In 2006 when I started coaching tackle youth football again, the leagues coaching coordinator was very big on kicking onside kicks. That was his thing. To be honest, onside kicking every kick did not work out for us. Sure we picked a few turnovers, but the majority of time we gave the other team 7 to 12 yards on our kick off.
In 2007 we started kicking just over the head of the 1st line of the kick return team and try to have the ball bounce before the second line of returners. This short kick off worked better for us. We recovered about the same number of kicks and most of the time, the returner at the second line just fell on the ball. We would pick up about 7 yards a kick vs our old onside kick. I cringed a few times when our kicker kicked the ball a little hard and it drifted into the “real” returners hands.
This year, I am going to continue with the short kick focused on the second line of returners. What have you had success with on youth football kickoffs?
Good Luck this season. Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!
4 Comments
June 25, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Interesting to see your post. Just about every Bantam team that we played over the last year did onside kicks. I thought it was somewhat unsportsmanlike and really wasnt teaching the boys anything. Isnt it better to kick it longer and have your boys learn to cover kickoff returns instead of going for the cheap turnover?
June 25, 2008 at 5:57 pm
I don’t know if a turnover from an onside kick is cheap or unsportsman like. It is part of football, especially at the youth level. I’ll take cheap, lucky or skill driven turnovers anytime.
Kicking the ball deep is very dangerous in youth football. I do not recommend kicking the ball deep unless you have a great kick return team with great open field tacklers. At the youth level, I don’t see the skill or talent.
I love when the opposing team kicks deep, we usually get a big return.
June 25, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Well, deep is relative – this is bantam that I am talking about.
I hear what you are saying, it just felt cheap to me.
June 27, 2009 at 3:01 pm
FOR THE LAST 6 SEASONS WE HAVE KICKED IT ONSIDES AND HAVE HAD GOOD RESULTS ESPECIALLY WHEN SCORING A TOUCHDOWN THE TEAM HASN’T REALLY GATHERED THEMSELVES AND NOW TO RECOVER THE ONSIDES WILL REALLY GET TO THEM, WE AS COACHES DO WANT TO WIN RIGHT??