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Post by seawolf93 on Aug 21, 2009 15:24:51 GMT -6
Guys-- we're having a hard time in getting our kids to get off the ball on defense (low, fast with attitude), and we're also having some problems with Offensive Lineman standing up instead of firing out / and staying low. Are there some tried and true drills you're using to stress this... are there some positive or negative enforcements you have to instill this?
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Post by utchuckd on Aug 21, 2009 17:04:29 GMT -6
I've been doing the tennis ball drill. Also made a makeshift chute out of some pvc and sawhorses, it doesn't brain them if they get too high, and they can actually move it with light contact, but it gives them a visual and somewhat physical reinforcement of how low we want them.
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Post by seawolf93 on Aug 22, 2009 10:45:26 GMT -6
tell me about the chute you made... i can't picture how it fits together, but I think I'd like to try to make one.
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Post by utchuckd on Aug 22, 2009 11:50:01 GMT -6
I'll go through it best I can, and try to get some pics up in a couple days. It was made almost entirely of stuff I had sitting around the shop, so it's pretty makeshift. I took two 8 foot pieces of 2" pvc pipe and drilled 1" holes about an inch from each end. I put two 3/4" pieces of pvc (3 ft long each) in these holes so it's a big rectangle. Then I had on old vinyl banner that's 8 ft x 3 ft, and using those little tarp bungees (little plastic ball with a bungee loop that goes through the grommet and around the frame and back on itself) I strap the banner to the frame, and the tension from the bungees keeps it all together. (It gets a little complicated here, but hey, it's a free chute with what I had available  )Now it needed to be a couple of feet longer, so now I took some 1.5" pvc and cut it into 4 pieces, 18" long each. I drilled the same 1" hole about 6" up on each of these, and they slide inside the ends of the 8 footers, the holes line up, and the 3/4" goes in both of them. So the sides are basically 10 feet long now, and I stick 'em on a couple of saw horses and they're good. One last thing I did was put a screw on the top of the saw horses where the pipe rests on them, and drilled a small hole in the pvc so it fits down over the screw, it helps keep everything in place. I'm sure this prolly makes very little sense, but I'll try to get some pics up soon and hopefully help explain everything. |
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Post by bobgoodman on Aug 22, 2009 13:11:40 GMT -6
One of those would be great to have, but the expedient I resorted to was to extend my arm horizontally (and then have them take turns doing that) to have one player pass under halfway on the way from his stance to a stationary "opponent". I start with the arm fairly high to begin with, and as they get better work down to the height you want. A chute would be better because it would free them for more reps (no need for one third of the players to form the "limbo stick"). Just think of the chute as composed of one or more limbo dance apparatus (or high jump), with an adjustable horzontal bar between two verticals. Two bars for each to pass under would be as good as you need, and then as wide as practicable to get a set of players approximately the same height to go under them at the same time to maximize reps -- under one bar on the first step, under the next on the 2nd step. If they get high on the 1st step and have to reload/recock the "gun", it'll slow them down, but if you can make only one bar for them to get under, put it a little past halfway on their path.
I guess you could make the bar able to be knocked off like a real limbo stick or high jump bar, and then for each group that goes thru it'd be "Who knocked the bar off?", and get a little teamwork-peer pressure thing going. That's if you like that kind of psychology. But you don't want them concentrating so hard on staying low that it slows down their charge. They need the right combination of both -- there will be a compromise, nobody can concentrate fully on 2 things at once, but it will be a better and better compromise-combination as they rep it over enough sessions. So if you reward only staying low, they'll be slow as heck, and if you reward only speed they won't stay low -- although in the early sessions you might concentrate more on one or the other.
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Post by gameface on Aug 22, 2009 19:36:30 GMT -6
We just take a stick of PVC have two people hold it up at a realistic height. then make sure the kids are in a good stance. have them fire through under the PVC. We do this a couple of times. Then when they are in good stance we speed things up with a 2x4 when the coach says go the other coach holding the 2x4 gives a gentle reminder to fire out. the kids get the hint awful quick. Great thing is this is one of there favorite drills. They love seeing the other guy get the paddle for being slow. It has helped out our offense out a ton.
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Post by bobgoodman on Aug 22, 2009 20:37:59 GMT -6
A thought just occurred to me. If you have the players lined up by height, you can tilt the bar so they would each crouch to a height appropriate to them.
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shawnm
Freshmen Member
Posts: 99
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Post by shawnm on Aug 23, 2009 22:46:41 GMT -6
I use a batting tee set at the lowest level holding a tennis ball.
I make it a competition with the O-linemen. Basically the tee is the tip of the triangle about 3 yards from the linemen, On whistle or cadense both fire out and try to grab the tennis ball. It helps with quickness and they must stay low to grab the ball. Losing line does push-ups. Also penalize false starts if going on cadence.
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Post by seawolf93 on Aug 24, 2009 7:09:56 GMT -6
these are all good suggestions. I'm bringing some tennis balls, my T-ball tee and some 2X4's to practice tonight. We're going to lick this in time for the first game of the season on Saturday.
Thanks to all who posted. I appreciate it.
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Post by utchuckd on Sept 2, 2009 19:11:09 GMT -6
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 2, 2009 20:17:04 GMT -6
I didn't know we had Frank Lloyd Wright here! No, seriously, I'm impressed. Better than the goal posts we assembled from PVC conduit.
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Post by seawolf93 on Sept 4, 2009 10:25:52 GMT -6
that's good stuff right there... I love it.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2009 12:52:52 GMT -6
that's funny we used saw horses years ago too, they're great...didn't look as nice as yours though coach...such craftsmanship...=  |
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Post by coachjohnboy on Sept 15, 2009 13:30:22 GMT -6
Hello, Great chute. I use a 15'x20' Tarp and fold it 2-3yd yards wide by 20' long. I have 2 players hold it at a designated height. This allows me to raise, and lower it according to height of player. I also incorporate hills. I hope this helps.
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Post by bobgoodman on Sept 16, 2009 22:55:01 GMT -6
I also incorporate hills. How do you do that? |
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)Now it needed to be a couple of feet longer, so now I took some 1.5" pvc and cut it into 4 pieces, 18" long each. I drilled the same 1" hole about 6" up on each of these, and they slide inside the ends of the 8 footers, the holes line up, and the 3/4" goes in both of them. So the sides are basically 10 feet long now, and I stick 'em on a couple of saw horses and they're good. One last thing I did was put a screw on the top of the saw horses where the pipe rests on them, and drilled a small hole in the pvc so it fits down over the screw, it helps keep everything in place.
