The "Football Playbook" Road to Destruction in Youth Football

This past hebdomad a frenetic individual called asking if I had a playbook for sale that could be used for a Young Person Football team. They said that they had played High School football game game 20 old age ago, had never coached young person football before and just needed a playbook to acquire their squad off and running. They knew all about "drills".

I explained my book was not just a playbook, but a measure by measure procedure that included a little but very effectual playbook section. This individual told me they, "Just needed a playbook". I can vouch you this manager probably will do every 1 of the Common Young Person Football Coaching Mistakes Detailed on pages 27-33 of my book. His squad will most likely be one that not only neglects miserably from a wins and losings perspective, but whose children won't have got got much merriment and will have immense keeping issues. I'm not certain how a playbook in of itself is of much value to any young person football game team.

The managers that phone call and talking to me with an unfastened head are those that are e-mailing me with unbelievable success narratives at the end of the season. The manager from the above narrative and the similar we never hear from again. Abashed of their failures I'm sure and following the "Playbook Path" to a disastarous season. These catastrophe seasons often take to participant and parent rebellions and look to be one of the chief grounds most young person football game managers only manager for a season or two.

The playbook fallacy:

On the other hand, there are some managers like KJ, BJ, DB, KB, gilbert and many others. I can state right away after talking on the telephone with them for 5 proceedings that they are going to have got monster turnaround time seasons. These are the squads we will be talking about on our end of season Wall of Fame. It have to make with having an inquisitive nature and being unfastened minded about learning. People that are successful in life are this manner about everything, it is a procedure they embrace. They have got got got got a problem, they acknowledge they don't have all the answers, they seek and understand the critical success factors of the endeavor, they make research and they develop a program that in many lawsuits have been proven successful elsewhere in solving their exact same problem.

For starter motors most of the playbooks I have seen or bought have been nil but a clump of backfield action drawings with small to nil said about the blocking duties of the players. Many make not even have got lines drawn for who the linemen are to block. Others have got the blocking drawn up against a set 4-4 defence but nil is said of how to barricade against a 5-3 or 6-2 nor are any set blocking regulations given. Others have got 150-200 dramas in them, obviously a digest of many different offenses. But these are football game plays, not offenses, there is a immense difference. Anybody can pull up a clump of football game game game plays, not everyone can pull up an offense.

An discourtesy is a set of complemental football plays built around a football doctrine with incorporate blocking regulations and elaborate coaching job points for each play. Most playbooks make not incorporate any of this.

Don't even acquire me started about first steps, blocking progressions, technique, place descriptions, participant evaluations, pattern plans, priorities, defense, particular teams, implementation, tantrum and freeze, scouting, game twenty-four hours management, managing participants and parents etc etc etc. The playbook is such as a little portion of the puzzle. Important, but a little piece and anyone that doesn't understand that is usually doomed to neglect when coaching job young person football.

Coaches don't acquire a playbook and believe you're put for the season, even if it is my playbook. A playbook is no magic slug no substance how great it is.

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Copyright 2007 Cisar Management and http://winningyouthfootball.com republishing this article are parts of it without including this paragraph is right of first publication infringement.

Blowouts in Youth Football

We all have got seen that goofball manager up big, still blitzing every play, starter motors in, trying to widen his gala lead. I've seen 30 pace base on balls plays called on the last catch of 50-0 games after a timeout, BY THE team THAT IS lead 50-0. My first twelvemonth of coaching job young person football, I was an helper for an enlargement squad of 8-10 twelvemonth olds. Our children were all rookies and playing our first game against the defending League Champions. As most expected, we didn't play very well and lost 36-0. Late in the 4th one-fourth of that game, we did move the ball some and with less than a minute left in the game, got the ball to the other squads 10 pace line. Our kids, although down 36-0 were very excited about the prospects of scoring our very first touchdown. Our enthusiasm was crushed however when the opponent squad took a timeout and reinserted their 6 best participants to continue the shutout. As clip ran out we were still on the 10 pace line. As our dejected children were packing material into their autos in the parking batch we noticed everyone on the other squad was eating doughnuts. It seemed a small odd because it was in the afternoon and rings look like a breakfast item. One of the opponent participants autos was right adjacent to ours, I asked him "Great game boys, you cats played existent well, what's with the doughnuts?" he replied, " Coach acquires us rings for every shutout".

So this manager reinserted his first teamers so he could acquire his desired shutout, and go through out doughnuts, great occupation coach. Maybe this would be great break-room fodder come up Monday where he could boast to his co-workers about his great defensive attitude coaching job skills, he could boast about his shutout of an all cub age 8-10 enlargement team. Maybe he's thinking the Dallas Cowboys might be scouting the young person conferences for good defensive attitude managers and his shutouts may set him in the running. Great occupation coach, see you in the NFL.

Now before you believe I'm some sort of association football wanna-be communist, don't. I believe the game should be played to win, but I'm also a large truster in sportsmanship. We play in a competitory conference that have spawned both a Heisman and Outland Trophy winner. Teams in our conference have got gone down to Daytona and won the Top Gun Unlimited Select Division National Championship on numerous occasions. I'm there for my children first, but I'm also there for the other squads children as well. Nothing would have got been ache by keeping his militia in and allowing our children to mark a late and meaningless (meaningful for our kids) touchdown. I didn't fuss that manager or state anything, it was our occupation to set up our kids, but he acted like an immature ogre. I never forgot that.

In 1999 we were playing the Gladiators in the adjacent to last game of the season. We were undefeated and they had not won a game. In fact they had not even scored a touchdown and had lost some existent ill-proportioned games, 60-0, 52-0 etc etc. The last game of the season for the Gladiators was the 2nd topographic point squad that was showing no clemency to anyone. So the Gladiators and their parents were fully expecting they would travel through the full season without scoring a touchdown. This young person football game squad was very little and very slow but they kept showing up. The Gladiators are good people and they have got a very nice lit field that we were going to play on in an unusual Thursday nighttime game, then we had our last conference game on Sunday. We set all of our 2nd teamers in as starter motors for this game and even brought up a few little participants from another of my squads to play and sat our starters. We didn't desire to state our children not to play, so we played our backups, little children and children out of position.

Even with all that and calling dramas we hoped wouldn't work well, we were up 18-0. All hebdomad we had worked on our "Special Play", it was a set drama we used when we were on defence where we did not wrap up up the ballcarrier and seemed to just lose him on tons of diving tackles. We looked very good doing it, no 1 but us had any hint we were not tackling on intent on this play. Late in the 3rd one-fourth we signaled in "Special Play", the Gladiator ballacarrier went around end for a 70 pace TD run. Their team, and their outs of-bounds went crazy, you would have got thought they had just scored the winning touchdown in the Superintendent Bowl! I'm talking parents jumping, hugging, crying, I child you not. We were so credible in fact that they tried an unsuccessful onsides kick on the ensuing kickoff. The concluding mark was 18-6, they got their score, we got our stands-in and some immature children some playing time, tons of different children got to transport the ball and our children learned a lesson in compassionateness and humility. Three years later our rested starter motors went out and played the best game of their season against the 3rd topographic point team. After the Gladiator game, their managers were very appreciative. They even did us a immense favour the adjacent year, our place field was too boggy to play so they opened their parkland up with their people working the clock and grants just so 3 of my squads could acquire our games in. Their field is very nice and they allow us rupture it up a little, so our children could play, that's cooperation.

The Single Wing Discourtesy is a very fecund scoring offense. My young person football game squads consistently mean in the high 30's-40 points per game and in most seasons it could easily be 50-60, but I'm not a truster in demeaning small kids. Last season we scored 3 touchdowns in the first one-fourth of 9 games. Many young person football game managers that usage my system aren't used to scoring tons of points, so you necessitate to set up a program for when you do. We bomber early and often and when up by 3-4 touchdowns in most lawsuits signaling to the other squad we are calling off the domestic dogs by taking a timeout and scene up our stands-in in the discourtesy or defense. We will however always allow the first squad drama the first ownership of the 3rd one-fourth to acquire a few football game plays in. Other proved methods to allow up on the other squad include playing participants out of position, letting non ball bearers transport the ball, halt blitzing, tally the ball inside, drama with 10 or 9 on defence or travel to a running play clock.

If we are up large Iodine always state the achromatic chapeau at halftime to do certain and allow any contested balls travel to the opposition. We never desire to travel over 50 points and in most lawsuits seek and maintain it under 40, so I will even inquire him to throw a phantom flag to see that doesn't happen. I explicate to our parents why we make this before the season starts to put expectations.

We also utilize the "Special Play" to seek and avoid shutouts. Our parents name our children "Little Academy Award Winners", they move it out so well, no 1 but us is the wiser. If you have got our 2006 Games DVD you will see us play great defence and undertake well correct up until that 4th one-fourth when all of a sudden the other squad reels off a long TD tally where 4 of our children seemingly lose the "tackle". Who cares, the game stops 36-6 instead of 36-0. That's why our tons nearly all end with a 6, 38-6, 40-6, 38-6 etc.
What, am I concerned we may travel down a few musca volitans in the AP Polls that hebdomad if we don't flip a shutout?

When coaching job young person football, be merciful and learn your children humility. Plan ahead for galas and do certain the game is a sensible experience for both teams. Who knows, you could be on the other end of a gala 1 day.

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How To Put on a Successful Youth Football Camp

Football Camps For Young Person Football Players

We make a 1 twenty-four hours encampment in June or July. We have got done hebdomad long and three twenty-four hours encampments but now just make one twenty-four hours camps. Our ends for these pre-season encampments are just to acquire a peep at what we have got got endowment wise, acquire the children to understand how they are to interact with the coaching job staff and to have fun. We have got an full calendar month to set up for our first game, we can acquire any conditioning we necessitate during regular football game practice.

Conditioning this far out from the first pattern and for such as a short continuance is counterproductive to what we are trying to carry through during the camp. We experience very strongly that with the very narrowly defined football game game pattern precedences we accede to, we can acquire our evaluations, alkali accomplishments and strategies set in during the 1 calendar month of football patterns prior to that first game. We establish much of what the children learned in these football game encampments was forgotten once we started in August and often the children were playing different positions, once the squads were optimized. We don't set in any of our football game plays or playbook in during these camps.

We establish anything longer than 2 hours in one twenty-four hours was counterproductive, even for the aged kids. We rarely got much out of the children once we hit that 2 hr brick wall,especially if it was hot. We don't travel over 1 ½ hours for the children under age 8.

We always convey in at least one NFL participant in to make a small talking at the end of the Football Camp. We have got got also called the Cornhusker State Cornhuskers and got participants to go to from their FCA group, most University squads are happy to suit you, all you have to make is ask. The NFL cats can often acquire NFL money to pay for caps, t-shirts and food, every clip we invited a local NFL cat they did this for us. All they inquire you to make is to form the camp, acquire the children there and make a fourth estate release to acquire the mass media there.

Our formatting have changed quite a bit, but this is the 1 we utilize now:

Group Moral Force Warm Ups

Group Stance and Starts/Cadence

Mini Group Fun Competitions/Evaluations: This is where we make all of our merriment squad rating
games/drills elaborate starting on page 69 of the book. This acquires the children pumped up and enthused about being at your encampment and playing for your squad and states us what we have got and where most of the children will play.

Skill Development Stations (No conditioning or frappy legerity drills)

Team Hawaiian Rules Football- On page 80 of the book.

When finished with the clinic the children understand how they are required to interact with the coaches. As managers we have got a existent good thought of the strenuosity of our squad in general and where 80-90% of our starter motors will be playing. The children have got merriment and acquire a clear apprehension that playing football game for us can be both merriment and rewarding if they follow a few simple ways that we will throw them answerable to. We often acquire more than children to fall in our programme after the encampment as parents and children acquire very enthusiastic about how merriment and well organized our patterns are and often ask for their friends to play for us.

Our young person football game game conference have no limitations on these type of activities, bank check your conference for any limitations and stay by them.

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Coaching Young Person Football

Should Youth Football Teams Run the High School Offense? Heck No

High Schools that Want You to Run "Their System" at the Youth Level.

A small number of Youth Football coaches get pressure from the local High School to run the High Schools offense. The High School coach in these situations often think that by teaching 8 year old kids to run his system, by the time the players are 18 years old, they should be very proficient at running said system.

I am 100% opposed to the High School coach imposing his will on the Youth Program.

For many reasons I am 100% opposed to the High Schools imposing this will upon the youth coach and kids. My first reason has to do with basic control and effort. The often handsomely paid for his time, High School coach is telling a non-paid volunteer of a program not run or paid for by the High School, to run his High School system. Part of the "benefit" of spending money out of your own pocket to coach youth football, is you get to choose what you are going to run and how you are going to run it. If I fail as a coach, I'm going to fail running something I did the research on and believe in, not something shoved down my throat by someone not even involved in my youth football program or by someone that probably never coached a down of Youth Football.

Who is to say this High School coach will even be at the High School 10 years from now, or better yet that he will be running the same offense? One of the local High Schools we feed into has run 3 different Offenses in the last 5 years and had 2 different Head Coaches. So which of the 3 offenses should my teams be running now? Yes lets train 70+ youth coaches a very difficult High School offense every year or two, when almost half of them have no football coaching experience. Most of these offenses had we decided to run them, had zero youth materials or support system available for our coaches. I'm sure we would have failed miserably and lost lots of players had we adopted these systems.

I've even seen on some coaching forums where some High School coaches say it doesn't matter at all if any team wins or loses below the varsity level. The "varsity" is all that matters, even their Junior High, Freshman and JV teams don't matter. Well, it matters to the kids and parents playing on these teams and isn't that why we are supposed to be coaching football in the first place? I wonder how that High School coach would feel if a college coach came up to him and said that it didn't matter if the High School won or lost, all that matters is what happens at the college level and that the High School should run the Colleges offense? Never mind the fact that few of the High School kids will ever play College ball, just as just 25% of youth players will play High School ball. Sound enough reasoning for you? Let's take it a step further, shouldn't the pro coaches be telling the College coaches their wins and losses mean nothing, all that matters is that the College kids are running the Pro Offense? This "next level" baloney is just that, baloney. Any coach with even fair coaching skills can develop players for whatever system he choses to run.
Such arrogance is disappointing to see from anyone involved in coaching youth football.

This type of attitude is rarely found among successful coaches, it is most readily seen from excuse making High School coaches that are doing poorly and are looking to lay the blame of their poor performance at someone else's feet. I've actually seen High School coaches blame Jr High coaches for their varsity teams woes, that's someone desperate to keep a job he probably shouldn't have had to begin with.

At the big clinics I do for Glazier and Nike, I always sit in on a session or two. In addition to a Darrin Slack session, I like to see what the best High School coaches in the country are doing, teams like Southlake Carrol, Jenks, Union, Hoover, Colton, De LaSalle etc. The guys that coach these teams care little about whether the kid coming into their program can read a 3 technique and can run their offense. They just want a chance to coach the kid, that he goes out for football. They want the youth coach to teach safe basic blocking and tackling and NOT to run the kid off. The good High School coaches are hoping to get a player that has a love for the game and is coachable. These successful High School coaches tell me they are pretty confident they have the coaching ability to teach a player about anything over a 4 year time frame with nearly 4 months of 6 day a week contact along with year round, strength, agility and skills training. On the other hand we youth coaches get the kids for a few months of very abbreviated 2-3 day a week practices, a mere fraction of what the High Schools get and we are supposed to have the biggest technical impact on them?

As stated in other articles, we know that 75% of youth players will never play High School football to begin with. So we are supposed to run the High School system that only a tiny fraction of our players will be using? Remember my study of the main reasons most youth football players quit playing: #1) Poor Coaching #2) Playing on consistently losing teams. Running a system that is often not age appropriate (High School) and losing will often lead to the High School coach getting fewer players than he would otherwise. Most of the great High School coaches could CARE LESS what the youth player runs as long as he's having fun, playing safely and developing a passion for the game. Developing that passion is hard to do if his youth football team is getting blown out every week or not scoring many points.

What really gets to me are a few of the simply preposterous e-mails I get from a few youth football coaches. One youth coach went 10-1 in 2006 and 11-1 in 2005 and was retaining right at 95% of his players. In that very same time frame, the local High School went 0-9 and 1-8. The High School coach was demanding the youth football program run his offense in spite of the fact the High School offensive football plays never worked at the High School level. Maybe the High School coach should have run the Youth coaches offense, he couldn't have done any worse. I make it a habit to support the High School programs, by encouraging the kids to go to the High School games and to play High School football. But I have not coached High School ball, so I do not critique the High Schools practice methods or systems, no matter how often I'm asked to offer my opinion. I don't have the time or expertise to do an in-depth study of the situation and would hope they wouldn't do the same of my team.

Here are some other reasons the youth program should not run the High School offense:

Not age appropriate


Doesn't fit the talent level


Doesn't fit the size level


Does not work well with limited practice time


Does not work with small team sizes where you are not allowed to cut or send players to a JV squad


Does not accommodate minimum play players (I Formation, Spread)


Is beyond the physical abilities of youth players (Spread passing)


Is beyond the mental abilities of youth players (Triple or Midline Option or multiple read passing)


Most High Schools will not take the time to teach the youth coaching staff how to coach their system "correctly" anyway


High School Offenses Change


High School Coaches Change


Techniques Change


Very few youth coaching materials, books, DVDs available for most High School offenses


Many kids change positions as they go through puberty

Youth football players rightfully care about what's happening to them in the season they are playing in. They want to win and have fun, they are not concerned with developing the knowledge of football plays that 25% of them may or may not use 10 years into the future. They could care less about some technique he won't remember in the 9th grade or will be taught differently or changed by the time he gets to High School. If you can incorporate some of the High Schools numbering into your system without a big hassle, great, but resist the meddling of the High School into your program if your program is headed in the right direction.

The best High School coaches in the Nation could care less what offense or football plays the youth teams run. You should care that whatever offense you choose fits your kids, scores points, and wins ballgames. Until the High School starts buying your equipment, paying your fees and paying your salary (yeah right), run what makes sense for your kids so they have fun now and make it to play High School football.

In the Single Wing our kids are better prepared to play "at the next level" than kids from nearly any other type of system. Our linemen know how to pull, trap, double team, fold, crab block, drive block, rule block, pass block and work as a team. Our "QB" knows how to ball handle,give handoffs, take shotgun snaps, roll out, drop back,throw, boot,lead a team and run with the ball. Our recievers and backs all know how to take handoffs, block,read holes, read blocks, catch the ball etc, everything any other back or reciever would learn in any other type of offense. Most importantly, the kids have fun and do well, which is what keeps them coming back to play.

Winning and losing are both habits. I've seen very average teams with a history of winning win games they have no business competing in. These kids just feel somehow, someway they are going to win the game, even when they are down by 2-3 TDs and time is running out. I've seen the most improbable of comebacks and bizzarre plays in the last moments of games where the team of destiny beats the better team. On the other side of the fence, I see teams that expect to lose. Even when these teams are ahead they expect to get snake bit and lose the game, these negative expectations are usually met. I would think the High School teams would want kids that have a winning attitude, it's contagious.
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Football Plays

How to Cut Your Warm Up Times in Half in Youth Footbball

Need more practice time? Think about areas of your football practice that you can shave time off of.

"Static stretching" are traditional stretching movements like toe touchers, windmills, hurdlers stretch etc. For the last 40+ years these type of movements have been used by youth football players to warm and loosen up.

Today most experts in the field actually believe these type of movements reduce power output. They suggest players should prepare for football practice or games by doing a "dynamic" warm up that moves from basic, low intensity movements to faster, more explosive movements as the muscles warm and loosen up. They suggest movements that simulate what the players will go through during football practice or games.
For most kids in the 8-12 age group, muscle development has not been extreme and most of the players have a good deal of natural flexibility. I've seen youth football teams age 6-8 using 15-20 minutes of valuable practice time to do various stretching movements, when players this age can usually bend their feet up around their heads, a waste of time.

We start with players in stances and doing very low intensity high-knees movements of 10 yards or so, we move to "butt kicks" and then angle form tackling, all at slow to medium level speeds. We accomplish some skill building, stance, cadence, starts, and form movement while getting blood flow to the muscles and getting our "warm up" accomplished in 5-10 minutes or less. Now the kids are warm enough to safely go into individual skill development or team work like running our football plays out 20 yards at full speed.

In 15 years of coaching youth football, my teams have NEVER had a player "pull a muscle" while practicing or playing a game. Coaching Youth Football well is all about priorities, don't waste valuable practice time on something most experts feel is wasted time. Use your time to teach blocking and tackling and getting great at your football plays.

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