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Post by The Lunch Pail on May 3, 2019 9:38:48 GMT -6
Honest question. This is not meant to sound attacking, belittling, or judgmental, so don't come back with something smartass.
Is it a bad thing that I'm not "fascinated", and kind of bored with drills?
To clarify, I fully understand the need for drillwork. I get that drills are made to fix issues and translate into gameplay. But I feel almost sort of guilty that I don't have some book of 100 drills for OL/DL (my position group) somewhere on my shelf that I read every night like it's the Bible.
Most of my drills, to be honest, are sorta pulled out of my a$$ a few hours before practice starts. I "create" drills that directly simulate gameplay. For example, if we have 2-3 DL struggling with mashing down the down block in front of them (what I call "downing the downer"), I'll have them work on the first two steps (first step, down the downer) in both directions. That's probably not "created" per se as I bet some coach 1,000 miles away that's much better than I am is doing the same exact things.
What I'm getting at is, should I feel guilty that I'm spending very little amounts of time in the offseason even thinking about drills I can copy/paste into my individual period?
Another opinion while I'm at it, am I the only one who struggles filling all the time alloted for a 20-30 minute indy period? Especially with defensive linemen, I just want to get our block to/block away stuff perfected, and spend one drill working on any problems we might be having as a group. I'm usually about done in 15 minutes, and I'm just trying to find things to do to fill the rest of the 5-15 minutes. This makes me feel really kind of guilty, or like I'm some bad coach.
I should probably note, I always played for teams where indy time was very brief and group/team time was the primary focus of the practice. So all of these long indy periods are foreign to me.
Does anyone else feel this way or am I just being a weirdo?
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Post by junior6589 on May 3, 2019 9:44:32 GMT -6
I kinda felt like you in a way last year. Not that I didn't think drills couldn't help my kids, but that having a million drills to do a few things was pointless and not the best use of my time or my players' time. I fell in love with the college OL guys who would talk at clinics and show all the different ways they drilled reach blocking and figured that I could do the same. When I wanted to introduce a new drill in the past, it became time-consuming to just explain the drill to them.
So instead of having 5 drills to teach the drive block, we do 1. I have one drill to work pulling, I have one drill to work on double teams, etc. It allowed for a better use of time no doubt.
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Post by MICoach on May 3, 2019 9:48:16 GMT -6
OL I can fill any amount of indy time they'll give me, and I'll gladly accept more. With that said, I don't spend much time thinking up new drills, I just use the ones I use and occasionally modify them based on what we need. Or sometimes I make $hit up when I need to work on something different.
I did middle school DL for a couple years and did some camps for the high school, and I have minimal use for indy time. Like you said - block to, block away, spill the trap, etc. Don't need much more than 15 minutes for that.
I know our HS DL coach spends a fair amount of time on non-contact hands and feet drills to fill time. It's useful stuff and doesn't overwork the kids.
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Post by agap on May 3, 2019 10:22:25 GMT -6
I'm not satisfied until our players have perfect technique. Will they ever have perfect technique on every rep and play? No, but we are going to keep drilling technique until that happens so I find it easy to fill all the time we are given for Indy.
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Post by RunThePistol on May 3, 2019 10:31:14 GMT -6
I have coached WRs for the first 4 years of my career, and I love Drill/Indy time and I need every little second of it. During indy time I try to work all of my blocking progressions, I try to work at minimum 3 footwork drills, 3 route running technique drills, and at least 4 ball skill drills. Do I get through all of them no, but I've alwys been told its better to have too much to work than not enough.
Last season I coached RBs and only had 3 so yes last season got a little excessive/mundane... this season I will still have 3 RBs but I will certainly have more "Game" simulating drills.
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Post by chi5hi on May 3, 2019 10:34:27 GMT -6
Honest question. This is not meant to sound attacking, belittling, or judgmental, so don't come back with something smartass. Is it a bad thing that I'm not "fascinated", and kind of bored with drills? To clarify, I fully understand the need for drillwork. I get that drills are made to fix issues and translate into gameplay. But I feel almost sort of guilty that I don't have some book of 100 drills for OL/DL (my position group) somewhere on my shelf that I read every night like it's the Bible. Most of my drills, to be honest, are sorta pulled out of my a$$ a few hours before practice starts. I "create" drills that directly simulate gameplay. For example, if we have 2-3 DL struggling with mashing down the down block in front of them (what I call "downing the downer"), I'll have them work on the first two steps (first step, down the downer) in both directions. That's probably not "created" per se as I bet some coach 1,000 miles away that's much better than I am is doing the same exact things. What I'm getting at is, should I feel guilty that I'm spending very little amounts of time in the offseason even thinking about drills I can copy/paste into my individual period? Another opinion while I'm at it, am I the only one who struggles filling all the time alloted for a 20-30 minute indy period? Especially with defensive linemen, I just want to get our block to/block away stuff perfected, and spend one drill working on any problems we might be having as a group. I'm usually about done in 15 minutes, and I'm just trying to find things to do to fill the rest of the 5-15 minutes. This makes me feel really kind of guilty, or like I'm some bad coach. I should probably note, I always played for teams where indy time was very brief and group/team time was the primary focus of the practice. So all of these long indy periods are foreign to me. Does anyone else feel this way or am I just being a weirdo? No, you're not being weird. |
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Post by Defcord on May 3, 2019 10:36:31 GMT -6
I understand your first sentiment on not needing an endless amount of drills. I am at a small school and all coaches and players are utilized on both sides of the ball. We do not get as in depth technique wise as I have at schools where we platoon. This makes it pretty important that the time we in indy we need every drill to be directly correlated game play and execution.
I can't imagine coaching defensive line with only 15 minutes of indy. Block recognition is huge for those guys. It has always seemed to me that wrong-arming and double teams are hard for the defensive linemen. I am trying to get as many reps as I can on these two techniques specifically. Those alone I am hoping to commit at least 10 minutes a day to. Beyond that I want to work get-offs, stunts and stunt adjustments, block destruction, pass rush, tackling, takeaways. I am an indy guy. I want as much of it as I can get every day because a lot of the fine tuning in my opinion is done in that period.
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Post by coachwoodall on May 3, 2019 11:27:02 GMT -6
Long DB coach, and I'm one of those always asking for more indy time. Yes I've got a ton of drills. I do make up/modify drills. I've got my favorites. And I'm always on the look for another. I also hate long periods. I get bored with drill work too. HUH?  You might ask I'm a big fan of fast paced, brisk practices that have clearly defined objectives for each period and for the entire day. What I do when I get to have input, is never have a period that will cover more than 10 minutes without transitioning to something else. I much prefer to have 5 minute periods that will build from a specific tech up to game like execution. As a DC, if we needed to work on trap/power game we might do: INDY - DL working double teams and wrong arm, LBs working pull reads - 5 minutes GROUP - 1/2 line vs OL, DL working trap game with the LBs - 5 minutes GROUP - Inside OL/RB vs DL/LB/Force working on traps and spilling - 5 minutes and then later during team, whether it was good on good or vs scout team work a heavy dose of trap/power for the run plays The next day might be the same type thing with combos and zone schemes SCRIPT EVERYTHING It makes everyone's job easier b/c you know were your eyes should be on every play. Organization helps too. My DL never had to 'wing it', I mapped everything he needed to do. I didn't necessarily tell him the drills to run, but I was specific on what needed to get done.... TODAY we are working on the trap game, work double teams and squeezing & wrong arming. |
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Post by dubber on May 3, 2019 11:47:48 GMT -6
I appreciate the honesty of this thread.....
That being said, yes......sometimes the drill work gets boring AF
At the same time, I think the most valuable use of offseason prep (coaching wise) is to find new drills/group periods.
Example:
Last off season we meet with a school that has their OL works their board drills going from one knee on the ground.
So, lead right, right knee on ground.
The point is to isolate pushing off the left foot to take your first step.
Result: it has almost eliminated our false steps!
A lot of clinic stuff is "look at this scheme stuff we are doing".....to me, the best is when you get to see how they drill/teach it, because stealing one thing can make a world of difference.
Also, to fight the boring malaise of practice, coach up your younger kids you maybe don't spend enough time with.....they appreciate the attention.
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Post by bluboy on May 3, 2019 12:02:54 GMT -6
I coach DB's. IMHO, a 101 drills are good for camp.I don't want to teach a new drill every day. Once the season starts, I have 5 drills I use during game week; kids don't get bored because we make the drills competitive. One thing that helps me is how I break-up time in individual. I usually get 10-15 minutes of individual; I do feet, shed/tackle, ball drills. In-season, I use part of my individual time working on a skill that is necessary for game plan coverages/fits.
"SCRIPT EVERYTHING It makes everyone's job easier b/c you know were your eyes should be on every play." Totally agree!!!
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Post by realdawg on May 3, 2019 12:41:09 GMT -6
While I agree that drills can get old. When I was DL coach I always asked for more time. 15 min was never enough to get my 2 deep reps at basic drills like take off slant steps. Punch. Then work block destruction, reach, base, down, double, pass. Then work escapes. Now I don’t do a bunch of drills in 1 day that work on the same thing. I do one drill a day to work on a skill. But I try to have a few different drills to work on the same skill so that I am not using the same drill over and over and over. Which makes it somewhat less boring.
I try to teach all my drills in the spring and summer so I don’t have to take time to do that during season. The exception being if I have a problem that I am having to invent something to fix or I happen to see a new drill I really really like.
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Post by mkuempel on May 3, 2019 13:12:29 GMT -6
I agree Indy can get boring, but I've found out if I break it up into 3-5 minute periods, find 3 things to work on and then 15 minutes became too short. When I coached DL, 5 min. of stance/get off, 5 min. of recognize blocks/defeat that block and 5 min. of tackling a bag after defeating that block (game type tackling situations), I found myself much less bored when I planned this way.
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Post by carookie on May 3, 2019 15:55:45 GMT -6
Don't feel like a weirdo or bad. Having 5 Great drills is way better than 20 bad ones.
FWIW I am the opposite of you, I have all drills that all positions will use, when they will use them, and for how long. As mentioned above, keep 'em short (most drills only last a couple minutes), keep them active and efficient, and keep them relevant. Rep actual reads, actual movements, and actual reactions that will be used in the game.
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Post by carookie on May 3, 2019 19:00:05 GMT -6
One thing ive found is that the drills where boredom kicks in most often are thoae that are inefficiently run. If player a goes, coach explains what he did wrong, he does it again, and everyone stands around and watches.....well most of the time a given player is spending his time just standing around.
Try to get multiple players going at once, go rapid fire, coach on the fly, and keep kids active and moving. Then quickly transition between
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Post by 42falcon on May 3, 2019 19:48:52 GMT -6
I am not a big believer in having the book of 101 drills you can draw on at any point in time to keep it "fresh". Like a lot of guys have said you are:
-trying to drill stuff the players are not great at / struggling at
-trying to run a drill that mimics something they will see / experience in game play
-trying to enhance their skills
The one thing that I don't think has been mentioned is:
1) relevancy: the drills you do should be relevant to the end product you are working toward. Stance is stance. So some skills / drills apply to all schemes. But if you play 90% man coverage you probably are not running a ton of zone coverage drills with the DB's.
2) progression: I would guess many of you just are not saying but you have 5 core drills and if you thought about it they progress and the skills in each build upon each other. I think this is important for young / new coaches especially. Understanding the reason for drilling things in a progressive manner. No different than a math teacher probably teaches the youngsters what the numbers actually are before they try to add or subtract.
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Post by oldman61 on May 3, 2019 21:03:16 GMT -6
I may recommend breaking down the skills needed to be a good OL/DL
I coach DL and my list is;
Punch
First step vs run
Block recognition
Slant/angle technique
Looping/twist
Pass rush
Block destruction
Tackling
Pursuit to the ball
I then have about 2 drills we work on a regular basis for each.
I give them names and constantly say the names until the kids learn them so the older guys can get into the drill quicker.
Before we start the drill and during drill focus on that skill
I don’t think we ever have enough Indy time, but agree with others above, I don’t want 60 straight minutes of Indy. I’d rather have 2-3 smaller periods.
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Post by 44dlcoach on May 3, 2019 22:38:06 GMT -6
I feel like we do a lot of drills early in spring and summer but really that's just because we break a lot of different components into their own drills early in the year.
Once those are installed and we've taught the kids the basics like "how to take on a blocker" and "components of a tackle" etc. then we do a lot less.
During the season throughout the course of the week we will do a grand total of 7 drills with our LBs. 4 of those are situational tackling drills. The other three are pass drops, run fits for the week, and another movement drill that we use to warmup.
I think that encompasses everything they will need in a game. Fit right, be able to be physical when you get to your fit, know your angles and reads vs pass, and know how to make the right tackle when you get to the ball.
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Post by coachwoodall on May 4, 2019 10:15:12 GMT -6
Almost forgot, make sure your drills show up on the game film! I stolt that 'un from somewhere
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Post by blb on May 4, 2019 10:58:00 GMT -6
Drills are used to teach, improve, and keep sharp fundamentals.
Don't assume just because you drilled them in August they don't need polishing-reinforcing in October.
Always told our kids the most important part of practice was 20-minute Individual Defense period!
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Post by kcbazooka on May 4, 2019 11:05:12 GMT -6
Its the coaches responsibility to make sure that drill time does not get boring. And I think the more you know and study about your position the more you'll be able to fill out the time. Sometimes I have coached the DL and there are lots of skills you can do. One year, the first thing we did with our DL was going over how to carry the ball. Its a drill all offensive skill people should learn but I want to emphasize with it to the big guys that would not otherwise be exposed to it. Got some ribbing from the other coaches. But in the third game of the season we had a 300-pounder scoop and run downfield 40 yards -had guys hanging on him - and he looked like a really big running back with good technique. So, you can do a lot of different football drills rather than just the normal DL stuff. Strip drills, fumble recover, scoop and score, tip.
I do empathize with DL coaches because often all of the d-groups have individual and then the LB and DB break off and do group work while the DL gets 20-30 more minutes still by themselves. Whenever I have to switched to different position group I have taken the time to accumulate a number of drills so I have something to use throughout the season.
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Post by blb on May 4, 2019 11:11:49 GMT -6
Coaches get bored more than players. You do them for as long as you coach, they only do them for a few months out of four years.
If you have a checklist of some different drills to use-teach the same fundamentals it helps.
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Post by coachwoodall on May 4, 2019 14:50:41 GMT -6
Drills are used to teach, improve, and keep sharp fundamentals. Don't assume just because you drilled them in August they don't need polishing-reinforcing in October. Always told our kids the most important part of practice was 20-minute Individual Defense period! much better than what I wrote, NICE! |
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Post by blb on May 4, 2019 15:50:03 GMT -6
Drills are used to teach, improve, and keep sharp fundamentals. Don't assume just because you drilled them in August they don't need polishing-reinforcing in October. Always told our kids the most important part of practice was 20-minute Individual Defense period! much better than what I wrote, NICE!
Thanks, I get a little wood on the ball once in awhile.
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Post by coachks on May 4, 2019 16:55:41 GMT -6
I've found that I use fewer drills the more years I coach.
As for getting bored.... how much detail are you getting into?
DL big picture... you have stance/start/block reaction (At, Away, tech for kickout), pass rush, slant/stunt.
That's 5 skills, 3 minutes for each skill each days fills 15 minutes. 4 minutes fills 20.
But really, there is a lot more detail...
Stance & Start... base, goal line, pass rush. All 3 of those situations are different... making a pile on the goalline vs a straight pass rush stance and get off.
Block reaction - hand placement, escapes, double teams, wrong arm tech (or staying square). Playing QB. Chase and tackle. Taking on a downblock
Pass rush skills - Get off, angles, turning the corner, speed move/power move/counter move, QB contain, strip sack
Slants and games - footwork& aimpoint, twists, block reaction on slants, pass rush games, run stunt games.
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Post by CS on May 4, 2019 18:52:38 GMT -6
What!?!? You mean you’re not using a knife to teach d-line hand tech like a phucking king fu ninja!?!?!
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Post by CS on May 5, 2019 5:25:35 GMT -6
I go to fudge for all my drills
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Post by The Lunch Pail on May 5, 2019 5:25:39 GMT -6
I said the boredom stuff wrong. What I meant is I’m not searching the internet and trying to find 110 new drills to add to my collection every day.
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Post by The Lunch Pail on May 5, 2019 5:27:43 GMT -6
I go to fudge for all my drills Fudge fitness just reminds me how I didn’t work hard enough to be a D1 athlete.. forget I was a 5’10 OL from a small/rural school in the Midwest. |
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Post by silkyice on May 5, 2019 5:55:13 GMT -6
I go to fudge for all my drills Saying “Function” and “Ball Skills” over and over makes your players better. It is proven science. |
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Post by carookie on May 5, 2019 10:34:48 GMT -6
I go to fudge for all my drills To me, this is why there are many "anti-drill" coaches. Because they see drills as just convoluted messes of a skill combined with an awkward (non functional) hindrance, where the coaching point is to bark out cliches. Point out specific areas for improvement and what precisely the player should do to get better. |
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