web sites you can look through such as Oskie or go through some of the links at the bottom of the page at Coaching Resource. There are some really good books out there for skills and drills as well. All that said, at that age, keep the drills simple, keep the to the fundamentals, keep them fun. The less standing around the kids do, the better. In other words, standing single file waiting for your turn to hit the bag is not as much fun as, say, actually hitting the bag. You can't get completely away from that type of drill - you have to see each kid and have a chance to do individual coaching from time to time. However, the more action the kids are doing and the less standing around, the better. You know what they say about idle hands.... Build your fundamentals one step at a time....they can not come out of 3 point stance until they can get into a three point stance. Build it one brick at a time, review yesterday's stuff quickly today, and never assume they have any idea what you mean by "Get Fit" or "Take the angle"....make sure you explain it to them. anyway, back to progressions (brick by brick)....say you want to teach a CB going into coverage. The basic steps are back-pedal, hip turn, and run with the reciever. No, it is hard to backpedal if your stance is incorrect. Start by teaching stance. When they have that, teach the backpedal from the stance. Next, teach the hip turn. Run drills for the hip turn. When they have the hip turn, review stance and backpedal briefly and then string them together so you have Stance, backpedal, and hip turn......move on in the same manner all the way through coverage. Build other positions the same way...OL: teach flex at the knees and then drop into three point stance. When they have that, teach the first step out of the stance....when they have that, teach the second step and when they master that, start stringing all three together.....and on and on..... If they can not do the fundamental steps to blocking or tackling, then teaching the double reverse is going to get you nothing. Good Luck.

Makes perfect sense - I assume the player who tackles a bag has to pick it up and hold it for the next guy who comes around. I assume it goes something like this: ---S-1 5--------2 4--------3 Where the numbers are the player/bag combo and S is the starter. Starter tackes 1 and the holder goes onto bag 3. S picks up bag one to hold. The drill continutes from 3, to 5, to 2, to 4..... Does that sound right? I love it!!! Thanks! BTW - Read what I wrote about bull in the ring - I said i loved it as a player but forgot to say I hate it as a coach for exactly what CoachBreck said.

I always like Bull in the Ring in my playing days. However, I believe many youth sports leagues have banned it for safety issues. Of course, the way you are running it, the guy in the middle can watch the ball to the man. When I played, there was no ball - the coach stood outside the ring and called out a number. The guy in the middle had to have quick feet and keep on the move to make sure he saw the player coming at him. We have a bit of a variation to this.....The Arena....Kids line up in a circle with a LoS down the middle. The coach stands on the rim of the circle straddling the center line. He puts two players in the middle and they have to drive block each other attempting to get the other man out of the ring. If after a few seconds nobody is pushed out, they go again. Give 'em a couple of tries before putting in two more. Now, the kids who are the circle have to cheer for the kid who starts on their side. So, anyone to the left of the coach has to cheer for the kid on their side of the LoS and visa versa. They MUST cheer. It gets the kids pumped up and the coach can force a few things with this drill. Face it, not all kids are friends off the field but in this drill, the coach can force players to root for their teammate on their side of the line rather than their best friend who might be on the other side of the line. Also, the coach can create desired matchups (strong against strong) to force improvement in players. It just does no good to have your best OL going against your smallest db. We have a lot of fun with that drill and it pumps the kids up. When the kids are just not hitting and are flat at practice, we circle 'em up and we see a very fast improvement in the crispness of practice.

Ya' know, I have to admit...I have never really given it a thought...clean equipment is the players responsibility. Perhaps warm water and a mild soap.

Agree with Coach Breck - maximize blocking angles and use misdirection. To improve blocking, focus on fundamentals with the linemen and run reps, reps, reps. So many coachs forget the fundamentals of blocking and get away from it. Good footwork and get under the opponents pads. Now, on offense, I would lean towards a wishbone or split backfield myself. To me, the wishbone allows you to use some of your skilled atheletes as blockers and runners as there are three backs. Also, the wishbone and split backfiled are about as conducive to getting to the LOS very quickly as you are going to get. Last, both offenses have obivous mis direction plays. If blocking remains a problem, I advise against plays that take a long time to develop (e.g. end around, reverse, etc). Quick hitting and repetition no matter what offense you choose. For the line, I repeat Fundamentals and Reps.

I don't know of a specific defense that appeals to you but there are certainly lots of defenses out there. Coach John T Reed wrote a few books on youth football. I have read his Coaching Youth Football in which he talks about several defenses and presents his Gap Air Mirror. I've never run the GAM so I can not testify to it. There are lots of websites you can run through such as Defense is an Attitude for resources. I coach 11, 12, and 13 YO (Jr. Midget) and we actually run several defensive formation. I do see a lot of 5-3 being run out there. One arguement that Coach Reed puts forth in his philosophy and one that I agree with is to be a bit contrarian. In other words, don't run the same thing everyone else in your leage runs. The reason is simple, offenses are used to running against their own defense so why run a defense that the other teams are used to practicing against? Whatever system you use, find a way to get your linemen into gaps and not locked into stalemate pushing with the OL. Good Luck!

My travel schedule at work got pretty rough this last winter and spring but finally calmed down - so I went on vacation. I am actually planning on working on our tool set this weekend with my fellow coach - chute, firehose, board, and screen. Here is my plan: 1) Chute/rope ladder - I can't leave our gear on the field so I have to move it in and out every night. Thus, I need portable and multi use. For the Chute, I am going to make a rectangle out of PVC pipe with detatcable PVC legs out the bottom. Inside the rectangle, I am going to run ropes across and down to make a ladder. I will be able to use this as a chute with the legs and as a high knees ladder without the legs. Coach Breck pointed out that the light weight is great for portablility but if a kid stands up in the chute, it may go flying. He is right, but I figure that at least we will know without a doubt if they are getting too high! Length from front to back of the chute will be 3 to 4 feet. I don't yet know the actual height - I am going to grab one of the neighborhood kids who is the same age group and average height, put him in a 3 point and measure. 2) Firehose - clean and paint Oline and holes on one side and defensive gaps on the other. 3) Board - paint and mark lenghts on it. We use the board for blocking drills. If the blocker does not keep his feet apart he steps on the board and the cleats slip. It is a great teaching tool and the coach doesn't have to say a word - a player rarely makes the mistake twice. The board (a 12 foot long 10by2 is the only thing we leave on the field. We left it against the fence last year with no problem. The only diff this year is we are painting it with foot and yard markers to measure performance). 4) Screen - get a pull down blind (the kind like the old movie screens that go up when you tug them) and build a frame around it so it will sit on the ground. Add a long wooden dowel to raise the screen from the ground up. Ball carriers run from behind the screen and the DL has to quickly recognize who has the ball and make the play. Excellent ball carrier recognition drill. I adapted this from a drill that used an old door. I can't carry a door in and out. There is one more tool that I have already built - I call it a fire stick. My fellow coach and actually saw this at last years Panthers/Cards game in Charlotte during pregame warmups. It is a football glued to a sawed off hockey stick. The coach can move the ball like a center snap with a twitch of his hand. It forces the D-Line to react to the ball and not the coach's hands, arm, or shoulder. I'll try to let you guys know how it all works out with the build this weekend. We just got our equipment pickup date this morning - we are just a hair over 2 weeks to the first practice!! I am so ready for some football! Coach S

Coach Breck, I just got back from a week of fun with the family and just saw your message hear. Good Luck with you son this year; it will all be fine. I made a different decision because I think it will be good for my son to have to deal with a coach other than me (a couple of times last year, he wanted to run to me as Daddy and not Coach). He was only 5 in soccer though. He is 6 now and will be seven at the end of the season for football. I was reluctant to start him in tackle too early but since I am in the program as a coach myself, I feel pretty comfortable that it will be a fun event and not a win or else attitude. Good Luck with you son this year!! Coach Steve

hey coach - welcome to the board. I appologize for a late reply - I was on leave for a week of fun with the family. Basically, we break our practices out into D, O, and ST. We further break the O and the D down into positional and team times. We also have some time at the end of practice for a crisp running of plays - O v. D. Of course, inside of all of that, we have H2O breaks and warm up and conditioning. So, there is a lot to cover in each practice. As such, the coaches all know the drills they are going to run and we move from drill to drill with little wasted time. Keeping it moving also helps with conditioning. Because time is so tight, we also try to incorporate many thing together (where it makes sense). For example, instead of just running sprints in conditioning week, we put markers on the ground and run sprints through the holes. That way, they learn the holes while they condition. I have heard of some teams going O one night, D another night and mixed O and D on the third night. ST is run on the third night of the week as well. There are merits to both systems and there are many other systems. The biggest thing to me is running each drill crisply and moving from drill to drill with focus. The coachs must know what they are running each drill and must keep the players focused. That way, you get the most out of the limited time we all have.

Me? I am stoked!! We have the majority of our roster set and will have a parents meeting very soon. We kickoff practice on August first. We don't have a lot of size but we have some talented kids coming back from last year and some others moving up. Also, my son is playing for the first time in the younger bracket. I had a hard time deciding against coaching his team. I helped on his soccer team last year and had a great time but I think it is time for him to have a year of getting coaching from someone else - at least for a season or two. Still, I could not help my excitement when I took him to the sporting goods store last weekend and got his under armor shirts and pants, mouth piece, cleats, etc, etc!! Not bragging but he is built to play football and loves contact. In soccer, I had to council him about running over other kids. I think football is going to be good for him. Perhaps he will be a good player to boot!!

I can't say as I understand why the coach is so interested in getting his hands on the freshman class. You can send him a team of future NFLers but that doesn't mean a hill of beans if he doesn't coach a system and run a program complete with weights and everything else....I feel for you....good luck!!

EGAD MAN!!! What kind of purgatory have you landed yourself into??? Seriously though - I understand to some extent in that I am not in a true football town either. However, that doesn't mean you couldn't try generating some sort of buzz around the town. There are football fans around there somewhere. Perhaps you could organize some Friday Night Football outings to go to the HS game. The only way I see that coach going anywhere is if the pressure mounts or retirement. Again, perhaps there is an alumn out there who could help. Who knows. One thing is for sure - keep building winning football teams....that is the best pressure you can create - kids and parents who not just want but expect to win. Good Luck!

One other thought that just came to mind is Alumni. Are there any Alumni that give back to the school in someway that are happen to be football fans? If so, they could possible bring some pressure to bear about the state of the program and might even have influencial friends who could help too. If it were college, alumni in this description should be easy to find; I don't know about HS though. That could also be tough but possibly worthy of investigation.

hmmmm, now that is an ugly problem. The thing is, I don't know that you will be able to get rid of him as long as the community and the school are content to have a subpar program. Perhaps the parents of the up and coming Freshman will not be thrilled with the Varsity program when their kids get there and they will raise a ruckus. The problem is not just the coach - you said he has been there for 13 years. Well, for 13 years the school is apparantly content to have a losing football program. The coach shoulders his share of the blame but if the the academic leadership (principle, school board, etc) are not supporting him, perhaps his his hands are tied. I suspect, however, if he actually showed some inititive and showed some successes, he would get some support. Clearly, however, the school leadership is not interested in pushing him as he is still around. The community is not pressing the school for a better program either. If there was sufficient pressure from the community on the school board, the pressure would, in turn mount on the coach. He would either have to produce or get off the pot. So, with that in mind, it sounds like you are doing something very good to generate pressure - creating a winning program that will show up the HS program in time. As I said, maybe the parents will press the school as more and more players move up. I would keep it positive but perhaps you could generate more pressure by trying to create a buzz in the community about your program beyond the parents. If you have some local businesses sponsoring the youth team; perhaps you could start haning posters that thanks the establishment for supporting teh "2004 League Champs" or posting team photos with accomplishments. Invite people out to your games that might just be football fans and see if you can generate any kind of buzz in general about football around the town. Perhaps that will get people saying "That Coach Breck is really doing a great job with the Youth Program; too bad that HS coach wont move for a 5 pound candy bar". I don't know; its a tough nut to crack. Especially if the school system itself is not interested in a winning program. On a different extreme, our local HS just had us out for their first mini-camp. They run a great program and see the value of helping us to be better coaches by having us watch them and talk to them. I don't understand why your HS coach would not be interested in winning. There has to be a reason.

exactly. I am also saying just don't allow access to anyone you don't know. If one of your player's wants their uncle to see the roster and such, you have to know that the email request you get to grant that person access after they request it is really that player's uncle. Keep any personal information tightly locked down. Just divide anything you post as either 'public' or 'private'. A simple rule of thumb is to ask about each piece of information, "Do I really want someone I don't know to know this information?"

Coach Will, It looks like a fine start. I see you are using eteams; that is a good place to get started for a cheap price. One thing I do advise is that you keep your security tight. Only let people on board as members that you know (don't just grant access) especially if you end up putting any personal information on the site (e.g. rosters that include player names and phone numbers). Their interface is a pretty easy one as I recall; just look at the reference guide when you want to find out how to do some things. There are some limitations to their service but you can't complain given the price. Steve

Honestly, it sounds like you have the right mindset and the right approach. On the coachs, I think you want to have some who will be around year in and year out. There will also be coachs who will move with their kids. We have a mix of that on our staff and it works pretty well. Much of that is due to the leadership of the HC. The reality is that you will likely have a mixture of both; the only thing you can really control is your own commitment and your leadership. If you make it an enjoyable experience for the coaches and the kids, you will have a higher rate of return. If not, you will have drop offs. One thing that has occured on our coaching staff is that the HC, one of the other coachs, and myself have formed solid friendships. It is nothing for us to get together or call each other or email each other and talk football (and sometimes other stuff too). That has built a huge trust factor and the result is that we work very well together. On the playbook - get a pencil and paper or computer and software and draw yourself up your ideal playbook. Then, make some notes on what you think you want in year one and year two and year three, etc, etc. Use it as a guide and adjust approrpriately. If the team learns faster, add more. If they need more time, take some away. On the issue of jitters - hey, don't worry about it. I understand the expectations are high but based on your thoughts here, I doubt the town's expectations are any higher than the bar you are setting for yourself. You will be fine. With a high bar for yourself, you will go into the season organized and prepared. Get your coaching staff on board as fast as possible and you will be in fine shape. There are some things you can not control such as the atheletes you get. We had our first signups recently and we got a bunch of kids signed up. However, like last year, we do not have much size. There is not much we can do about that so we will focus on speed, misdirection, and maximizing angles in our blocking. So, you adapt. That is why I stress having a huge playbook and drill book to draw from than to get into a situation you are not prepared for. But, the truth is, I think you are going to be just fine. Let us know how things are going; I am betting a soda that you will be successful. (I drink Sprite Zero by the way - just so you know when it is time to pay up )

I'll throw out some thoughts: 1) I think that consistancy in you coaching staff is huge. Last year, we were a new set of coachs taking on a new team in an new age group for our area (Jr. Midget). We did not know each other and we did not know what to expect from each other. Our HC did a great job and we did gel nicely as a staff. However, because we are all coming back as a unit again next year, we have done things in the off season that will be critical to our success next year. Aside from sociallizing as friends, we have debated strategies, talked about the returning kids and positions, drawn up playbooks and practice schedules among other things. Going into this year, we will all know the kids from last year, all know our responsibilities, all know for sure what the other coachs are teaching the other positions. The season has not even started and we are light years ahead of last year. This is not to say that the one or two year coach's are bad. Just make sure they are working within your system and clearly define that system to them. For example, make sure they understand the drills and practice agendas for each practice session before practice. 2) I think that you will want to ensure that you teach sound fundamentals at this age and work your way up from there. Each year, you can build upon last year's successes - this includes your playbook. You can start with the very basic plays in your OC scheme that you want to use in three or four years and start teaching those. Select those plays that give your players a chance to win this year; winning is not everything and should not be taught as the only thing. However, success does breed success and confidence. Anyway, I don't know that the system you will run down the road has to be mutually exclusive of winning this year. The defense I have drawn up this year has a lot of plays - I will not run them all. I will run the ones that make sense. Our HC drew up an offensive system that has base plays that have related companion plays that build upon the base play. We will not use all the plays in the playbook - we will use the ones that we can master and that make sense to run against our competition. all of that is fine and good but if you do not teach the fundamentals now, you will regret it in the years to come. Master the fundamentals - blocking and tackling - and run the plays that your kids master. That gives your team a better chance to win than skimping on fundmentals or running any "super play" that they don't master. 3) You are not there to appease the parents; you are there to teach the kids how to play football. Do not get in the trap of trying to please the parents. On a roster of 25 kids, there are up to 50 parents who all have different levels of football knowledge and many think they know more than they really do. One thing is sure though, they all have different opinions (and those opinions are often driven by their wants for their kid and not the team). You can not cater to 50 different opinions. Teach the kids football fundamentals. Teach the kids to enjoy the game. That is your job. It doesn't mean you can ignore the parents; just make sure that you and they know who the HC is and that you are doing what is best for the team and not what is best for the parents. It is possible to teach the game, have fun, and win. In fact, that is what we are all trying to do.

I presume for mini camp, there will be no pads....with that in mind.... There are lots and lots of drills that can be run that are educational and fun for the kids. I'll throw out a few that come to mind: 1- Fire Hose - get an old fire hose (or something similar) and mark it where the OL would be and number the holes. You can have sprints to the "holes". This will help them learn their holes. Once they have the holes down, set up a "gauntlet". Have a few coach's don some hand held shields and maybe a stand up dummy or two. Pick a hole on the fire hose - say the 4 hole. Now, have the kid start in the backfield, run to the 4 hole and across the line and into the gauntlet. The guantlet can be set up howevery you want. For example, have hand shield coaches on either side of the 4 hole. The player bursts through them. Then he has to do a spin move or a stiff arm to a stand up dummy in the second Tier. Have one more hand shield at the Safety spot that he has to burst through. 2- Obstacle course - kids love obstacle courses. You can set 'em up in any order you want. You can use ropes, tires, shields, half dummies on the ground like logs to high knee over (frontwards or sideways), cones, chutes, etc, etc. It is minicamp so use your imagination to create fun but yet teach football skills. 3- Run and catch drills with m2m coverage - Have kids run routes and take turns being CB and WR. Get imaginitive and make two teams - each team gets a chance to run all their guys at DB and a chance to run all their guys at WR. You get a point for every reception and a point for every INT. See who wins. 4- Tip drills for DB's - INT's are fun. 5- Attack Angles - have a kid line up as an LB and a kid line up as an RB. You need a QB (coach or player). Lay some cones down to act as the line. Run a quick pitch right or left to the RB. Have the LB take the correct angle to the ball carrier and tag him. Just like 3 above, you can find a way to make some games out of it - two points for getting the RB behind the line - one point for getting him within three yards of the line; RB scores a point for getting 3 - 7 yards past the line and two points for not getting tagged at all. You can play around for that. 6- run number 5 above but vary it to have an NT who runs a predefined stunt. This is a little harder because it just won't do to have the NT stunt to the B gap when the RB is taking a pitch in the other direction. So, you will have to tweak the drill a bit. Other things that could make it fun is for the HS coach to come down to the clinic and bring some of the "big kids" with him. Young kids look up to the HS players and coachs. Hope this helps and gives you some ideas; hopefully, it will seed some other ideas as well. Our local HS coach is going to run a clinic this spring; i think it will be in May. If I make it (and I have every intention of doing so), I will let you know if I see anything that would be fun to add to the list.