Toughnees Drills

We expect our kids to lift hard enough to create that toughness.

If a puppy doesn't bite when it's young...I'm of the opinion that toughness is something that can't be taught.

The ONLY thing that MIGHT work is by forcing them to deal with adversity to make them tougher. A fancy way to say physically and mentally torture them and try and get them to persevere. (torture too harsh a word, but, can't think of a better one)

Weight lifting is basically that...push through, work hard, even when it hurts...then go a little more.

Watch Miracle. He toughens the kids up by making them take a 300 question test that is irrelevant to the sport...and he conditions them to the point of passing out.

Neither of which any of us could do for so many reasons.

But yeah, just some random thoughts, toughness can't be taught in my book. A lot of "tough" kids come from rough upbrings (i.e. dealing with adversity), had a tramatic event happen in their life (death in family, major injury, picked on by a bully as a kid), or were just born with a chip on their shoulder.

I would argue that you are trying to develop confidence. And confidence is improved by tough physical training, well planned practices, positive reinforcement and through the use of measurable objectives - making kids accountable.

I've coached a lot of "tough" kids - but if they weren't confident they only performed great in situations where they had the upper hand physically.

Confident and tough kids are hard to beat.

Jack Rarick
Holt Football
www.coachsvideoassistant.com

If you want to get Tough Knees then....LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's not a "drill" but we still require our guys to run a timed Mile as part of our Physical Fitness Test before two-a-days.

Why? It has little to do with playing football. But I think it has a lot to do with commitment and mental toughness.

And, as a physical educator, frankly I just believe 14-18 year old kids - especially athletes - should just be able to run a Mile in a decent time (use 85th percentile for "skilled" kids, 50th for OL-TEs).

Kids also know that how many "Power Drills" we do during two-a-days depend on how many of them make their mile time, so there is a little extra team motivation-peer pressure, too.

Have them stand in a circle and kick each other in the balls.

That will toughen them up.

**That's not mine, by the way...but it really DOES speak to the futility of trying to make kids "tough."

Weight lifting and CONFIDENCE is what makes kids "tough."

When I think of toughness I think of the kid who you see pulling his finger back into place in the huddle so he does not have to come out of the game. Can you coach that? No.

As many others have said can you build confidence and show your players the right way to do things so they play more aggressive. Absolutely. Get them in the weightroom, when they see their strength go up and their bodies change they have more confidence. Teach them fundamentals so they know how to do things. Make sure your schemes make sense, don't grab bag it and confuse the kids. Those things go a long way in helping kids play more aggressive.

And practice hard, I was watching a show on the NFL network the other night about two HS teams who had a big rivalry. They both worked hard in the weightroom and were doing a lot of good things. But I noticed the team that had won like 20 in a row against the rival went full pads and hit and tackled in practice. The other team was in shorts and shells the whole time tackling dummies. I don't know if that made a diffrence but if you want kids to play hard then you better practice hard as well.

Yeah, the one drill we do...that I think MIGHT have an impact on toughness is the board drill.

Two lineman. 3pt stance, at either tip of a half moon. On cadence, they both fire out, focus on technique...half-moon bag forces them to keep good feet.

Maybe it isn't toughness, but I noticed an immediate improvement in our OLines effetiveness when doing this drill. That being said, it's not a popular drill.

Sand pit, pull tires, slosh pipes, medicine ball circuit, jump bands, and running drills help you determine who will give effort. I'm not sure you can make them tough but you will know who will be their in the forth quarter. Peer pressure from your leaders help get it out of them.

I think we all have a different definition of toughness which might cause some discrepancies. To wit, a kid might play with pain like no other, but not be an explosive tackler/blocker. Some might say the kid is tough, others might think not. I think you should stay away from saying toughness is a goal because it is hard to quantify. Try to think of some characteristics that are measureable and observable and make them goals for your team. You can say that you want to run to the ball on defense and finish blocks on offense. You can measure/observe both of those goals. Now, go coach the heck out of them. Make a big deal about them on film when they occur and have a negative consequence when they don't. I think playing with pain is tricky. I don't know if you can tell a kid this day in age that they are not injured.

I think the board drill posted above is great to set a tone and a mindset for your team. Once again, set an expectation, and demand it at all times. Just make sure the expectation is something you can measure so that the kids can see themselves progressing.

I do not think toughness could be taught.

That said technique can be taught.

And when a player his technically sound, he's confident, strong, tough and even nasty.

Just my 2€cents!

I agree 100% with julien. Technique fosters confidence, confidence fosters toughness.

A definition of "tough" will vary from person to person. However, it is easy to pick a kid out of a group and say, "wow, he is tough".

IMO "tough" kids are the ones who understand their role, utilize great technique, and perform it repeatedly. Lack of technique causes kids to experiment with "other" ways to do something. When that fails, they back off and have little confidence.

That being said....toughness drills can be created. Just a few of the ones I have used over the years, tug of war, sumo wrestling, No holds basketball (described earlier), king of the board, tractor tire flip, and several more. I made each of them a competition but the main purpose was to create an understanding that leverage is critical and the low man usually wins. At some point in practice, I would reference one of our competitions and talk about how leverage and body height is critical to success. I try to tie the two together. Most of the time, kids get it. (not to mention, it is a lot of fun)

Degrees of "tough":

1. Tougher than a bull elephant

2. Tougher than a bull

3. Shoots the bull

4. Smells like a bull

Mat Drills, get'em in the wrestling room! Like someone said earlier about the basketball game, you will figure out real quick the kids that want it and those that don't. Even if they don't get "tougher", you can atleast get an idea of who you will be able to depend on.