8 replies to this topic

[WillLennon]

As the title says 5v5, K-1 (6-8), i9 rules. This is my 3rd season coaching. First practice and game this Sunday. After I go over expectations for the year, fun, work hard, be a good sport , I will start with some drills. Handoffs will be big. Last year I realized that a good fake hand off would leave the defense chasing the first one through or completely confused. So my plan this year is to work a lot of misdirections. Attached is the first weeks playbook. One formation, with 4 runs and 3 passes. If I flip them to opposite sides I can double the plays but I want to start simple this year. I had too many formations and plays last year for kids this age. Well here is the playbook. Mind you I have not even met the team yet. I ran a few of the plays with son and a couple of neighborhood kids and they worked well. Let me know what you think.

Thanks
Coach Will

Attached Files

•  1stweek.ppt   154K   957 downloads

[RoyalFlush18]

Very Solid for the age group and you should be successful with the series. Scissors Running plays have worked well against us at the 5/6/7 year old age.

The only thing I would flip is the Reverse, I might also add a call for Yellow to either run the fly or the reverse pattern on the runs so seeing Yellow run the reverse isn't always the key but that is for week 2 or beyond.

Key is for the Backs to run hard with the ball (and carry out their fakes well) and not check up and make moves, if they run hard it only takes a missed flag pull to break the run up the middle.

[TeeDub23]

Your defenses are spot on. The only issues I have with you playbook is the multiple fakes. In our league, we can rush 7 yards back and most teams will. That is about enough time to fake once effectively. If you faked two routes, you would be sacked every time in our league. I love a good play action, but incorporate a bootleg out of it and flood to one side. If the rusher goes with the fake, all day to throw on an overload flood. Maybe they dont rush, then you are fine. I would rush at the QB and let the LBs handle the hand offs. Otherwise, I like the look and the simplicity of the playbook. I think that is key for this age. Good luck.

[jzayic]

Your defenses are spot on. The only issues I have with you playbook is the multiple fakes. In our league, we can rush 7 yards back and most teams will. That is about enough time to fake once effectively. If you faked two routes, you would be sacked every time in our league. I love a good play action, but incorporate a bootleg out of it and flood to one side. If the rusher goes with the fake, all day to throw on an overload flood. Maybe they dont rush, then you are fine. I would rush at the QB and let the LBs handle the hand offs. Otherwise, I like the look and the simplicity of the playbook. I think that is key for this age. Good luck.

I agree with this. We just played a top notch team in our league and the fakes that we used so successfully for the first 3 games killed us with a team that could pass rush. Our QB got sacked twice before handing the ball off before we adjusted to 1 or no fake plays.

[godawgs0367]

I have run the scissors for a couple of years and I have to agree, for this age group it works well. I still coach this age group and I have to admit I learned something. We were scrimmaging an 8 - 9 team last night and I ran the scissors play. I put the WR motion before the snap and the defense had no idea where the ball was going. I had 3 possible targets. It worked great. However I am concerned about the number of people in the backfield. I have a funny feeling during a game if I did that I might see an episode of the Three Stooges when they all run into each other.

[WillLennon]

The boys are getting the concept of the fake and importance of selling it. I get all fired up when they run a good fake and get their flag pulled when they do not have the ball. I make a point of recognizing those type of things. I like the idea of motion, but would confuse some of the boys. The i9 format is a little frustrating. Practice one hour, game one hour all on the same day. For 6-7 y/os, two hours of physical activity and staying focused it tough. We are 0-2, our offense is moving the ball well, but my defense is non existent. My fault as I have worked much more on offense. Unfortunately I do not have an assistant coach, so to do simultaneous offense and defense drills are difficult. I have 10 boys on the team, most of the parents llike to watch, but not so much help with coaching. Again , I could probably work harder to get them out there. With all of that being said, both the boys and I are having a lot of fun, and they leave the field with a smile on their face and wanting more.

Thanks for the input.

Coach Will

[Holmstro]

Coach Will- Thanks for posting. Question for you: how do you get the kids to deal with the color coding? My league forbids the use of wristbands. For example, do you tell certain kids that they are playing exclusively the 'Yellow' position for that opening week of practices/game? Do you try and have 1 kid learn only 1 position in the first week, or multiple positions? We have 2 one hour practices and then our first game, and my team is 5-6 yr olds. I'm torn between my desire for every kid to learn a lot of skills/positions and my desire to keep things simple. Any words of wisdom? Thanks, Kyle (502-649-5228)

Edited by Holmstro, 13 August 2012 - 11:25 AM.

[WillLennon]

Kyle,

I print the plays off and I am allowed in the huddle. I show the plays, confirm everyones responsibilities and we are off. Our league is OK with coach on the field. I am sure that will change as I move up with my son. I intially used small colored rubber bands. I rotated players through colors throughout the games. Some kids really got it, others were lost, but they got it eventually. I usually had the kids that really got it play QB, but everyone got carries. I had my son explain our system to the other kids. I figured if he could do that, we could run it. He did great.


Will

[MillardFlagCoach]

Ty for your posts. I'm coaching 5v5 kind. ymca flag for the first time. They've been a lot of help.