Youth football coaches face the tough job of preparing youngsters to play football. The first thing they must do is teach players how to play the game safely to minimize the risk of injury. They also must teach proper fundamentals and the rules of the game, and they must do it in a way that youngsters can enjoy.
Conditioning Drills
Before the start of contact drills, you want to help their players get in "football" condition. This means that they will go through a series of conditioning drills that involve movements regularly made on the football field. One of these is the rope and sprint drill. In this drill, set up a rope ladder for players to run through. The rope ladder, which will have eight rows and two columns, should be about 14 inches off the ground. Each player will run through the rope ladder, picking up his knees as high as possible. Then when the player gets through the ladder, toss the player a football and have him sprint 40 yards. Older players would go through the rope drill multiple times and run a greater distance--perhaps 80 to 100 yards. This drill is tough for young people but not overly taxing.
Tackling Drill
Set up a series of five cones 3 yards apart from each other and a tackling dummy to the side of the last cone. Have the player line up behind the last cone. On your whistle, the player runs behind the cones and gets his shoulders as low as possible. When he reaches the last cone, he breaks down in a tackling position and drives his inside shoulder into the middle of the tackling dummy. The player must wrap up the dummy with both arms and tip it to a horizontal position. Have the player do this five times, coming from the right and the left. In this drill, your young players should demonstrate that they are hitting safely with the shoulder first and not leading with the helmet. Don't allow them to take on a live ball carrier until they demonstrate the correct tackling form with the dummy.
Gripping the Football
This is an important teaching drill for young football players--especially quarterback--who may not know how to grip the football the correct way. Show your quarterback how to put his fingers across the laces after he takes the snap from the center. Have him take five snaps from center and drop back as if he was going to pass. Have him stop after his fifth step. Examine his grip to make sure he is holding the football the correct way.
Create a Basket
Just as gripping the football can be troubling for a quarterback, holding on to the football when getting a hand-off can also be difficult for the running back. Have your running back create a basket with his arms. This will serve as a target for the quarterback to place the ball and then your running back will need to close his arms quickly to get a good grip on the ball. For most running backs, the left hand should be on top and the right hand should be on the bottom.
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