Recommended Youth Football Training Drills

By Nelda Powers


Youth football training varies from that given to adult players. A number of coaches may not know this but the young need special drills to get the best out of them. More drills only waste training time therefore leaving the team weak and prone to defeat in a game.

The definition of a drill is the activity that is closely supervised, narrowly defined and is repetitive. This process makes the players learn skills that they otherwise would resist due to the rigor and routine. With drills, skills are perfected and remembered even after years of no use. However, no matter how important this is, the coach should leave only a small fraction of the training for drills so as to concentrate on other team building exercises.

Repetition is another drill every team should participate in. This helps in making the team learn specific single skills after doing it over and over. Each team can decide what skill works best for them then they repeat it for the benefit of the team. Skills like centers and long snappers are important therefore should be repeated enough times to stick in the mind and muscles. These however require very little supervision from the coach as the players can organize themselves and learn the skills after one or two demonstrations. This helps in creating harmony and synchrony in the team.

The very start of skill training is called chalk. Here, the team is taught verbally like in a classroom. The retaining of the lesson is not high but is necessary before the actual physical training. Every team member will have got the explanation before trying out the new skill in the field. Muscle memory is the best way to remember what is taught hence the repetition stage.

Young players need to go through put-ins. These are the first time activities that make a team able to consistently and correctly carry out specific offenses or do certain defense stops. The process should escalate from chalk, walk-through then run it on full speed with the right timing to perfect the skill and make a great team.

The walk-through stage is the longest in time. It is done very slowly so every player remembers how a skill plays out. For a given defensive maneuver or an offense tactic to be mastered, the team needs to play it out slowly, even walking while playing with the opposing team being motionless. This allows the practicing team to show what skill they have learnt and allows the coach to correct them step by step.

The last stage in the drill is the scrimmage. Here, both teams perform their leant skills at full game speed. With the guidance of the coach, the offensive tries the maneuvers skillfully while the defense quickly prepares to stop them like in a real game. This helps so much especially the rookies who are yet to face a real team in a match. Reorganization after passes is also coordinated in this stage in most cases by the team members themselves since the coach dos very little supervision here due to the speeds.

20 minutes is just enough for the drill section for a youth football training. This will leave enough time in the two hour period for the players to learn other skills and coordinate a play. A good coach will let the flow with periodic input here and there.




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