My First Youth Football Coaching Experience
By: Scott Lancaster, Youth Evolution Sports
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Arriving slightly wiser, yet with much yet to discover and learn, the second day of practice begins. Twenty-seven kids are in attendance; three are missing from yesterday due to soccer practice, while two kids that did not attend the first day are present.
Practice Objectives:
· Acclimate with Helmet
· Fun Movement Skill Development
· Fun/Conditioning Drills
· Fun/Skill Development Competitions
Teach:
· Introduction of Cadence
· Introduction of Positions & alignment
· Review Stances
· Review Throwing & Catching
We decide the best course of action will be to review what we introduced yesterday (stances and throwing/catching drills) and focus on teaching only two new fundamentals or concepts (Cadence, offense positions/alignment).
The coaching staff decided we needed more time introducing each new fundamental. Rather than spending only 10 minutes on introducing a new fundamental we agreed to spend 20 minutes, however we split the introduction periods in half and returned to finish teaching the fundamental later in the practice. This was done by also installing fun movement skill drills and mini-competitions between the introductory fundamental teaching segments.
Surprisingly today we began to see improvement in their breakdown positions, the first sign that they are beginning to focus.
Again we finish with the Ultimate Football game and break the group into two games. There are fewer complaints about helmets, and they’re responding well to the command “breakdown”. More importantly there is a good tempo and there is a sense of excitement throughout most of practice.