Maleko

<snipping into sections for easier answering> Sorry there Maleko. Didn't mean to say something stupid. I coach Canadian football (slightly different rules). It's easy to forget that (my bad). In Canadian football rules a team does not gain posession by touching the ball (unless it goes directly out of bounds as a live ball). Thus, the 'offense' would remain the 'offense' in this case. But we are talking American rules... You said nothing stupid. I wasn't sure you were asking what I heard. Sorry if I came across wrong :-( So, In American rules a change of possession gives you a first down? I mean, of course, if the recovering team was the 'defense' to begin with. But if the ball changes hands twice? i.e.: 3rd and 10 Team B. Ball is stripped by team A who is hit immediately after and then fumbles. Team B recovers the fumble say, 5 yds behind the LOS. 1st a and Ten Team B? or 4th and 15 Team B? IF Team A had possession (ball under "control") then yes it is 1st and 10 Team B. If Team A's player did not have "control" of the ball (control being subjective on the part of the refs), then it is 4th and 15 got Team B. Funny, In Canadian rules that situation would land you with 1st and ten Team A! Not my fault the US' little brother gets things wrong sometimes :-) (j/k) In what other situations besides punts does touching the ball give you possession? Not a pass, I watch enough NFL and NCAA ball to know that. How about lateral passes? AFAIK, this only occurs during punts. I'm no ref, nor rule guru, so I may be (and prob am) wrong on this. All other situations that I am aware of require "control". The key here is that the ball MUST cross the LOS for the touch to matter. Bare with me here and I'll try to explain it as I understand it. The ball when punted is a "live ball" meaning that any team can advance it. Once it crosses the LOS (only if it crosses the LOS on the kick however), it becomes a "dead ball" meaning only the team that is considered to have possesion can advance the ball. It is the crossing of the LOS that changes possession. If the receiving team makes any contact at all with the ball, after it crossed the LOS, then it becomes a "live ball" again. Is that any better for you, or have I made it worse? (I'm good at making explinations worse) 2nd and 10, Team A. Team A attempts a backward pass. Team B tips the pass, it bounces on the ground team A covers the ball 5 yds behind the LOS. 3rd and 15, Team A? or 1st and 10, Team A? 3rd and 15. A lateral/backwards pass (again AFAIK) is still a "live ball" so unless Team B had control, it is still Team A's ball. I would think 3rd and 15, but from your explanation, Team B may have 'possessed' the ball, and change of possession gives you a 1st down. Cheers, dbc (taking a second shot here, sorry if the first one hit the mark) It is the kick crossing the LOS that changes possession, it is the receiving team's touch that changes the ball from "dead" to "live".

I am not sure of punting it into the line would work (as the refs would have to be 100% clear that A it passed the LOS and B the receiving team touched it), however a punt that arches up over the line and drops 5-10 yards behind the LOS would work, assuming that the receiver did not wave for a fair catch, and did drop the ball. The reward would have to be pretty high as the potential for giving up a bunch of field position is high trying that.

The "defense" touching the ball signals the change of possession (thus becoming the offense). That point is 100% of the reason why the former offense didn't need to advance the ball at all. If the ball had not been touched by the receiving team, it would have been a dead ball, 1st and 10 for the receiving team (i.e. the defense in your wording) no matter where on the field the kicking team recovered it (unless the punt never cleared the LOS).

As far as I know, once the punt cleared the LOS, and your team touched the ball, it became a live ball and whomever recovers, gets 1st and ten.

Hey megjclarke, glad to hear everything is working out for your son. Just keep one thing in mind, whatever your son gets out of football, he will get it because of you. Your a special mom, and keep up the great work. I wish 1/2 of my team's parents took 1/2 the interest you are in their own kids.

I agree that you should try your best to make him finish the year out. Not just for the "quitters never win" angle (which is important) but also for his love of football. You say he watches it a lot, I assume he plays a lot of Madden (or another video game) and he was desperate to get on the team. Add in the fact that you said he is sensative to failure, and you have a classic case of "scared kid". The hits can hurt, your face gets squished into the mud at times, you get bumped and bruised and nicked in places you didn't realize could hurt before, you get wet, cold, tired and hungry during practice and games, muscles you didn't realize you had get tight and sore and knotted up, you blow assignments, and sometimes you just get beat. As a boy I am sure he was told many many times not to hit people, and now he is being encouraged to not only hit someone, but to hit them like a frieght train. Add puberty into the mix and this can be a lot for a young kid to take in. It sounds to me like this is the biggest challenge he has ever faced, and he is not performing to the level that HE thinks he should be. As a parent, you need to find a way to encourage his efforts (the fact that he is trying his hardest should be your #1 concern), and cheer his successes while also being realistic with him when he makes mistakes. He is new to the game (and don't let anyone tell you that football without pads is the same game as with pads, it is a totally different animal), and he WILL make mistakes, but so will every other kid on the field, whether they have played for 5 years or never before. Just find a way to get him to relax, and let up on himself, and he will find that the fun of watching football, is surpassed only by the fun of playing football. Also let him know that at his age, he will catch up in ability to the kids who have played for years very quickly, he just needs to work on it and it will come, just not as quick as he wants of course. P.S. You may want to grab a beginners youth coaching book to read. That way you will be able to understand what he is saying when you talk about how practice went etc and it will give you a good foundation of info for you and him to build on for the coming seasons (if he decides to play again) You would be amazed how much 15 mins of mom playing catch and talking about the ______ game will mean to him. (remember, when you see a player on TV, he never says "Hi Dad")

Play by the rules, no starters. Keep your starting Off and Def the same, rotate in your 2nd and 3rd string players (if they are real weak only 1 or 2 at a time) into the games. They still should get to play thier 5th quarter games, as they didn't "start". Granted, with the number of kids you have on your roster, they won't all get a lot of playing time, but your team can only benefit from getting everyone some time in game. Now if you mean by "no starters", that any kid who has played in the Sunday game can play, then I feel bad for you, because you are in a situation that is not good for you, the players, or the team as a whole. I would recommend getting involved in the league itself and trying to get some changes made. Also, I would recommend that you explain it to the kids and their parents, that if they ALL play Sunday, then NO ONE can play Monday. Get the parents on your side, 99% of them will do nothing (except complain) but maybe that 1% will help make the league changes so all your kids (and every otherkid on every other team) can play.

I say play them all. Not 1 play, not 4 plays, enough plays to make them feel a part of the team. They come out and work hard all week in practice, and their reward is to play a padless, meaningless game on Monday? Just because the newer kids aren't good players yet, doesn't mean that in a year or 4 (with proper coaching) that they won't become good players. I'm a first year coach of 11-13 yr old team in Eastern Pa and we have 23 kids currently on the roster (which makes it very easy for me to get everyone a lot of playing time). Every kid gets plays in EVERY game (unless they are injured or miss practice) period. I would have it no other way. Our job as youth coaches is to teach kids how to play football safely, and to foster the love of the sport that we have. So what if you go 0-10 or 10-0? I'll admit I am hoping for 10-0 myself, but I will consider this year a success if we have no major injuries, and all of my kids play next year (and maybe bring a friend). I think it is much more important to lose as a team, then win as a clique.

Well we are 10 days into practice right now, and we have a combo of I form and wishbone going (all dives and sweeps to keep the blocking simple for the line still) and I have to say the wishbone is working out much better than I had hoped. One of my assts was much more comfortable with the I form so we tried it out. The weakness in the off line REALLY shows itself in I form. The wishbone just gets more blockers (who can block well) at the point of attack for us (in the running game) and still allows me to keep the FB in to block on passes, and still get 4 recs running routes (can still do that with other formations, but I do not want to make things too confusing). I'm not sure we'll be getting too much into the option side of the wishbone, I don't think the QB we have is really up tp that yet. I'm holding out hope that he can get there, but I'm not going to push that point too hard. Like I mentioned before, 1/2 the team never played in pads before, and the other 1/2 are coming off of a horrendous year, both camps need all the confidence they can muster (and I can build) to take with them into the Jr High program.

Thanks! I am very optimistic about this year. I know a bunch of the kids had a rough season last year (due to issues beyond their control) and with the asst coaches I have, I think they will do very well. The reasons I like the wishbone idea is that it puts my 4 most athletic and aggressive players in positions to really have an effect on the plays. And it still leaves me with players that could handle either the WR/TE or 2 TE formations. Also I think there is a nice learning curve to the line play. My interior linemen will have the same assignments for a pitch as they will for a QB option, only the TE, WR, HB/FB and QB assingments change drastically, and they are the kids that can handle those changes the best. BUT I am afraid that my inexperience may lead me to choose the wishbone, when a different formation/scheme may be a better "fit".

Unfortunately, that is information I do not have. We entered a new league this year, and game film is non-existant. I don't even have a "history" of what we will be facing. I do know that most teams will still be run oriented, so I assume the defenses will focus heavily on stopping the run (Northeastern Pa, the bastion of ball control offense it seems). I would love to take advantage of those tendencies by airing it out, but I am not sure I have the talent at QB. My QB of choice is a very smart kid, very fast (fastest on team by 2 steps in the 40) and has the best throwing arm I have. Unfortunately, his arm is his weakest aspect. Simply put, I have no one that could throw a 10-15 yrd pass accurately (15-20 yard with drop) so all of my pass plays will have to be flares or in the flats (since they are stacking against the run, the middle routes will be crowded, I'll have to see how he comes along as a passer before I can comment on whether that will be possible) I do like your idea of using the split end to flush out the CB to open up either the flat or the deep post (although with the arm strength I am working with maybe a 10-15 yard "in" may be a better option). I'm just not sure if the wishbone fits in with the kids I have, or if i should consider a diff formation to start with

First of all, Hi guys. I apologize in advance for posting about 30 000 questions in the coming months :-) Background: Newb coach. Very newb. Played (poorly) in High School, but know and understand the game well, I just had no physical talent. I am coaching the town 130 lb team (age 11-13). Problem: I am having a problem deciding what formations to use that will best suit my players. My goal, is to put the kids in positions that they will succeed in. I asked the Sr High coach if they want me to run a specific setup, or use specific nomenclature to their program, and was told not to worry about that. Just work on fundamentals and run whatever scheme I want. So that brings me to the issue of what Off/Def formations we should run in. This is what I have as far as talent: 2 kids that are top 10 in speed in the league. Last year neither kid could be caught once they broke free. One of them has the best arm of any kid on the team, and is also very smart, and knows the game well, he doesn't want to be the QB however (he has told me he will do it if I ask him though). The other is a brute. He just wants to play defense and/or a blocking role in the offense. I also have 3-4 other kids who are average fast, and only 3 "slow" kids. I have 0 "big" kids. My entire team is minimum 30 lbs under the weight limit. Approx 1/2 of my 20 kids have played (with pads) before. The other 1/2 are new to the game. So far, they are all willing to work hard, and play even harder so I count myself as blessed (we just finished the team camp and are working our way through the first week of practice right now). We have 3 weeks to get ready for our first scrimmage and by then I want to have 4 plays (and thier reverse) in our arsenal. I also want to keep things as simple as possible, because a couple of my more athlectically gifted kids are new. Anyway (sorry so long) I need to decide what Offensive formations would optimize the talent I have. My current thinking is to use the speed I have in a option oriented scheme (wishbone), or a pass heavy scheme, as they will minimize the weakness I have in my line (2 experienced linemen but 8 experienced HB/FB/WRs). Going with the wishbone idea, it also helps with my QB of choice, he would prefer to be a HB/WR, and running an option based scheme would allow him opportunites to run the ball also. The wishbone also lends itself well to running a lot of outside plays that would also maximize our strengths, and minimize our weaknesses. However, although I am confident that the wishbone (or any other option based scheme) would work in our running game, I am not real thrilled with the passing choices that a wishbone offers. I am willing to give up the option idea though if something better comes along. So, could some of you more experienced coaches take a stab and offer me some ideas? I really need to decide this ASAP and would love some more input (my assts are also having some problems deciding so I figured it is time for outside help, these kids deserve the best I can give them)