Developing Youth Qb

[Ebutts 0]

I have interesting situation but I'm sure it's so common. Looking for some ideas, feedback, pointers, and the how you handle the situation.

10 year old has a fantastic arm ever since the age of 4. But has not believed it till now (he was told by everyone who has ever seen him - his nickname is the kid with the golden arm).

Spirals, accuracy, and POWER!!!

His flaws are the following:

- side arm: but now he's accepted to throwing over hand and using the drills to help with that

- foot work: terrible. No speed, doesn't bend knees, and doesn't yet know how to use lower body to help with throwing. He relies on his arm strength

- seriousness: because he's 10 he's silly BUT when around his coaches he will work hard. He will practice all day but just too silly when coaches are not around. He should grow out of that as he gets older

- noticing when off the field he wants to show everyone his arm strength BUT when on the field he starts off gun shy

- personality: shy but everyone loves him. He brights up a room just with his smile. And he can't keep from smiling

So you see there's a definite prospect that has a lot of upsize. What advice would you give to continue this kid on the right path?

[macvolcan 0]

I think a lot of it is going to come down to how much time you have with the boy. If you only have a few minutes with him, giving him a bit of advice/direction probably will have little to no affect.

If one were to have a lot more time to work with him, emphasizing why it is important for him to learn how to take a snap, perform a dropback and utilize his feet to tell him when to go to the next read. He has to understand the benefit of learning the mechanics or else he won't spend the countless hours to build it into his muscle memory. He will have to begin to learn timing of throws to different routes in the tree, as well as begin to introduce a few passing 'concepts' (such as: smash, sail, levels, slant/arrow, curl/flat, etc).

I think the most important thing though for him at this age whatever you do is try to keep the game fun, he will need to put work in to get to progress properly, but you don't want to put much pressure or overwhelm him too much with critiquing of his throwing motion or game all together. If the game isn't fun he very well may burnout and quit before he ever even begins to touch on his potential.

One resource I keep finding myself going with developing QB's is:

video of Jim Harbaugh's coaching clinic from when he was younger, he touches on a ton of things about mechanics, on what really hammer on (making sure the arm doesn't fall below the shoulder) while still understanding that not every successful QB is going to throw the same way (and thus be careful to not over-coach the throwing motion).

If he is primarily working out with himself and has little mentorship in his solo practices, you will have to just emphasize on the 'why' he must work on the things he is weak at, and what it will do for him (throwing with his body will allow him to throw farther and more accurate than just using his arm, utilizing his feet will help him know when he is supposed to move from 1st read to 2nd read, etc), then hope he actually spends time working on it.

[whiskey.alpha 5]

In my experience, a young kid with a good arm stands out and makes parents "ooh" and "aah" until about 6th grade. After 6th grade, a good arm takes a backseat to good footwork and good decision-making, both of which are helped by good work ethic. So much about the QB position is tied to the feet. That said, footwork is arguably dead last on the list of things a 10-year old kid wants to do, and that's where a good coach can make a difference. Good luck.

[Coach Rob 26]

So you see there's a definite prospect that has a lot of upsize. What advice would you give to continue this kid on the right path?

Good points by both coaches above. I think it's extremely important in situations like these to find out what the kid wants to do. I've watched several scenarios go down with parents/coaches who see potential in a kid and push them in a certain direction they really didn't want to go. They invest money and time, then get disappointed when the kid isn't meeting their expectations.

I think a kid has to really buy into whatever it is they are being told, especially when it comes to something that isn't mandatory (e.g. sports, hobbies). If the kid buys in and has a desire on their own to move forward, I've found those situations work out a lot better.

Having said all that, if you know a local high school or college QB coach willing to hang out for a few sessions with this kid, it might spark something.

[cazador suerte 0]

Agree.....kid has to have the desire to play....too many parents these days are pushing their kids to excel at sports for the wrong reasons....its gotta be for the love of the game when they are kids, or you are going to burn em out.

One dad/coache's opinion.

[whiskey.alpha 5]

I agree to a point.

Personally, I don't think 8-10 year old boys are the best candidates to make decisions about what's in their best interest or what they (truly) want. Sure, it might be true in a kid's mind that doing Thing "A" gives him pleasure and doing Thing "B" doesn't. But that information is of limited value. Most boys can't see beyond how they feel right now. They're also prone to associating displeasure with structure and frustration. At some level, all boys are Huck Finn, and unless they're naturally competitive, they'll never see the value in "wax on, wax off".

I remember my oldest son telling me how much he hated lacrosse (during the summer) but then telling me how it was his favorite sport (during the season). And if you asked him in Fall, his favorite sport was tackle football. Point is- if I left the decisions up to him, he would have made them emotionally and skipped out on a sport he truly loves.

I cant tell you how many naturally athletic kids I see turn away from football around 3rd and 4th grade grade -not because their coaches are jerks- but because they grew up dominating their peers and being self-indulgent and they never developed a work ethic. No one forced them to do the stuff that wasn't fun and taught them how to experience success on a small level. Then, one day, they started getting caught from behind and not scoring touchdowns every possession and they became frustrated. Moreover, their confidence and enthusiasm were now way, way down because -for years- they associated pleasure with something that no longer existed.

All this doesn't mean coaches need to be more like Marv Marinovich. I just think it's easy to get lost trying to make "fun" the center of the universe. If a kid quits playing basketball because his coach makes him play it with his left hand, sports will never be anything more than a casual indulgence for him. And that's okay. But let's be clear - that kid doesn't need a coach, he needs a chaperon. And it's probably the wrong decision to force him to do it.

I see my role as helping kids see beyond what's fun about sports. Because fun is short-lived and momentary. Fun is easily obtained. A kid doesn't need a coach to have fun. A kid will find fun just fine on his own.

I want my kids to value the contest, challenge, and camaraderie of sports. I want them to know what it means to set goals and achieve them... to have success... to want to work hard when the payoff isn't instant or obvious. Those are things from which kids can draw deep satisfaction - an altogether different kind of pleasure, but one that is longer-lasting and harder to achieve than "fun".

Whether you keep your "wax on, wax off" drills fun or not, keep your player motivated by not letting long periods pass between his frustration and the payoff. Keep goals small and make sure success is clearly defined. If you've done it right, one day his dad will be awakened by a thud-thud-thud in the driveway and he'll look outside and see his son dribbling with his let hand without being asked.

[Orange 26]

My best QB's were never the best at "throwing" the ball. I know that sounds counter-intuitive but it's true. They were gamers, kids who could make things happen, quick thinkers, quick on their feet and loved to step up to the challenge. Personally I wouldn't have much use for the QB you described (not as QB). If he was my son I'd help him out by getting him into sports where he has to move around a lot and use his feet. There are probably better positions for him in flag, basketball would be good too. And not many 10 year olds will take their sports development seriously. My son became more serious when he was 12-13 and now at 15 he practices on his own like a fiend. I always made it easy for him, encouraged, but I always told him I'll never force you, you have to own it.

[Flagdad 5]

A few years ago, talking about Tim Tebow really got through to a few of my kids who could throw better than every other kid, but did it with bad form. There was a great ESPN sport science piece on him that I found on Youtube which detailed how much slower his release was than the average QB. At the time, he was the playoff winning QB in Denver so they end it with "Only time will tell" but I let them know that he never got a chance after that. National Championship, Playoff win, but with a form that was so bad, the NFL passed on him. It really got through to two of my kids. One of them though was like "wait a minute, so you're saying I could win a national championship throwing like this".....grrrrrr. I had to counter with, how much better could he have been if he fixed it at his age.

With him out of the news for a few years now, it may not work as well.