Winning Youth Football With

Defense

A guide for coaches and parents to understand youth defense

Richard Braun Richard Braun Publishing, Virginia 1

 2005 Richard A. Braun. Printed and bound in the United States of America. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage an retrieval system except by a football coach whom may want to copy brief passages or diagrams for teaching purposes - Without express written consent from the publisher. For more information please contact Richard Braun publishing, 10092 Woodglen Dr, Mechanicsville, VA 23116 Although the author and the publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slights of people, places, or organizations are unintentional. Every effort has been made to ensure that no copyrighted material has been used without permission. The author regrets any oversights that may have occurred and would be happy to correct them in future printings of this book First Printing: 2005 ISBN: 0-9770672-0-3

Acknowledgments
Thank you to Patrick (Buzz) Hayes for designing the cover of the book for me. Thank you to my friends and family for reading through the manuscripts to help me edit and provide suggestions. In particular Dib Oglesby, Jay Demarco, and my sister Kristine helped me a lot. I am most thankful for my loving wife Suzette for helping me proof and edit this book, but mostly for putting up with my crazy ideas, like writing a book

Table of contents
Forward ................................................................................................9 Who Should Read This Book? ...........................................................9

1 - Coaching Basics ................. 11

Defense Wins Championships .........................................................11 The Early Years.................................................................................11 Change Is Good ................................................................................13 Why Are You Here? ..........................................................................13 Common Misconceptions (parents and coaches) ..........................14 Time ...................................................................................................15 Have Rules ........................................................................................16 Be Prepared ......................................................................................17 Playing Time ......................................................................................17 Positions ............................................................................................19 Substitution Plan ...............................................................................20 Game Day Substitution Plan ............................................................21 Football Is Life ...................................................................................22 Youth Football Is Its Own Game ......................................................24 Video ..................................................................................................27

2 - Defensive Concepts ........ 29

The Football Vernacular ...................................................................29 The Goal Of A Defense ....................................................................29 Mind The Gaps ..................................................................................30 Gap Alignment...................................................................................31 Defensive Zones ...............................................................................31 The First Series .................................................................................33 Down And Distance ..........................................................................33 Turnovers...........................................................................................34 Base Defense ....................................................................................35 Reading The Offense........................................................................35 Match Ups..........................................................................................36 Practice Scouting ..............................................................................37 Head Hunting.....................................................................................37 Strong Side ........................................................................................38 Oskie ..................................................................................................40 Gang Tackling ...................................................................................41 Conditioning.......................................................................................42 Tackling..............................................................................................42 Coaching Points ................................................................................43 Defending Against The Run .............................................................43

Defending Against The Pass............................................................44 Cover how many? .........................................................................45 Youre A Better Coach Than I ..........................................................46 Whats A Nickel? ...............................................................................47 The Spy..............................................................................................47 Limited Adjustments..........................................................................48 It Only Takes One .............................................................................49 The Five Steps To Every Play..........................................................49 Alignment ...........................................................................................50 First Move ..........................................................................................50 Read And React ................................................................................51 Pursuit ................................................................................................51 Make The Play ..................................................................................51 Speed Kills.........................................................................................51

3 - Standard Youth Defenses ................................................ 55

The 5-3 Defense................................................................................55 Observations .....................................................................................56 Strengths............................................................................................56 Weaknesses ......................................................................................57 Alignment For The 5-3 ......................................................................58 Assignments For The 5-3 .................................................................59 Adjustments For The 5-3 ..................................................................60 The 6-2 Defense................................................................................61 Observations .....................................................................................61 Wide Tackle 6....................................................................................62 Strengths............................................................................................62 Weaknesses ......................................................................................62 Alignment For The 6-2 ......................................................................62 Assignments For The 6-2 .................................................................63 Adjustments For The 6-2 ..................................................................64

4 - Gap Control Defense ..... 65

The Gap 8 Defense...........................................................................65 Observations .....................................................................................66 No Scheme Will Make Up For Bad Coaching .................................67 Stay Low ............................................................................................67 Strengths............................................................................................68 Weaknesses ......................................................................................68 Alignment For The Gap-8 .................................................................69 Assignments For The Gap-8 ............................................................70 Adjustments For The Gap-8 .............................................................71

The Oklahoma 5-2 ............................................................................75 Observations .....................................................................................76 Strengths............................................................................................77 Weaknesses ......................................................................................77 Alignment For The 5-2 ......................................................................77 Assignments For The 5-2 .................................................................78 Adjustments For The 5-2 ..................................................................80 Quick Note About The 52 Monster ..................................................81

5 Blitzes And Stunts ........... 83

Introduction To The Blitz...................................................................83 The Blitz .............................................................................................83 Covering A Blitzing Player ................................................................83 To Show Or Not To Show.................................................................84 The Linebacker Blitz .........................................................................84 The Safety Blitz .................................................................................85 The Corner Blitz ................................................................................85 Crash Overload .................................................................................86 Stunts .................................................................................................86 Middle Linebacker / NG Stunt ..........................................................86 Outside Linebacker / Tackle Stunt ...................................................87 The X Stunt........................................................................................88 Blitzing With The 5-2 .........................................................................89 Blitzing With The Gap 8 ....................................................................89 Blitzing With The 6-2 .........................................................................89 Blitzing With 5-3 ................................................................................90 Zone Blitzing ......................................................................................90

6 Special Teams ...................... 91

Defensive Special Teams.................................................................91 Stealing A Game ...............................................................................91 Kick Off Team....................................................................................91 What About Field Position ................................................................92 Personnel Makeup ............................................................................92 Play Calling........................................................................................93 Lane Discipline ..................................................................................93 Game Situations................................................................................93 Bad Kicks ...........................................................................................94 Short Kick ..........................................................................................94 Pop-up Kicks .....................................................................................94 Punt Block Team ...............................................................................94 Be Careful To Not Rough The Kicker ..............................................95 Blocking A Punt Hurts .......................................................................95 Catch It On A Fly ...............................................................................95 Oskie Drill Coming Back ...................................................................96

Look Out For The Long Count .........................................................96 What About A Fake ...........................................................................96 Point After Team ...............................................................................96 What If They Kick ..............................................................................96 The Fake Kick....................................................................................96 Its Just Like A Punt ..........................................................................97

7 Player Selection And Responsibilities ............................ 99

Responsibilities By Position .............................................................99 Nose Guard .......................................................................................99 Guard /Tackle ....................................................................................99 Defensive End .................................................................................100 Cornerback ......................................................................................101 Linebackers .....................................................................................103 Safety ...............................................................................................104 Personnel For The 5-3 ....................................................................104 Personnel For The 5-2 ....................................................................105 Personnel For The Gap-8 ...............................................................106 Personnel For The 6-2 ....................................................................107 Personnel Exception To The 6-2 ...................................................108

8- Practicing Defense .......... 109

Have A Plan.....................................................................................109 Consistency .....................................................................................110 Assistants Need To Step Up ..........................................................110 Discipline..........................................................................................110 Combine...........................................................................................111 Sample Practice Schedule For The Combine ...............................113 Night three .......................................................................................114 Sample Player Evaluation Form ....................................................115 Normal Practice Schedules ............................................................116

9 - Game Day ................................... 119

This Is Why You Are Here ..............................................................119 The Pre-Game Routine...................................................................119 Depth Charts ...................................................................................119 Red vs. Blue ....................................................................................120 Game Day Substitution Plan ..........................................................120 Game Day Scouting ........................................................................122 The Pre-Game Talk ........................................................................122 Play Calling......................................................................................123

Post Game Talk...............................................................................123

10 Drills ............................................ 125

A Few Comments On Youth Football Drills...................................125 Fumble recovery drill.......................................................................126 Form Tackling..................................................................................126 Strip Drill ..........................................................................................128 Shed Blocker ...................................................................................128 Off the ground..................................................................................129 Team pursuit....................................................................................129 Break the huddle .............................................................................130 Oklahoma ........................................................................................131 Blitz / Stunt walk through ................................................................133 1-Man sled (A.K.A Popsicle) ..........................................................133 Pass rush drill ..................................................................................135 Bear crawl........................................................................................136 Defensive Shift ................................................................................137 Defensive End Lanes......................................................................137 Ping Pong ........................................................................................138 Defensive Backs Box ......................................................................139 Shed then tackle..............................................................................140 Iron Man ...........................................................................................141 Mirror shuffle....................................................................................142 Ball Hawk .........................................................................................142 Tip Drill .............................................................................................143 Angles ..............................................................................................144

Index................................................................ 146
Websites ..........................................................................................152 How to send me a review ...............................................................154

Forward First let me say that this didnt start out as a book at all. I started collecting my thoughts, lessons, favorite drills, and some things I had read into one place so that I would not forget them before the start of the next season. It was only after I shared what I had written with a few friends that they suggested that I turn it into a book. I scoffed at the idea because I was convinced that there must be a hundred books on the market to teach coaches how to run a youth defense. So I went and looked, in book stores, libraries, and sporting good stores, and I couldnt find a single book that didnt either insult my intelligence, or go to the other extreme and teach me how to run a college level defense. So here it is, a comprehensive book all about teaching kids how to play defense. Who Should Read This Book? The topics that I cover in this book assume a certain level of knowledge about the game of football. My assumption is that if you found yourself the defensive coach of a football team, you probably understand the game of football at least at a fan level. I consider this book to be for someone who can watch a game and follow along with the action. You may not know which plays are being run on offense, or the defenses that are being employed to stop them, but you understand the difference between a touchdown and a field goal. This book is designed with the first-time coach in mind, but even experienced coaches will find valuable tips, drills, and reminders. Either way, it is my hope that this book will help you in both your teaching of the game, and your enjoyment of building better football players, and, more importantly, kids.

For Youth, as it crosses the threshold into manhood, football has become a rallying point to build courage when courage seems to die, to restore faith when there seems little cause for faith, to create hope as hope becomes forlorn. General Douglas MacArthur

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1 - Coaching Basics
Defense Wins Championships It is one of oldest clichs in sports Offense sells tickets, but Defense wins championships . It has survived over the years because its true. In an interview before Super Bowl XXXIX, Eagles coach Andy Reid said, "It's a combined effort, but I do believe you'd better play good defense. If they don't score, you're always going to have a chance. Well put coach, you can lose a game that you scored 35 points in, but you can never lose a game that the other team didnt score. It always amazes me that youth head coaches will put in 40 or 50 plays for the offense, with multiple formations, and completely ignore the other side of the ball. The typical amount of planning that goes into a defense is Yep, I think well run the 6-2 again this year. As the defensive coach you will sometimes have to insist that you get your players back from the offense just to hold a defensive practice. Most youth football games are low scoring events, so it just makes sense to spend as least as much time planning and practicing defense as you do offense. The Early Years The first year I volunteered to coach youth football, I showed up at practice the first night with nothing, no whistle, no idea what to expect, and no idea what I was going to be doing as an assistant coach. I had grown up playing the game, but coaching was very different. Within a week I was made the defensive coordinator, and was totally unprepared for the task at hand. I muddled through that first year and even had a really good season, from a 11

win/loss perspective we were 7-1, but looking back I made many mistakes, and learned a lot. Knowing that I was going to be the defensive coordinator the following year allowed me to do my homework and start the season much more confident and knowledgeable. I read several books, and went to a clinic hosted by a local college team to get coaching ideas. I came up with elaborate plans, drills, and depth charts. I was going to be prepared. That second year when the night came for our first scrimmage against another team; my defense got creamed, just run right over. Why, you might ask? A few reasons. I had planned a defense that was designed to stop the big play only, thinking that most scores in youth football come from the big play. (Ive since amended my thinking on that point.) It was way too complicated for the kids to learn in a week and half of practice. I was so intent on stopping the outside plays, like a sweep or screen, that I forgot the cardinal rule of defense, you have to be able to stop the inside run first. I was trying to shoe horn kids into positions, solely to have as many one-way defensive starters as possible, and left better defensive players on the sideline because they also played offense.

Those were valuable lessons to me and Im glad they happened in a scrimmage and not in the regular season. I quickly got back to the basics and put in a standard youth oriented defense, made some player moves, and focused on stopping the run.

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I eventually did go back to the original defense, but I only called it in obvious long yardage situations, which did work as well as I had hoped to stop the big play. Change Is Good Well not just for the heck of it, but if something is not working then its up to you to figure out why and make the appropriate changes to fix the problem. Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. If you had a team run all over your defense one week and put the exact same defense on the field the next week, hoping it doesnt happen again, youve earned your title of insane. I would call it coaching negligence. Why Are You Here? Like most of us, you are here because your childs team needed some help coaching or you sat on the sidelines for a year and you are convinced that you can do a better job then the coaches did last year. Either way you might be a little apprehensive about what you have gotten yourself into. Relax and have fun with it, as long as you remember that at the end of the day it is just a game, and ultimately you are there for the kids. Its pretty easy to convince yourself that you are just a coach, but you are more than that, you are a mentor, a teacher, and authority figure. As I was writing this I reflected back on my own experience with coaches growing up, the ones I liked and respected had all three of those qualities. The ones I didnt, typically only had one or two. Im sure everybody had the coach that ruled with the iron fist, but did not teach you anything, or the one that wanted to teach you everything, but let the players run all over him. Teaching the game and disciplining players is a balance that you must strike if you are going to be successful. It is not a popularity contest, you need to let the players know when they do well and when they mess up. From my own youth I learned not to berate your players in front of friends and family. In fact one of the greatest things about kids is that 13

they are not dumb. They generally know that they messed up, and sometimes all it takes is a knowing look from a coach to let them know that you know it as well. My favorite technique for correcting players at practice is to walk back to huddle with them, speaking low so only they can hear me. The conversation usually goes something like this. Coach: Billy, nice tackle down field. Coach: Any idea how the running back got down field? Billy: I wasnt covering my gap. Coach: Really, why was that? Billy: I thought the play was going somewhere else. Coach: When are you supposed to abandon your gap and go into pursuit? Billy: After the ball crosses the line of scrimmage. Coach: Good, now dont let it happen again. If, or more accurately, when it happens again, the player knows that he will have some time to think about it, while he is running laps, standing on the sideline watching somebody else play his position, or doing remedial training with the side line coach. The biggest compliment that you can get as a coach is a child that wants to play for you again next year. Im sure that there is a bunch of child psychology you could enter here, but its much simpler than that. Treat all kids the same, dont single out individuals for criticism in front of teammates, be up front with the kids and let them know what you expect of them. Common Misconceptions (parents and coaches) 1. If my child is not touching the ball he is not really helping the team. (This one came from my wife a few years ago when she was new to football). o There are 22 starting positions, not including special teams, and each position needs to execute 14

if the team is going to be successful. The public trend is to think that a team wins or looses on the strength of its Skill players. That is a lot of bologna, and here are a few examples of why thats not true. o Its considerably harder to open a hole by blocking than it is to run through one. o A well-executed fake will pull the opposing defense away from the ball carrier allowing him to gain more yards. o A defensive player that has the assignment to contain the outside may not make many tackles, but he is pushing the play back into the rest of the defense that will make the play. 2. The kids would rather win than play in a game (and the reverse). The kids would rather play the entire game even if that meant losing. All kids are different, but in general I think that the kids want to feel a part of, and contribute to a winning team. I had the coach of another team tell me that the kids would rather win than play once. I dont buy that for a second, most kids want to spend as much time as possible on the field during a game. I have had parents tell me they would rather lose every game, than have the kids get unequal playing time. While I believe that they are sincere, I think this a pretty selfish view, there are typically thirty, or more kids on the team, all playing for the same goal, and to subvert that goal to make a few kids feel better is unfair to the rest of the kids.

Time It seems that nobody has enough time anymore. Running from this place to the next working all hours pick the kids 15

up here drop them off there. Well let me tell you, football is a very time consuming sport to be a part of and especially to coach. I figure that I spend about 20 hours a week on coaching football, between actual coaching activities like practice, games, and coaches meetings, and the extra activities such as scouting, watching video, and preparing game plans. Sure you can get by without doing the extra activities, but be prepared to lose games. My wife has come to accept the fact that she will be a football widow for 4 months out of the year. If there is something that I can do to give my kids a better chance at winning, I have to do it. The kids are out there every night working too hard for me to be a slacker. Have Rules Generally, its up to the head coach to set the rules for the team and have meetings with parents to explain those rules. Setting rules early in the season is a must. I suggest taking some time in your first practice to pull all of the parents together and lay out your expectations of them and their children during the season. Make sure that you let everyone know in advance that you plan to have a meeting, so that they will be prepared to stay and listen. If you or your league has rules about being at practice to get playing time on game day, then let every one know this. Set rules for tardiness, every minute is important in practice, especially the beginning of practice where the kids are stretching and loosening up. It is vital to go through the warm ups to avoid injury. It is also very important that the kids show up prepared to practice with all of their equipment, no mouthpiece, no practice for instance. Most importantly, is that you enforce these rules consistently, and not just for the players that are not starters. I typically have players run laps for being late, but usually only a few laps. This serves two purposes, one, the player needs to warm up anyway and jogging is a good way to accomplish that, and two the player will be sure to bug mom or dad the next night to get them there on time. 16

Be Prepared Basketball hall-of-famer, and legendary college coach John Wooden said, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. This is especially true in preparation for your football season. Meet with any assistant coaches that you have before the season to lay out your plans. These plans should include everything from how you are going evaluate players, what drills you are going to run, what defense you are going to run, and how you will substitute players. Hopefully, by the end of this book you will be able to devise a good solid plan for all of these items and more. I take planning very seriously. Getting all of the coaches on the same page before the season starts, will go a long way towards a smooth training camp, and a strong season. This book actually started out as a plan for one of my seasons of coaching. The items that you should have done before the season starts are: Play book Depth chart Practice schedule Substitution plan Scouting report

Playing Time Football is unlike other sports that children play. For starters, youre dealing with three different teams: offense, defense and special teams. By the nature of the game those three teams will not get equal playing time. In fact, the better your defense is, the less time they will spend on the field, while the better your offense is the more time they will spend on the field. In addition to this, most kids will only learn to play one or maybe two positions, maximum, all year and game conditions will dictate which players will be on the field at any given time. On a fourth down late in the game, when a big stop for your defense will win the game for you, you will want your best players 17

in the game. The fact of the matter is that playing time wont be equal for all players, so let the parents know about this little fact upfront. Im not saying that its OK to not play kids, its not, in fact most leagues have rules about minimum playing time. If your league does not have these rules, I suggest that you implement some for your team. Something like each child will get a minimum of two plays a game, or better two plays per half. The amount that your players will play will vary wildly and I cannot set that for you. It will depend on ability of the players, and the number players you have on your squad. I break down the players into four main groups: Minimum play players - These are the players that are only going to get the minimum amount of plays (fill in your league rules here) in a normal game. While it is preferable not to have any minimum play players on defense, the odds are pretty good that you will. Ill talk later in the book about where they should play. Half Time players - The first year I coached I thought I had two types of players, starters and substitutes, by the second year I had discovered half-time players. A half time player is one that is as good, or very close to the starter that is in the number one spot for that position. The year I discovered this was wonderful for me, by half way through the season these kids were substituting themselves in and out, and that was just fine with me. This is by far my preferred substitution scheme. Situation players This was another earth shattering discovery of mine. Why it took me until my third year coaching defense to figure it out is anybodies guess? You are familiar with situational players, you hear it all of the time on the football pre-game shows except they call them by names 18

like nickel-backs, and pass rushing specialists. The realization that some players are best suited to play in certain situations seems obvious now, but isnt everything in hindsight. The situations that Im talking about are primarily down and distance and I will use a nose guard as an example. I had a big strong physical nose guard that just plugged up the middle of the line when he was in the game, great for short yardage, first downs, goal lines, where you would expect the inside run. I had another one that was much smaller but very fast off the ball and would cause all kinds of havoc in the back field on slower developing plays like passes, or reverses, the kinds of plays you would expect in longer yardage situations. Not every position is a candidate for this type of player, but the defensive line and linebackers are.

Starters - Not much is needed to describe what a starter is. The goal is to generally reduce the amount of kids that play both ways. In a perfect world you would have no two-way players, but since you dont live in a perfect world, you will have to make due. I generally dont like to sub the defensive Ends, corners, or safeties. These positions typically take too much training and/or physical ability to find and train many kids for. Thats not to say that you shouldnt have backups trained, because you never know when youll need to substitute one of these positions. The players that I mentioned would most likely be your two-way players anyway, so you will have ample practice scrimmage time to train back-ups.

Positions You start each season with the notion that no position is preset, that nobody has a position entering the season. The positions will all be determined based on how the players do in the skills challenge that will be held the first 19

few days of practice. Positions are based on a multitude of factors such as speed, strength, attitude, blocking ability, tackling ability, and catching ability. All players start the season with a clean slate, it doesnt matter what they played last year, or even if they played at all last year. They are all tested on the same drills. These drills are what I have put together because I feel that they give the coaching staff the information that they need to correctly put players into positions. By the time you start your fourth practice, all kids should be penciled in to a position, and start to learn the position. Try to remember that these positions, while a solid starting point, are in soft pencil at best, and are likely to change frequently through the first few weeks, and even throughout the course of the season. You should be willing to discuss the results of the skills challenge with parents and why their child was put into the position that they were, but its a bad idea to compare players with other players to their parents. For the majority of the team, they will be assigned to learn one position only. However some kids will be the best option for a position on offense and defense, and these kids will play both ways. To be clear it should be your goal to limit this as much as possible, but there will still be some kids that play both ways. The added benefit to doing a skills challenge, or combine if you prefer, is that all of your players and parents will feel as though they have gotten a shot to try out for all of the positions. Why players are put in a particular position is a question that you will deal with throughout the season, having done the combine makes it easier to respond to that question. Substitution Plan There is no magic bullet for subbing players, no one plan that is going to work everywhere. I will discuss where and 20

how to make substitutions later in the book based on what type of defense you run. But for now the important item to remember here is that you make a substitution plan and stick to it. Each player needs to know not only what position they are playing, but who the player is that they are subbing in for, or is subbing in for them. When the time comes for a kid to take the field, there can be no room for confusion. Use practice time so that everything is clear to everyone. As a coach you first need to have a plan for the entire team, something like we have 11 starters on offense, 7 on defense (the other 4 are also starters on offense), and 30 kids on the team, so the defense has 4 substitutes and the offense has 8 substitutes, see Figure 1-1. Your over all game plan will dictate which team has the majority of the substitute players, but typically your offense should be spending more time on the field, so they should have most of the substitute responsibilities.
Team Substitution plan
11 8 7 4 30 Offensive Starters Offensive Substitutes Defensive Starters Defensive Substitutes Total Players

Figure 1-1 Game Day Substitution Plan Your game day plan should also be your practice day plan. All too often I see groups of kids sitting on the sideline during the scrimmage portion of practice, boredout-of-their-minds because the coaches want to work with the starters. Believe me when I say that I understand this temptation, but these kids are part of the team, and deserve the opportunity to learn and practice with the rest of the team. No kid comes to practice to watch other kids practice. I assign one of the assistant defensive coaches as the substitute coach. He stays on the sidelines with 21

the players and rotates them in frequently, just like he does during a game. Football Is Life Whoa, back up chief! I just want to learn how to run a defense. I know, and Ill get into that in great detail, but indulge me for a few minutes here while I talk about what it is that youre really doing on that field. I have heard many people say that sports are a metaphor for life, and I think that it is particularly true with football. If you think about it, you are volunteering your time to teach a group of young people something about life. These are lessons that kids dont necessarily get from many activities anymore. Lets take a few moments to look at what youre teaching outside of the drills themselves. Practice makes perfect This is a concept that most people are familiar with, but has gone out of fashion over the years. I coach a few other sports besides football. Without fail, most parents would rather have their kids practice for an hour a week and lose every game, than be inconvenienced by showing up a few times a week for practice. Football is often a culture shock to many new parents; with practices 5 nights a week for the first few weeks (mini-training camp) and three practices a week for the rest of the season. If you ask most head coaches in youth football, they would tell you that they would practice more but the leagues rules prohibit it. Football is a complicated game, its not just blocking and tackling, its a whole lot more. Hard work will be rewarded Its not always the biggest, fastest, or strongest kids that make the starting line-up. Its the kids that listen to the coaches, dont screw around in practice, and give it their all, day in and day out at 22

practice. In choosing your starters you will be much more successful with kids that know their positions and will play them, rather then your 11 biggest or fastest kids. I play not my best 11, but my 11 best Knute Rockne You are better as a team Nowhere is this truer than in football, which is often described as the ultimate team sport. In almost any other sport you can get by with one or two superstars on your team and win more than you lose. Whereas a football team will only win if youre entire team puts forth the effort for the entire game. For some reason most parents, even ones that played as kids and maybe even in high school, have a hard time understanding this concept. For instance, I dont want my cornerbacks to make many tackles as they should be containing the outside and pushing the play back into the rest of the defense. If they do their job right, they will not make many solo tackles, but they will save countless touchdowns. Yet parents will completely miss that and will ask why their son is not involved in more plays. Sometimes you win Everybody, including you are out there to have fun, and lets face it, winning is more fun than losing. When you and your team put in a team effort and come out on top, its a great feeling for all involved. But sometimes, despite your best effort, you still come up short, which can be a painful lesson to learn. I went to a field day at one of my kids elementary schools a few years back and I was amazed at the activities that they participated in. Not a single activity had a winner or a loser. Everybody won, every time. If that is what the schools think will prepare children for life, they are sorely mistaken. 23

Overcoming adversity This is teaching the kids never to give up. You play for the entire game regardless of the score. Just like you dont give up if you get behind in a game, you should never give up on anything just because it isnt going as planned. Sometimes it is time to make a new plan, and continue on. Being a leader Natural leaders will emerge on your team encourage them. The other kids will look to them to help them during practices and games. This can be one of the most effective tools that you have to use as a coach. In your warm up drills, for instance, use these kids as line leaders and put them in charge of their line. Within a few days of doing this, the line leaders will be able to tell you who is not here, whos late, or who is goofing off in line. Actions have consequences Kids need to understand all of the league and team rules, and understand what will happen if they break them. Any player, regardless of how talented or important he is to the team, that breaks those rules needs to be disciplined. Just make sure that punishments are handled equally for all players, regardless of their position on the depth chart.

Youth Football Is Its Own Game Most youth coaches completely fail to understand that youth football is its own unique game. It is not the National Football League, its not the NCAA, its not even high school football. Youth football is something almost entirely different. Yet many coaches will treat the team as if they are coaching USC, insisting on thick playbooks, 24

zone defenses, complicated formations. Why? Because thats what they see on TV, so they try to imitate what their favorite NFL or college team does. That logic in itself is stunning enough, but the fact that most dont ever notice their flaw in judgment is what gets me. Would you try to jump a motorcycle over a shark tank, just because you saw a guy do it on TV, and heard a few people talk about? I didnt think so. The sooner that you come to the realization that its a much different game, the better. Here are just some of the differences. Rules are different Most leagues use high school rules, with a few modifications like minimum play rules, or blowout rules. You need to take the time to learn the rules. If you dont have a copy, get one. Ive been guilty myself of saying something stupid like He got back in time when a defensive player jumped offsides. Guess what, thats an NFL rule. If a youth player enters the neutral zone before the snap, he is offsides, end of story. Kids will not just play one way This pretty much cuts your practice time in half. If you have a full starting defense and a full starting offense, you get twice the practice time with each unit, but thats not going to happen. You will have anywhere from 4 if youre extremely lucky, to 9 or 10 players going both ways. Bad coaching The typical youth football coach has some experience playing the sport when he was younger, and may even have a year or two experience as a coach. The coaching staffs that you see on TV are guys that have devoted their entire life to the game. Most youth coaches think that a few years of playing the game when they 25

were kids, automatically qualifies them to coach. To be clear, playing the game has nothing to do with coaching the game. Player Ability The disparity in the abilities of the players is a huge difference from what you see on television. At the college level every player was the best player on his or her team in high school. At the NFL level every player was the best player on his or her college team. You, on the other hand, are dealing with a group of kids that just happened to sign up, or were made to by their parents. Most will never even play high school football, much less go on to be stars. The Board In the NFL, the teams are run as a business, your team is run by a Board of volunteers. If you stay around football long enough you will eventually have a run in with the Board that controls your organization. The Boards are generally well meaning volunteers, but typically lack much football knowledge. So if you try to resolve the issue using football logic, be prepared to lose that fight. I see and hear about coaches every year that switched to a new organization because of differences with the Board. It can be a hard pill to swallow sometimes, but ultimately if you let your personal differences with the Board get in the way of coaching the kids, you are probably in this for the wrong reasons anyway. Parents While I know that all higher level players have parents too, Im pretty sure they dont call the coach at home to lobby for more playing time or a different position for their son.

Scouting This is a must if you want to win. A surprising number of coaches dont do this regularly. Either its not convenient, 26

or they dont think its important. Scouting WILL make the difference between winning and losing. You will get invaluable information from scouting, everything from how far and where the other team kicks the ball on special teams, to where the weak areas of their defense are. The most important information goes to the defensive coach. Most youth coaches have set formations to run set plays. There is a wealth of information that can be obtained from scouting a team, and most youth coaches will show you everything you need to know to stop them cold. Examples of this would include things like: If they line up in a power-I formation, they are running a blast to the strong side. If they line up with two receivers to one side, they are running a sweep to that side. If they pass, they always throw it to number 17. If they line up with wide receivers split to both sides, they are running a reverse.

I take all of the information that I get from scouting and run a scout team offense against my defense each week to prepare them for the upcoming opponent. I love watching the coachs face on the opposite side, when my kids start yelling, reverse or pass before the play has even started. Scouting is such an easy thing to do, I cant believe that more coaches dont take advantage of it. Video This is another underutilized tool that coaches have in their arsenal. It is literally impossible to watch every player at the same time, so during games and practices I miss most of what is going on with the team. Thats were video comes in. I will watch each play, over and over until Im satisfied that I have seen each players performance on that play. I take notes lots of notes so the next 27

night we have practice, I can praise the kids that did well, and work with the kids that may not have. See if you can get a parent to volunteer to video the games. If you cant, have a coach do it, its that important. Try to get the highest angle possible, the top of the bleachers, a hill, anywhere that you can get a good vantage point. Some fields even have observation platforms next to the announcers booth for just this reason. There have been many games that I walk away from the field thinking that we played good or bad, and after I watched the tape realized that I was totally wrong. I have also noticed situations where a player had an outstanding game, which I didnt notice because I was focused somewhere else.

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