So our program has a new division--5 and 6 year olds. It is an optional team to have in our youth league, and we took it up because so many parents brought those kids around.
As a newbie to the youth world (I coach high school and am on the youth program board), I feel like this team might have to be structured differently...meaning more time for "fun" drills that stress a few basic fundamentals (SAFETY being number 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the top 10 list of priorities).
I know this is an incredibly open ended question, but what have you done or seen that you liked with this age group? I am looking for anything, from scheme, to drills, to gameday stuff.
Please just reply with answers to the above, not whether you think contact football for 5-6 year olds is a waste of time. That discussion I have had many, MANY times:)
Coach, I've been coaching for 21 years, but only a couple years with kids anywhere near that young. It's a challenge. However, I did spend a couple seasons with the younger kids and I was on the Board of our program for 9 years, so I did pick up a few things that might be useful for you.
#1 - The kids' attention span is VERY short at that age, so keep your staff very organized so that you're moving quickly from drill to drill (i.e. spell out in your practice plan which coaches are working on each drill and which coaches are setting up the next drill - having kids that young sitting around waiting for coaches to set up cones or bags or whatever is a recipe for disaster). Also keep each segment of practice (i.e. each drill) down to about 5 minutes or less. Keep 'em moving, and keep changing things up. If you do this, 1.5 or 2 hours will go by before your kids know it. If not, you'll quickly hear kids complaining about being bored and poor behavior will be the natural result.
#2 - Misdirection works particularly well at the younger ages. Counters, reverses, and gadget plays are all especially effective at this level so use them liberally - far more often than you might with older kids.
#3 - The younger the kids are, the more important fundamentals, learning the game, and general fun are, and the less important winning is. Having said that, keep in mind that winning and doing one's job successfully (i.e. executing properly) is fun. Make practices fun, competitive (i.e. have a winner and a loser in every drill), high paced, and high paced, and you'll probably have a happy group of players.
#4 - Teach your kids the passing game. You may never be able to use it in a game at this level, but the kids will absolutely love it and it will want to make them practice more, plus it will help prepare them for later years when they will be able to pass the pass.
I'm sure there are other things, but that's what I came up with off the top of my head. Good luck to you, coach.
First…your youth program just took a major step forward. This will help keep the sokker fangs out of this age group and should increase numbers for the next level up in the future. There will never be a valid argument against that.
Safety being the top 4 priorities is simply a PC move. The game is so slow and they all play too high and with all of that equipment on those little tiny bodies they are nearly bubble wrapped. The worst injury will be a bee sting. Don’t overly stress safety. Just have them do what they do when it comes to being a responsible Youth Coach.
The Parents that are willing to put their kids into tackle football at this age are hard-core football families anyway for the most part. So you can amp it up a bit more than you might think.
Winning is fun but it isn’t the be all end all with this level. Most of the kids wont know who won or who lost until you tell them afterwards.
The Coaches might need a hard lesson in patience. EVERYTHING you say is taken literally and the kids obviously know absolutely nothing about the game. So every single aspect of the game is new. You cant “describe” anything….you must show them every thing….literally.
You can run the same 3 or 4 plays on Offense for the entire season and be just fine. You can run one base Defense for the entire season and be just fine. Less is WAY more so the Coaches have the time to OVER teach alignments and assignments. This is actually more important than teaching fundamentals. If you spend all of your time teaching them how to tackle really well and they are never in the right place at the right time…their tackling skills don’t mean much. Same thing with blocking. If they don’t know who to block it wont mean much if they know how to block really well. It takes a loooooong time to teach alignments and assignments. So be wary of that.
I HIGHLY recommend teaching the 2-point stance for OLM. It will save the Staff a ridiculous amount of time….again…they all play too high so don’t fight it.
The Safety positions on Defense is a waste of a player. 100% cover 0. The best tackler is not the traditional MIKE…it’s the perimeter positions now. This level is Sweep City….whether designed or not.
Post game Snackage is important.
Be prepared for endless equipment issues. Tape all shoulder pad straps, don’t let them unbuckle chin straps until you say so….double knot all cleats, take their gloves away from them, insist on integrated pants, have a dozen extra mouth guards at the ready….and be prepared for improper fitting gear the first week. Its tough to get things right the first time with the really little guys.
Send them to the bathroom right before kickoff. This is critical.
As far as having fun…they are playing tackle football for the first time ! They are having a blast naturally. Some will freak out over the contact but that subsides pretty quickly when they realize they are not going to the Hospital after taking a hit.
So our program has a new division--5 and 6 year olds. It is an optional team to have in our youth league, and we took it up because so many parents brought those kids around.
As a newbie to the youth world (I coach high school and am on the youth program board), I feel like this team might have to be structured differently...meaning more time for "fun" drills that stress a few basic fundamentals (SAFETY being number 1, 2, 3, and 4 on the top 10 list of priorities).
I know this is an incredibly open ended question, but what have you done or seen that you liked with this age group? I am looking for anything, from scheme, to drills, to gameday stuff.
Please just reply with answers to the above, not whether you think contact football for 5-6 year olds is a waste of time. That discussion I have had many, MANY times:)
Thank you in advance.
ok let me see if i can answer this with any sort of coherency..
Mission: as a 5-6 year old team your goal is RETENTION, screw wins and losses, keep the kids coming back.
Scheme: ---Offense: Simplify, pick 5 run plays and 2 pass plays. stick to 1 formation. limit motions. ---Defense: Simplify, pick 1 alignment. and drill the F out of stance, alignment, assignment
Drills: i highly suggest talking to dave cisar. he has some AWESOME fun drills.
I coached this level for 3 years...go with the KISS philosophy. I retained almost all kids all 3 years doing that. I tell the parent its not about winning at level. Its about the kids having fun while learning basic football.
We went 4-4 all 3 season's. I enjoyed. More than anything as soon as the game is over the kids totally forget about the loss. We made sure every kid got a chance to run the ball too. That was pretty cool to the parents.
I helped coach at this level for one year when my youngest son was on the team. The main thing we did was tried to teach lots of fundamentals. Stance, Fire out, Form Tackling, how to hold a football. We did lots of Oklahoma drills and one on one tackle drills. Biggest safety point was Keep your head up and see the guy you are hitting. For our area we are allowed two coaches on the field during games. So for scheme we really only taught it to the backfield. Offensively one coach called the offense to the backs and I would make sure the line was set and knew where to go. Had a lot of fun with this cause I could get them pumped up before a play. Like others of said wins and losses don't mean squat for these guys. They are more interested in the 1 on 1 battles during the game and more importantly where are they going to go eat afterward.
Overall, make it fun for these guys and be ready to hear anything.... had a 5 year old one day at practice, I asked the kids; "What do you guys want to do now?" (stupidest question ever to ask a 5 yr old). This little kids replies; "I want to have sex with a girl!" I about died. Laughed my butt off, at the same time felt bad for this kid cause could easily tell he has been exposed to some stuff.