Youth Football Coaching Summary Fall 2011
Its been a couple of weeks since winning the Fall 2011 KYA Sophomore Super Bowl and our end of season team party. I’ve had some time to reflect on the Fall season and some of the things I learned this youth football season. The number one thing I learned this season is make sure you are coaching with other like minded coaches, especially your head coach and offensive / defensive coordinators. Finding the right mix of coaches with the same commitment level to excellence that are also flexible to learn new concepts is tough to find.
Here are a few things that I learned Coaching Youth Football 4th and 5th graders in the Fall 2011:
- Find the right coaching staff with similar philosophies
- Draft and Recruit experienced players with coaching references; no rookies or no hitters if possible
- Speed and Quickness at this level is more desirable than size and weight, slow lineman are weakest link and speed kills
- Draft top end of age range, oldest players first, they are more mature
- On D, Play the run and only adjust if opponent scores on a pass; CBs play like OLBs – key run first then pass
- On D, Shut down offense from outside in; pinch them in
- On O, Run your play maker and let him score. Don’t over think what you already know. Yes, he’s good!
- On O, if the D has 4 or more outside TE, run to the middle or audible to other side
- On ST, a good kicker is a big deal. A long directional kickoff is a huge field position advantage.
- On O, Turnovers and Penalties kill drives, minimize them as much as possible.
What did you learn this season? I would love to hear from you. Leave me a comment.
Play for Fun and Winning is Funner!
Coach Parker
Ft Worth Texas / Keller TX
KYA Football
Great list coach. I posted mine here: http://www.chrisbrooks.org/blog/2011/12/1/youth-football-coaching-tips.html
Coach,
I’ve enjoyed reading your posts all year. Thanks for the opportunity to add something to them. This year we won the Championship in the 8 year old division of the Aurora, CO. Youth League. Two things I learned this year are 1. at this age, onside kick all the time. Most minimum play players are on special teams and you can steal points easily, plus the other teams all-star usually is the deep runner so he never gets his hands on the ball. A good defense doesn’t hurt from a field position stand point. And 2. never under estimate teaching your linebackers how to contain the cut-back lanes. We played a team that had a great cut-back runner which most all-star runners will do and lost to them in the first game of the season because of long TD’s that started on cut-backs at the LOS. We played them in the Super Bowl and all week coached the LB’s how to cover the cut-back lanes. That same runner ran for less than 35 yards in the Super Bowl and only scored from the 6 yard line. Any time he tried to cut-back we had 2 or more LB’s lightin’ him up. Sorry for the long post. Thanks again for your insight!
Good post, I agree 100% on defense. At the lower age levels the majority of plays try to get to the sideline and then upfield…getting the kids to “stay home” on defense, especially the DE’s was huge. Misdirection plays on O worked well for our team, with all due respect to the kids – they dont adjust well on defense at this age to motion. They immediately want to attack who they think has the ball, creating confusion on O made for some big plays – reverses, sending a recv in motion…
It was my first year as head coach for the 6-7 year olds here in north Texas and we were gifted enough to win our version of the Super Bowl. My biggest learning points for me as my first year at HC was:
1.Talk to the kids NOT DOWN TO THEM!!! They tend to listen and learn more when they think that you’re are not mad at them for silly mistakes.
2.Mainly for the age group that I coached, keep the plays simple. They are very smart kids, but when you start trying to pull the line and throw in a reverse when they are not ready for it…this can be really bad! Almost to the point of a wasted practice.
3. Have fun!! Those critters have a very short attention span. change practice from one to the next. To much of a regiment will become boring for them.
4. Defense. One thing I told my Kids was, DO NOT LISTEN TO THEIR QB, watch that ball. 9 times outta 10, you will even get a jump on their line. Also watch the outside.
Not quite the top 10 count down of Letterman, but…