In this Special Teams blog post we will discuss Youth Football Kickoff Special Teams and Coach Parker’s 3 Proven Onside Kicks youth kick plays Opie, Reggie and Mickey Mouse. These onside kick strategies have been very effective over the last 10 youth football seasons. Special Teams is very important in youth football and too many…
Coaching youth football is not as easy as it sounds or looks. It is like herding cats; pee wee players, their parents, your coaches, the league and fans. So many issues to deal with during a youth football season while coaching youth football teams. Many youth football coaches make it hard on themselves by doing…
Here is another episode, Special Teams, in my Youth Football Coaching Clinic Series that I developed for KYA Football. Kick Off – Onside Kicks most popular Deep kicks allow for long returns dangerous unless practiced Directional Kicks to sidelines – hit number sideline #40 or #30 marked on field Kick to your sidelines majority…
I read an article the other day about a High School team that has decided not to Punt on Special Teams. Based on their stats, they conclude that they have a better opportunity to make a first down vs the gains made by punting. Since I coach youth football pre-teens, this seems like a pretty…
Last night, I read American Football Coaches Association’s Complete Guide to Special Teams. This is an excellent 250 page book on Special Teams tactics, drills and techniques written by some of the best Special Teams coaches in football and edited by Coach Bill Mallory and Coach Don Nehlen. Some of the tactics outlined in the book…
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…
The other day, I was talking to another youth tackle football coach about how his 4th grade youth football team blocks on kick returns. We did not do a great job blocking on kick returns last year, and I want to see how other coaches are blocking kick off defenders. He says he makes sure the kick…
Our youth football special teams kick return blocking is not that great. We did better this year by assigning players to block but we can do better. We missed many blocks and one that hurt us in our final play off game last season. After reading Coaching Offensive Linemen by Dave Christensen and James Peterson,…
Coaching youth football special teams might be more important than coaching your running backs. I have seem so many youth football games lost by poor pee wee special teams play that I have lost count. Make sure to focus and make Special Teams a priority with your youth football coaching staff. Updated 2/2/2021 – Coaching…