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Post by 42falcon on Mar 23, 2020 19:46:45 GMT -6
Hey guys the thread on kids quitting got me thinking about how "we" the culture of football practices. I'm not talking about the NFL b/c that is a job heck even the NCAA is a job for those guys. I am talking about us as HS and Youth coaches. I asked in the poll how you start practice Fun: anything competitive Skills: tackling period, skills, scheme walk thru What do you do in practice that is "fun" or "games based"? Please don't be a smart a$$ and respond with "we win, that's our fun" bc I call BS 1 team in your state "wins" and if we are all that team either there are 50 coaches posting on here or we are all great at telling stories  Trying to get some ideas on how to juice up practice a little and create "fun" because the reality is we are all spend 80% of our season practicing and 20% playing games. If the 80% is fun kids keep coming out and then kids tell other kids how much fun this is! |
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Post by carookie on Mar 23, 2020 20:25:05 GMT -6
We actually do our "fun" period after warm-ups, agilities, & EDDs. I think it allows for better chunking and helps keep up the flow of practice better than starting with it.
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hugh
Junior Member
Posts: 372
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Post by hugh on Mar 23, 2020 20:25:45 GMT -6
Flip Practice Period: 10 minutes, done a few times a season. Linemen go with skill coaches, skill guys go with line coach and for 5 minutes learn a play, how to at least get lined up and in the right stance. Then for 5 minutes they run plays on air and score. Usually coach them on the fly to throw at least once.
We always do it just before a water break. Players love it. Changes dynamics of practice, sometimes even for a few days. Learned if from the 3D course.
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Post by larrymoe on Mar 23, 2020 20:48:47 GMT -6
We warmed up and then did our hardest conditioning of the day first thing followed by a water break. Then indy to inside run/7on7 to team. And if we did something fun, we ended on it.
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Post by 54695469 on Mar 23, 2020 22:00:37 GMT -6
The "culture" of football practice?
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Post by canesfan on Mar 23, 2020 22:36:55 GMT -6
Mixture. Our opening drill could be anything. Could be something we need, extra walk through, or something fun. Kids request stuff. I try to have one day per week be fun at a minimum.
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Post by CoachP on Mar 24, 2020 4:12:34 GMT -6
We have a <Insert Mascot Name> Time where do a variety of competitive/fun things.
Could be anything form tug of war, relay race, 1 on 1 slant/fade, 40 yard sprints all the way to a game of ultimate football.
We would typically end on this period and try to do it a bunch during Spring/Pre-season and once a week during the season.
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Post by Down 'n Out on Mar 24, 2020 4:42:22 GMT -6
Send the Linemen with the DB coach, send the Backs with the Line coach, its always fun. Backs like to put their hand on the ground and get physical, Linemen like to run routes.
We do competitions - WR v DB(linemen are included, found a TE this way, kid beat our best DB repeatedly)
40 yard dash or gasser races where kids can call each other out.
We play Duck Duck Goose. Seriously, you wanna see two kids run with 100% effort try this, but break up into small groups or it takes forever.
We play spot football - theres a thousand names for this, basically just passing only but whoever catches the ball is down where he catches it and is now the QB.
Not a game but get creative in your redzone part of practice, let a OL run the ball, put a WR on the line at Guard(let him pull) or TE and let him block), run some crazy formation, let kids make up plays.
Anything competitive will get the attention of teenage boys, that's why theyre playing football in the first place.
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Post by 54695469 on Mar 24, 2020 8:36:36 GMT -6
It's this whole thread really a serious thing or are you guys pulling our legs?
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Post by bruceeien on Mar 24, 2020 9:53:07 GMT -6
We have fun period the last 5 minutes of every practice every day where we run trick plays. Kids have fun with it and we get to practice them. Kids also have option to invent their own. Only rule is it’s got yo be new, they have to diagram it with all rules and then they have to install it to team. Some days we live up defense and throw trick plays at them to get them ready.
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Post by 42falcon on Mar 24, 2020 10:15:46 GMT -6
The "culture" of football practice? Think about how you practiced football as a kid and then as a HS player and a College player. It probably has not significantly changed. However if you look at other sports and the way they practice using small sided games more "fun" / "competitive" periods. I am totally fine with the notion that some kids may not like football and won't play because they don't like it. But how many more kids could we engage if practices were more "fun/competitive". What I am looking for is how / what guys are doing to make their practices more fun for kids / more competitive all around. I saw a great video on preparation with Herm Edwards it was great but really illustrated the difference between our sport and others that 80/20 practice to game ratio does turn some kids away. Think about a competitive week kids are not dumb if they are not in the starting group they don't get a lot of team O or team D reps but are taking lots of scout team reps they know that means fewer game reps. When I talk about the "culture of football practices" what I mean is: -practices that are highly skills based with little emphasis on fun / competition -lots of drills not much play Don't get me wrong we drill and skill like crazy and this is far less about criticizing other teams / coaches and what they do and more about learning from the guys here because I am reflecting on what we do and how we can be better. |
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Post by 42falcon on Mar 24, 2020 10:17:36 GMT -6
We actually do our "fun" period after warm-ups, agilities, & EDDs. I think it allows for better chunking and helps keep up the flow of practice better than starting with it. Coach what's your fun period? Or what are the things you incorporate into that period? |
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Post by carookie on Mar 24, 2020 12:34:35 GMT -6
We actually do our "fun" period after warm-ups, agilities, & EDDs. I think it allows for better chunking and helps keep up the flow of practice better than starting with it. Coach what's your fun period? Or what are the things you incorporate into that period? We start off our day with warm ups, agilities, COD, and EDDs (30 Min) we then have a 5-7 min period of fun stuff that differs daily: Competition Monday- Each position group sends one person up to compete in a random competition (left footed punting, bowling the football at the logo, etc). Something that really doesnt favor any person or group. But the winning group gets slightly reduced conditioning at the end. Toe-to-Toe Tuesday- Call outs for board drill, not too big of collisions, but fun and gets kids amped for contact, also prevents kids from hiding out and avoiding contact. Plus, work on blocking techniques in a fun way One-on-one Wednesday- Call outs for 1 on 1 routes vs man coverage. Just gets kids running, but work with your lineman not to try press coverage, which basically ends up them tackling the receiver. |
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Post by bruceeien on Mar 25, 2020 10:02:16 GMT -6
We did this Drill and called it Eien’s court! It was a great fun time that my players still talk about on Facebook many years later!
Players were allowed to call out other team mates as a way of squashing quarrels amongst them. If they got beef they finish it in Eien’s court! A safe way to practice Conflict resolution!
We had a few rules as each participant had to just fire out and could not flip, twist or break the connection. A lot like a rugby scrum. It was all about leg drive. If we had no beefs to squash I called out players like coach does in video! I also like to do last man standing where I take the biggest, best player and see how many team mates he could beat in a row. I remember as a player I beat 10 players before my exhaustion got me beat by a definitely inferior opponent.
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Post by coachcb on Mar 25, 2020 11:02:58 GMT -6
We try to finish practice with something fun a few times per week. Typically something that conditions the kids without them really knowing it. We'll play potato ball (ultimate frisbee with a football), simplified rugby, or other games/circuits for the last 10-15 minutes for conditioning. The kids love tackling sharks n' minnows "tag".
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Post by bjohnson on Mar 25, 2020 13:47:05 GMT -6
After warm-ups we start with competitions, usually 5-10 minutes to get the day going. Examples:
Monday - QB/RB/WR vs. DB's/LB's - we work goalline passes (one on one) and other times work combo routes (two on two). OL/DL one on one or half line blitz/stunt pick-up.
Tuesday - 3rd down conversions O vs. D at different yardages about 4-5 plays. It is offense versus best available D and then the following week we switch.
Wednesday - 2 minute drill O vs. D. Again we switch from week to week who gets the priority because we have multiple two way starters.
This is fast-paced with alot of enthusiasm from coaches and players. After this, we go to INDY.
Now after practice we have some sort of competition conditioning, relays, etc. that the kids enjoy because it doesn't seem like conditioning...
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Post by Chris Clement on Mar 31, 2020 9:42:19 GMT -6
I try to keep a scaffolded structure while incorporating fun, little competitions. Like if we do agility work I'll make a little obstacle courses of different relevant agility movements and make a relay race, or if we work hands at the end I'll throw harder and harder and we see who's the last to drop it - amusing anecdote: we had a kiddie team come join our college practice once, and we did that drill, and this one kid was snagging everything, it was down to him and my last two grown men, so he starts trash-talking me, so the next round I'm throwing at maybe 95% and he snags it right in front of his face like it's nothing. Next time around at 99% he chirps me again and the ball goes through hs hands, off his helmet just above his forehead, ball goes straight up, kid goes straight down.
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