Newbie Coach

[CoachGladney 0]

I have been looking over the board for a few hours and I see lots of helpful things I might incorporate but i need advice. I have a 5-6 yr old 7 on 7 team and from what i can tell, Only 4 of my 11 players have ever played before. I had a hard time with holding their attention in practice today and am in need of some drill that i can use as wll as a playbook that they can understand. I'm not new to coaching, just to being a HEAD coach on a team so young. Thoughts or helpful suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

CoachGladney

[hollad6636 0]

CoachGladney,

Take a look at a look at our flag football drills knowledge base and the youth football drills and practice plans forum. Remember at this age they are not going to have much of an attention span keep them in small groups and keep things moving. If you have any help you can trust then use it.

[Coach Rob 26]

I had a hard time with holding their attention in practice today and am in need of some drill that i can use as wll as a playbook that they can understand. I'm not new to coaching, just to being a HEAD coach on a team so young. Thoughts or helpful suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I'm back in the same boat with you, a 4-6 yr old team didn't have a coach, so I volunteered to help until they found one. Whew! Forgot what it was like. Halfway through our practice one of the kids says, "I want to be on a different team." Another couple of kids were kicking each other. Sheesh. It's like herding cats hyped up on Starbucks.

My advice? Run and don't look back.

Seriously, here are some suggestions:

-Have several game-like drills ready to choose from when they get restless. Make the drills more like mini games, avoid having them stand in lines. Sharks - couple of kids in middle of modified field, rest of kids with balls trying to make it to other end without getting flag pulled. If their flag is pulled, they go in middle to help. Things like that.

-To work on some skill sets, grab a couple of dads to help and have stations. 3-4 kids at each station, then have them switch every 5-8 minutes to the next station. One station could be learning how to snap, another could be taking hand offs, another pulling flags.

-Use kid like concepts/keywords they will remember. For swarming the guy with the ball, use the bee hive analogy. What happens when you mess with a bee hive? That's how I want you guys to act when swarming the player with the ball. When you yell "Bees!" that should remind them to swarm the ball carrier.

-I still use this drill with my older kids. Coach is QB, all the kids are lined up in a group on defense. When coach moves right, kids move right, when coach moves left, kids move left. If coach looks like pass, kids back up and yell pass. If coach yells swarm, they all better swarm, everyone has to touch the coach. I make them work a bit by doing some zig zags. Younger kids get a kick out of it.

-Check out the playbook section of this site and modify some of those plays. On the passing you'll have to keep it simple using a center drag type play with the QB following the center along the los.

-Keep things moving in practice and make it fun. If the kids are losing interest in a drill, move on to the next one. Come up with some cool cheers, creative team name, etc.

[Johnp2 21]

Rob gave you great advice. Practice will be the challenge. Do you have an assistant or anyone to help out?

My advice: just keep it fun and enjoy the experience.

What you will find out (if you haven't already) is talking in the huddle is a huge problem at this age. Set hard and fast rules on that one, else you will not be able to call your plays in the huddle. I'm a very lenient coach on just about everything, but we have a zero tolerance rule for talking in the huddle. Start this in practice. It might take them some time to get used to it, but if you enforce a penalty (i.e. sit the player out for a few plays if he does it), they will get the message. Good luck and keep us posted as to how your season unfolds.

[CoachGladney 0]

Rob gave you great advice. Practice will be the challenge. Do you have an assistant or anyone to help out?

My advice: just keep it fun and enjoy the experience.

What you will find out (if you haven't already) is talking in the huddle is a huge problem at this age. Set hard and fast rules on that one, else you will not be able to call your plays in the huddle. I'm a very lenient coach on just about everything, but we have a zero tolerance rule for talking in the huddle. Start this in practice. It might take them some time to get used to it, but if you enforce a penalty (i.e. sit the player out for a few plays if he does it), they will get the message. Good luck and keep us posted as to how your season unfolds.

Thanks for all the GREAT advice. Things have really improved and we are now able to run 5 different plays. I'm sooo pleased. I will keep you up to speed on the season.

[Johnp2 21]

Five plays is actually good for such a young team. One other note---I've seen at this age group, there will usually be one player (on every team) that is heads and shoulders above his teammates. In games, try to figure out who that is as quickly as possible and position your players on defense stop him, and call plays on offense away from him.

Good luck!