Looking For Suggestions For 5-6 Year Olds

[JoeCraw 0]

This fall will be my first time coaching football and the kids are 5 and 6 years old.

I am looking for any ideas as to what to stress to the kids and what drills I should do. Most of what I have read on the internet seems to be directed at older kids. I want a few basic ideas to stress and some good drills that will help them with the basics.

Thanks,

Joe

[4-on-4 0]

Flag footbal or tackle?

[JoeCraw 0]

Flag footbal or tackle?

Tackle football

[synwave7 0]

JoeCraw,

Saftey, Saftey, Saftey. I would keep it as basic as possible. Start with learning proper techniques of the basics, tackling, blocking (dummies), then tackling, wrapping up properly, then tackling. Head up and all that! Have an outline of your practice everyday prior to practice. These young ones really need structure and constant reinforcement of proper technique. I would not even start live hitting or tackling until your sure they know how to properly tackle.

Make your drills fun, make your pre-practice routine as fun as possible. Maybe get some kind of reward system going as far as showing proper technique, give em a football card, nice dummy hit, give em a sugerless treat. Ya know little scooby snacks and treats for doing good. They're just like little puppies if you pet them and give em treats and show em you mean business in a fun sorta way they will respond.

Drills - Do a search for a post I did last year around this time. Lotsa good info.

Good luck let us know how your doing from time to time.

Syn

[hogbreath 0]

I have coached 5 and 6 year olds for the last 7 years ( I,m moving to the 7 and 8 yearolds this year). e-mail me if you want and ill help you any way i can.Bstmewillis@aol.com

[Bull 0]

Have coaches 5-7 year-olds for 4 years and have several suggestions:

1. Always be prepared before your practice. Don't just show up try to figure it out "on the fly". Plan out your drills, etc. Email is a great tool for running it by your staff.

2. Be creative with drills and conditioning. Beg, borrow, steal and create your own. The kids love games, contests, obstacle courses, anything with an objective. Just hitting the sled for 15 minutes will not hold their attention.

In one of my creative fits, I invented a drill I called the "Grid Drill". Using cones create three boxes (5 X 5 yards) connected in a straight line. The last box is on the goalline. Put a child in each box. They can tackle, but only when the runner enters their box. The runners are on the opposite end of the goalline, and their objective is to make it thru all three boxes and score a TD (I gave them 1 point for getting thru Box 1, 2 points for box 2, 5 points for a TD).

I also invented an obstacle course using bags, 5 gallon buckets, cones and pads.

The kids LOVED it!! It was great for running and tackling fundamentals. So get creative!

3. Avoid "standing around time" - These little ones get into trouble when there are long lines or long speeches. Design drills focusing on maximal participation. Divide them up into groups and empower your assistant coaches!

4. Make it fun, but have them prepared. Our goal at this age level, aside from teaching fundamentals, is to encourage them to come back next year, by helping them develop a love for the game of football. It's not the right time in their lives for "toughening them up" by grueling practices, screaming at them, depriving them of water, or forcing them to go against the bigger kids in a scrimmage. If you do that, many will drop out along the way. That should never be your goal as coach.

That said, your job is still to prepare them for the games, so work them hard. Repitition is a great way to turn learning into instinct. Scrimmage a lot in a game-like situation. Walk them through who to block before going full speed.

5. (This should be obvious) Keep It Simple! As the season approaches, I am sitting here agonizing of my offense. I have to constantly keep reminding myself: "At this age, they aren't gonna be able to run the Fake 34 bootleg X out pass. Well, at least not at first. You should have 8 or 10 offensive plays, and I recommend only one defensive set (maybe add in a shift right or left). When they are able to line up and run those 10 plays (vs. different defenses), you have achieved success!! As the season progresses, I do encourage adding "fun" plays. Like a roll-out pass to the TE or wingback, or a bootleg. By then, they will be ready for a little more. It depends on the group you have.

6. Teach by example and expect sportsmanship.

7. Always have control of your practice. Kids love to goof off, especially at this age. Some act up more than others. As coaches, you and your staff MUST be clear from day one that you expect them to behave, and that punishment will be applied if they act up. They should not talk while a coach is speaking to the group, they should not push or butt in line, they should not horse-around and tackle each other at water break or between drills, especially with their helmet off, they should not use bad language or insult or hit another player.

And, if they act up, punish without prejudice. They must know that you will act. If you catch two kids in an argument and they are both saying the other one started it, punish them both.

What you will find is that children quickly fall in line in a structured, discipline-based environment. And you don't have to be nasty to administer it, just be fair and matter-of-fact. Don't make a big deal about it, just do it. They will learn that this is just how it is.

Punishments for this age level: 20 push ups, 40 sit-ups, a lap around the field,

(However, some kids may be special situations, such a children that are ADD or ADHD or leaning disabilities. These are to be handled case by case and ALL your coaches need to be aware of the situation. These children deserve a change to play, too, so work with parents to do whatever is necessary to make their experience a positive on as well.)

8. Understand the spirit of Instructional Football. By this, I am talking about not coaching to take advantage of a disadvantage that comes with where these kids are in their development. We played a team, whose grand defensive strategy was to line their noseguard (the biggest, fastest kid on the team) in the center/guard gap, shoot him in and sack my QB every play, which he did. That was great for this one child (and his parents), but my team didn't run our plays, and no one else on their team participated either; they just cheered when the nose made a tackle. I could line up my best player at Nose and stunt him in everytime, but that's not what this age group should be about. There will be plenty of time for stunting and blitzing, all the tricky stuff that is a part of advanced football. At our level, teach them solid football fundamentals.

9. Reward them often. A previous writers said that and I agree wholeheartedly. I give game ribbons for outstanding game play. Not everybody gets one, only those that deserve it that week. You'll find that everybody does eventually do something that deserves praise (I buy ribbons at the dollar store). I also give Practice Player of the Week awards, Two a week. This award (again a small toy from the dollar store) is given to each kid on the team and I work my way thru the list from week to week. The last week's awards we give at the end of year banquet. Three or four times a season, we'll do something special after practice: hot cocoa, watermelon feast, pizza, scimmage the parents (2-hand touch), popcicles, etc.

10. Get a team Person (Mom or Dad). This person can pull together a lot of the administrative stuff (like making sure the pizza (above) is delivered). This can let you focus on coaching.

Good luck and God bless you for coaching at this level. It's NOT easy!!! Bull