7 on 7 Football Season Update

Our 7 on 7 football team had a rough start this season since we were a new team in a veteran elite 7on7 football league in Keller, Texas.  I don’t think I would jump into an established  league again after just one week of practice, but being thrown in the fire really made the team learn faster.   Most of our players played tackle football in the Spring but many of the 7on7 teams played 7on7 in the Spring.  We were 3 months behind most teams in our league.  I hate losing even though I told myself and the team that our first league was a practice situation, it still sucks losing as we get better.  We recently entered a Monday night middle school league and we are doing well.  We even beat a team from our other league that usually beats us handily.  I guess the fire helped.  Ok so maybe I would do it again but only with one team not two.

We are a 5th and 6th grade 7 on 7 football team.  Most of our players will be 7th graders in Fall 2013.  At the beginning of the summer and our 7on7 season, I picked up enough players that we developed a Varsity and JV team.  The larger number of players gives us the opportunity to have real scrimmages during our practices.  We scrimmage for 30 minutes at the end of every practice which is once or twice a week.  In general the other hour of practice is spent on fundamental throwing and catching drills.  Plus before we start practice each player must catch 100 balls with a partner.  The reason we catch so much is that most of the players have not had to catch playing tackle youth football since most youth offenses are geared to running.  7on7 football is geared toward throwing.  For the first 3 weeks or so our catching was terrible, maybe a 30% completion percentage based on poor catching not throws.  We now focus on catching the ball over pass routes, throwing and defense.  If you cannot catch the ball, you cannot move the ball on offense, keep the ball away from your opponent and most importantly score.

I guess this season I learned that the playbook is really not that important if you have a 10 or 12 pretty good throwing plays.  You need a good quarterback but not a great quarterback, although a great QB really helps out.  But, if your receivers cannot catch the football a great QB is worthless, so we work on catching the ball.  We started tracking each play and receptions a few weeks ago and that paid off. We want our completion percentage above 65%.  We are rotating in the hands players vs the speed players.  Our defense is has been very good.  Our goal is to hold teams to less than 28 points since 7on7 is set up to score.  We have been pretty successful at this goal.  We have about 8 defensive coverage sets but mainly play man.  This season, I learned in 7 on 7 football  a good offense is your best defense.  You cannot give up the ball too fast or the other team will keep scoring.  You cannot ask your defense to hold every series in 7on7.

We have 3 weeks left in our 2013 7 on 7 football season.  I am looking forward to getting better each week.  Our wins are coming easier now and we have a good system.  We picked up a few more players in our Monday night league which match up well to our competition.  At the end of the day, I am glad everyone is having fun and enjoying the summer playing some football.  Ya, I hate to lose but its all about PLAY for FUN and Winning is FUNNER.   No, we are not undefeated but a little winning never hurt the fun factor.

See you on the gridiron,
Coach Parker
Keller, Texas

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