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Crack Monkey

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About Crack Monkey

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  1. A few things... - Get assistants as early as is reasonable. They don't need experience, but if they don't have it, coach them, so they can contribute (and hopefully, not say stuff that's contrary to what you're doing). This season, our club had two teams at my son's weight level, each with 18 kids, and we used 9 coaches. Being able to run different drills at the same time keeps everybody active and happy and learning. We had a head coach, defensive coordinator, two assistant offensive coaches, two assistant defensive coaches, and three "floaters". Only four had coached football before, though several had coached other sports. - Settle on a playbook early. For little kids, you don't need anything fancy - you need them to learn it and run it well. Fundamentals are more important than fancy plays. Don't add everything at once - start with the basic blasts, dives, sweeps. Add counters, reverse, and passing as the kids master the easy stuff. You'll hear coaches praise certain formations (double-wing, single-wing, wing-T, whatever - it all can work IF YOU TEACH IT WELL). - Get the OL and DL coached up. Dominate the box and you'll win at least half your games - probably more. For us, solid line play lead to two teams in the playoffs and one county championship (in one of the largest leagues in the DC area). - Each practice needs a plan. Our head coach had printed notes for the assistants at the beginning of each day. While the kids were warming up, we reviewed the notes, so we were all on the same page. Make sure you have time set aside for warmups, offensive drills, defensive drills, special teams, scrimmage, and whatever sprints/suicides you want to end with.
  2. Hey coaches, I'm coaching a 7/8 grade "house" league team this winter and looking for input on practice layout/format. This is a house league, not travel, with minimum participation rules (2+ quarters per player). And if this season is anything like last, we'll have one decent point gaurd, one or two kids for center, and the rest we have to fill in where/when we can (out of a roster of 8 or 9 kids). We are also limited to one practice per week (plus a weekend game). Typically, the best 3/4 players can shoot, and practice on their own. The rest are either new, not athletic, or there for the free "babysitting". What percent of practice should be spent on basics like lay-ups, free shots, etc? Defense vs Offense? Drills vs scrimmage (1/2 court, as the gym is shared)? We tried to spend a good bit of time on dribbling and shooting last year (5/6 grade), but the kids that had played before bored of it quickly. But, with more than half the team being new or not good, scrimmang was of limited use. Any suggestions? Thanks, Al
  3. For offense, I'd set it up based on how fast my RB is relative to the other teams. If he's fast, I'd try to keep the defense bunched up, and run around them. If he's not fast, spread the defense out, and throw, or run through whatever gaps are open. I'd start with somethign that gives you a feel for their speed... Full tight sweep: ----------TE---C---TE------------- ---------------QB------------------ ---------------FB------------------- ---------------RB------------------ This will give you a feel for the other team's speed, tackling, and ability to penetrate the backfield. Then start adding WRs. Move to shotgun if they are pass rushing well. 10-12s should be able to throw short stuff pretty well, but probably don't have the arms for deep/wide routes. Any deep or wide patterns should be overthrown - let the WR go get it. If it's short, it'll get picked off and probably run back for a TD (lots of open field).
  4. Hmmm... here's my first take at defense, for discussion's sake. 6 man = lots of open field if somebody misses a tackle. So, I'd guess most offense will be a combo of sweeps and passing. If the offense is full-tight, play 3-3... ----LB---------LB---------LB------ --------DE-----T-----DE----------- ----------TE---C---TE------------- ---------------QB------------------ ---------------FB------------------- ---------------RB------------------ DE bump TE inside and contain. T bullrushes C (or shoots either A gap) MLB reads the FB OLB read the backfield and make the tackles. If there are WRs... DE covers, mirror WR's distance from LOS (if on LOS, bump hard), prevent outside release - no safety, so force the WR into the LBers. -------------LB----LB-------LB-- DE---------------T-------DE----- -WR---------------C---TE-------- --------------------QB------------ --------------------FB------------ --------------------RB------------ Multi-WRs... --------LB--------LB---------LB-- DE-------------T---------DE----- -WR---WR--------C---TE-------- -------------------QB------------- -------------------RB------------- Even Spread... --------LB------------LB--------- DE------------T--LB------------DE -WR----WR----C----WR----WR- ----------------------------------- ----------------QB--------------- DE and LB cover the WRs. MLB and T pass rush. So, if we want to boil it down into "rules"... DE covers widest WR to his side at same depth as that WR. If no WR, play standard DE crash/contain. T is always pass rushing. OLB covers next WR from outside in, at 5 yards depth MLB reads backfield. If no RB, pass rush w/ T.
  5. I haven't seen any 6-man specific stuff. What ages are you coaching? How many men on LOS on offense? Can the QB run the ball?
  6. Prime - will your daughters play football? I've seen a few girls in our league and they seem to do fine (most of them are on the "B" or "C" teams, haven't seen one on an "A" team yet). One girl in particular has been on an opposing team for two years now (110lb, mostly 12-13yo). She plays at the "C" level and hits as hard as anybody else at that level. She's bruised a few male egos in our games.
  7. I wonder if the coach has them practicing different counts - if not, he's completely to blame. I've also seen kids that are very hearing-oriented and tend to jump as the QB starts the count, or on the first "Go". This can be made worse if the coach uses a whistle to start drills/scrimmage instead of having the QB call the count. I haven't coached a group that young (only 5-8 grade groups), but we still have kids jump offsides. It happens. Heck, a few years ago, the entire Redskins' O-line had a problem with jumping offsides. As for winning - it's important. But so is losing. Kids need to learn to do both gracefully - nobody likes a sore loser, and nobody likes a winner with an inflated ego. At the youth level, the focus should be having fun, building character, and building an appreciation of sports and teamwork. Winning is the byproduct of doing those things successfully. Winning a championship is icing on the cake - and probably matters more to parents and coaches than players.
  8. Our basic tackling drill... Lie two tackle dummies side-by-side, about 4' apart. Two lines of players. Players lie on backs, at the ends of the dummies. Coach throws/drops ball to one player. Both get up, ball carries tries to run between dummies. Non-ball carrier makes tackle. ASCII art.... 3= players |=dumy x=coach ...3 |....| x ...3 This keeps the closing speeds pretty low and forces kids to be quick to feet. 3-on-3 game... Nothing fancy here. Break kids into small "teams", run it in a round robin, winning team gets to sit out wind sprints at end of practice - 10 dummies (or cones) to mark "sidelines", 6 players, 1 ball - Offense gets 3 plays to get to "endzone". - Sidelines only as wide as needed to allow RB to sneak up the side. Too wide and the RB just runs away from the Defense. 3=offense 4=defense x=coach .......3 ....3...3 |...4...4...| |......4.....| |.............| |.............| |.............| The one thing I've found... when the kids start to get bored, there are two things that get them back into practice... lots of tackling each other... and games. Recently, our QB/FS has been begging to play OL or DL in drills because he wants to hit people.
  9. Here's the "Coe of Conduct" for my league... http://leagueathletics.com/Files/Text/Docu.../1911/10199.pdf Any document you want all coaches to sign should have... - basic rules (repect the game, respect the players/no abuse, no smoking/drinking, etc) - goals of league - league rules/sportsmanship - obey age/weight restrictions, obey MP rules, etc
  10. I assume the 5th quarter is specifically for 2nd string players once the game is over? If so, I say play you're best most (but not all) of the time during the game - your league has decided the 5th quarter as a means to get everybody some snaps. 32 seems like a lot of kids to play in one game. I'd set up a second full offense that can be rotated in. Send them in for a series in 1st quarter, let them run wedge (or something else pretty easy to coach and use successfully), and they might even get a 1st down or more. Play them until they punt or score, then swap back to the starters. So, they'll get 1 series during the game, plus the 5th quarter. That uses up 22 kids. Ten kids left - that's 5 D-linemen in 2 squads. Defensive backfield is studs from the first team offense. Pick the best 5 DL to start, and rotate the other 5 in for a few series during the game (one series is unfair - if they do their job, they play less). Then, in the 5th quarter, let the 2nd string DL play, plus the backfield from the 2nd string Offense as DBs/LBs. Should be pretty easy to keep that straight during the game. Don't have to track number of plays per kid or any of that.
  11. Why aren't your kids at practice? Our team rule is if you miss two practices, you don't play that weekend. League limits to four team meetings a week (three pactices + game) once school starts. Arrive late, and you're running laps until we think you learned your lesson. We almost never have kids skip practice or show up more than a few minutes late. I think if your kids aren't showing for normal practice, they won't show for optional practice either.
  12. Not really a trick play, but fun... use a variation of trips. Instead of a SE and two WRs, use the SE, OT, and WR. The OT isn't eligible to receive, but often youth teams don't realize it and shift their coverage over to cover all three guys. If they shift, throw to the TE on the other side. If they don't shift, throw to the WR and let the OT and SE block. It needs to be a quick pass to work. Last year, we ran this for a touchdown every time the pass was complete (a few times, the pass was incomplete, which is bad, because it's usually backwards to the WR).
  13. Our league has had problems with over-age kids playing down. So, they now require a state ID (from the DMV, looks like a driver's license, but for kids). They won't take birth certificate, passport, school id, or military ID anymore. The ID gets shown at weigh-ins early in the season. Fortunately, we don't have many draft issues. The league has three skill divisions at each age/weight bracket... "American" for the best players (usually large clubs, multiple teams per age, kids played several years). "Central" for average kids (and often the top team for smaller clubs). "National" for beginners (usually 1st and 2nd year players). A few clubs field multiple teams at each level, and they may (illegally) stack within a level, but at least they won't be sending a team of mutants to play my team of 1st/2nd year players (I coach a National team, 11-14 year olds, 100-130lbs). Let me know how the game goes - and if the spread line helps any.
  14. I don't get all the rules some leagues add - especially dictating defense, but not offense. Gives a huge advantage to a team with a stud runner (why would a youth team want to run cover-2 all the time). I realize the "spirit" of the rule* doesn't include my spread. But, I would seriously run it in protest. The rules don't seem to ban it - only the distance from the OT out to (SE, flanker, slotback) are prescribed. Looking at the rules, it says you can pick from the following defenses: "Standard 50" "50 Eagle/Double Eagle" I thought "standard 50" was just generic for any 5-man D-line? So, it encompasses 5-2, 5-3, etc. I could be wrong. If I'm correct, I don't see the cover-2 mandated anywhere. Doesn't help you much, other than lets you have a true MLB, instead of a safety pretending to be one. * My other hobby is motorsports - pushing into the gray area is an accepted part of most motorsports. Smokey Yunick was a god.
  15. What happens if the O comes out in a spread? Even a small difference in the O-line spacing can make a huge difference. And you don't have to teach any blocking rules, or anything other than drive blocking. Gs pick up DTs, C picks up NT, RBs doulbe DTs and then Safeties. TB is free to run straight down the center of the field, with the CBs, DEs and LBs completely out of the play. Run that in the playoffs - if your kids have any talent, you'll win it all and they'll change the rules next year. ..............................S................................S................ ........... ..........LB..................................................................LB .......... ....CB..DE......DT.....................NT.....................DT......DE..CB .....E.....T.......G.......................C.......................G.......T.... .E..... .............................................QB............... .........................................RB.....RB......... ..............................................TB...............
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