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.

Drill is defined as a closely supervised activity that is repetitive and narrowly defined. This builds into the players habits that otherwise they would resist. Drils are used to perfect techniques into kids that they don't want to learnt unless under close supervision. As much as the drills are necessary, coaches should not waste time doing only those but should allow the team to participate in other skill building exercises.

Another skill in football training is repetition. This involves doing one move over and over till it is learnt and memorized. Players can choose the skills that work best for them then work on repeating it. Doing this helps a team work together in synchrony and the learning process require very little supervision by the coach.

The chalk is simply a verbal training like what happens in a classroom. Before letting the players do the actual physical exercise, a talk should precede it for the explanation. No one however can learn a skill by chalk talk alone but it is important. Some muscle memory is necessary to instill the skill permanently into memory together with the mental hologram.

The other stage is put-ins; these are the first time activities a team goes through to make them accurate and consistent in what they do. These helps in performing specific offensive moves and defensive stops where necessary. The training process goes from chalk, walk-through and is completed at the scrimmage where full speed reins. Doing these properly makes a great youth football team.

After put-in, the team is taken through a process called walk-through. This stage takes the longest time to inculcate. The team walks through the specific skill while carrying out the defensive or offensive maneuver. Here, the opposing team stays motionless to allow the other team show what they have learned of the new skill. A good example is the fit-and-freeze technique.

Once a skill has been learnt in the slow stages, the team then goes full speed also known as scrimmage. Under the watchful eye of the coach, the teams play their specific skills at game speed with the offensive showcasing and defense preparing to stop the new skill appropriately. This is important for rookies so as to acclimatize their muscles and minds to real game situations. This also helps the defense with timing and reaction planning on the go. The offense team can use this to learn how to reorganize after passes and late-developing blocks. In this stage, very limited coaching takes place since the coach can only see a little of what goes on due to the speed.

It is advisable to take only 20 minutes to do drills in youth football training. This will allow more time for team coordination and synchronizing plays. In general, a two hour practice session per day is just enough to make a good team.




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