Football Toolbox

How To Keep Up Practice Intensity In The Last Few Weeks Of The Season

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This article is republished with permission. The original article appears at How To Keep Up Practice Intensity In The Last Few Weeks Of The Season.

Question: We didn’t make the playoffs, but have one regular season game to go. How do we keep them motivated to work and get better when the finality of the season hits?

Every season many coaches find that there may be a struggle toward the end of the season to keep your practice intensity up. You feel it as a coach and I remember experiencing it as a player. It’s important to remember how you felt as a player so you can be able to adjust and adapt to your team’s needs.

Symptoms of Poor Practice Intensity

What does this look like to a team when your not having a great week? It means that when you are going through your drills, everything is slower or quieter then normal. Or maybe it is taking a long time to get the players going in a drill that they have been doing all season. Sometimes it could be players just not running around in practice like they used to.  You may be tempted to get fired up and start yelling at the players for not caring. And they may not care like they used to either. But that isn’t an excuse to have a bad week of practice – just because you don’t feel like it we would all agree.

Some of this may depend on on how your season is going. If you haven’t won any games up to this point, they could be down about how their season is going. Maybe they just came off of a tough loss. Maybe they even came off of a great win, but expended so much energy that they are still coming down off the high of the emotion. There are a million reasons why your team could be slowing down, but either way, it is a tough issue to deal with and as a coach you want to find a solution because if you don’t, you might end up with an entire week of bad practices and we all know what that means going into your next game.

Responding To Practice Intensity

I think it’s fair to say that if you go down the road of reprimanding your team, they may respond to your talk or punishment (like extra conditioning). However, you may also be missing something that is causing them to slow down and this could be an important signal from your team that you don’t want to miss. If you are a coach who resorts to this kind of motivation every single time, your team will probably just get used to it and it will lose its effectiveness. You also run the risk of completely losing your team because they simply just don’t like to be yelled at and punished – they may feel like you are just a crazy coach!

Rest and Recovery During The Season

One reason that is commonly overlooked is that they could be struggling because they are physically exhausted. Stop and take a look at how long your season has been going. How long are your practices? Are you still heavily conditioning at this point? If you are, it probably won’t make too much of a difference because it’s too late to change their conditioning anyway at this point. It’s also said that “fresh legs win games.” If your players legs are tired and not getting the recovery they need, maybe your team needs to back off the conditioning. I have become much more sensitive to this every since I began coaching track sprinters. Physiologically, I have learned, that it takes a solid 48 hours for the human body to fully recover from an all out sprint or exercise. Knowing this has help me space out our heavy conditioning so we never do back to back hard conditioning days. I’d rather keep up a level of conditioning all week alternating low conditioning days with high ones…even the day before the game, so that we are fully ready but not overtired. To keep legs fresh but still fast, you focus more and more on speed and less on length of conditioning as you near your game day.

How Routine Effects Practice Intensity

Another reason that practices sometimes start to feel low on intensity is because the players are bored with the daily ritual. While it’s great to practice skills and drills repetitiously, after 6-7 weeks of the same drills and routine, almost anybody would struggle with lagging a little – especially a bunch of teenagers! Think about mixing it up a bit with the order of practice and even doing some “planned” surprise segments. Special teams and special situations are great to add in here and if you want to really get the team energized…make it a competitive match up.

I’ve also had a lot of fun making up new segments just for fun. Like a Backwards Indy Period where lineman do receiver and running back drills and the WR/RB/QB’s do a few OL drills. Or for 5 minutes we split the team up and play a “huge” game of touch football ..30 v 30 on the 25 yd line going in. Just fun stuff like that can really turn the atmosphere of your practice around. And all you are really sacrificing is 5-10 minutes.

Finally, I think it’s really important to start tapering your practices down as the year gets closer to the end. The closer you get to the end there’s less you can do in the terms of skill development anyway so it doesn’t make sense to keep hammering away at it when you really just need to perfect it. Fewer reps, as long as they are high quality are actually better then getting a lot of reps where the quality starts to suffer and bad habits can be formed.

Playoff Bound or Banquet Ready

Fortunately, if your team is playoff bound, the excitement and energy picks up pretty easily once you begin a playoff run. But if your not bound for the playoffs, there’s no reason you can’t still have great weeks of practice having fun playing the game of football! Make sure your attitude and team talks reflect this approach and your players will pick up on it. Think back also to the most fun times you had as a player because there may be some fun things you want to bring out to practice. I’ll never forget how special the last week of practice was for me as both a HS and College athlete. We had a special theme every day for the Seniors and took a few minutes at the end of practices to do some really memorable rituals like run the last lap around the field together, or take a final hit on the sled or tackle dummy. It’s memories like those that we all hopefully have that make football great forever!

Key Points To Talk About

Reasons to stay motivated to work should include many of the following:

  1. Focus on excellence..it’s who we are. Our circumstances don’t affect our performance. We are thermometers, not thermostats.
  2. Make every day, week, moment count. Because the future is just a whole string of nows. Stay focused in the moment – it’s how you achieve real improvement and growth.
  3. Memories – Your season ends sooner then later, the pads come off, the fans go home. Make this one count. As long as you have a practice or game left, there’s always a chance to make something great happen…insert motivational team example or story here!
  4. Remind and review season goals. How does what we do today accomplish that goal?
  5. Refocus on Weekly Game goals. One of the best reminders of a goal you want to accomplish is to make sure you see it or hear it daily. I set up my personal goals to be texted to me daily or pop up every time I open a new browser window. It can be really helpful to have some basic team goals that can be reviewed before, after and even during every game. These include simple goals like offensive points scored per game (ex. >21), defensive points allowed (<18), No big plays of +15yds allowed. No scores in the final 2min of each half or game. Win the turnover battle, etc.

Final Thoughts

However you end up addressing the intensity level of practices is a key responsibility of the coach in charge. By communicating and modifying the way practice is run, much of this problem can be addressed directly. Having a problem like this is also a good reminder that practice intensity is not something that can be ignored or not discussed until it becomes a problem. Our coaching philosophies should be addressing many of these key points regularly so that it’s not a new thing when things naturally slow down.

It’s also important to be flexible and have a finger on the needs of your team so you anticipate and adjust quickly.

“Polling your assistants thoughts can sometimes help, but the best way to get great feedback on how players are feeling is to ask them and watch them.”

Make sure you give them the trust and respect to get an honest answer from them about how their bodies are handling the stresses of the season. Football is a grind physically and mentally if we are not careful and especially towards the end of the season, many coaches make the mistake of not adjusting to their teams needs soon enough. Don’t make this mistake! Watch your team’s practice intensity and adjust practices as needed. Keep players fresh for a few great high intensity segments and short enough that they don’t start going through the motions just for the sake of practicing.

Weekly In-Season Preparation

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The following information represents how several different successful football programs from around the country prepare each week for their next upcoming football game.

 

Weekly In-season Preparation (School #1)

With the introduction of Hudl and other scouting programs we do not have to drive anywhere early Sunday morning to exchange tape with the opposing coaching staff. We also do not have to spend hours and hours on Sunday breaking down film when we could be spending time with our families and break film down in the comfort of our own homes.  I like breaking down the last two games played by our opponent. Once we receive the film on Hudl either later Saturday or the first thing Sunday morning we start breaking down film.

All six of the varsity coaches has a job. Our line coach will input the down, distance, hash and OKD (offense, kicking, defense). Once this information is inputted our offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach will look at what base defense the opponent likes to run. He will then look at how they adjust to our formations. He will look at any blitzing tendencies on specific downs. He looks at coverages and any other defense they may run in special situations, i.e.… short yardage or passing downs. He will always try to find the “bubble” and the “fish”. The “bubble” is any opening on the defensive line. What are they giving us? The “fish” is any player who may be weak on the defensive line. Someone we may run at often. On top of all that he looks at personnel. Who is making all the tackles? Who is their best defensive lineman? Who is their best cover man?

Once all the information is programmed into Hudl the offensive coordinator will print out a report on the opponent’s tendencies along with some cut ups.

On the defensive side the secondary coach and I look at the opponent’s offense. We plug in all their formations, pass plays and run plays. The program will keep track of positive and negative yardage on a play and where the drive starts and ends. Once we plug in all the information the program will spit out a report of our choice. I like to look at what is their favorite formation with their three favorite plays out of it. I pay attention to their overall three favorite run plays and their three favorite pass plays. Once I find these out I will draw up our defense to try and stop these plays. Let them beat us with something else. Besides favorite formations and plays I look at personnel. Who are their go to backs? How effective is their quarterback? Can he beat us with his arm? His legs? Both? Do their receivers block well and run good routes? Who can we blitz against on the offensive line?

Along with personnel we look at special or trick plays if they have any.  Our special teams coach looks at all special team’s formations and types of kick. Do they kick from a hash? Does their kicker kick it into the end zone? Where could we return the ball? What type of punt do they run? Rugby or standard? What are their fakes? Any special extra point plays we need to be aware of? We look to exploit any weaknesses they may have on their special teams. He will also draw up formations of our opponents specials and come up with a way to defend them or take advantage of a weakness.

Besides watching film we try to scout the game in person if we could. If we are not getting that tape we will film the game and upload it onto Hudl to break down. Sometimes we may need to break down more than two games. When we get to a game I like standing close enough to the players as they walk onto the field to get an idea of how big or small they are. Some players play bigger or smaller on film.

Once we are done with all the breakdown on Sunday or Monday morning we put all the information into a scouting report to give to the players electronically. I have spent hours making photocopies to just find them sitting on the locker room floor. We will quiz the players on what we see on film about our opponent. We want them to study them and know them well. Just by paying attention to their plays they may tip off if their line is pulling by seeing a lineman in a different stance. A back may be closer to the line on a lead play or the quarterback may change his stance in a pass or run situation. We try to pick up any little thing that might give us any advantage.

On Monday afternoon we introduce the opponents scouting report after our lifting session and then take it out onto the field. We go over the opponents favorite formations and plays on offense and then go over their base defensive fronts and coverages. On Monday night we meet as a staff to go over the practice plan for the week and the coordinators draw up the scout cards.

Tuesday through Friday we implement the opponent’s offense, defense and special teams along with important personnel. As the week goes on we see what we like or don’t like and make small adjustments until we are ready. The coordinators will make up their depth charts and call sheets throughout the week and have them ready by Friday night. Saturday morning when we meet with the players we go over the report one more time just to make sure we are all ready to go.

 

Weekly In-season Preparation (School #2)

Friday – After the game both copies (Wide and End zone Tight) are put into HUDL along with the data from tag a game. An assistant coach does this immediately upon our bus returning or right after the game at home. When I get home I complete the game film by matching up the angles and data, usually by midnight. Many of the assistant coaches are watching the game as it is uploaded.

Saturday – We meet offensively and defensively at 6:30 AM to review and analyze game film together. Players who need to see the trainer arrive between 7-8 AM and all players arrive for an 8 AM team meeting and special teams film review (20-30 minutes). At approximately 8:30 the JV players are released to warm-up for a home JV game, if on the road the leave around 8:15 AM and do not watch the special teams film. The varsity players watch the game film with the offensive and defensive coaches until 9:30 AM. The players then work with a YOGA instructor for a 40-minute workout while the coaches complete all game exchanges and begin preparation on the upcoming opponent. The varsity players are dismissed after watching the JV game if it is a home game, if it is a road game they are dismissed after YOGA, around 10:15 AM. Our Sophomore team has a similar Saturday with weight training in place of YOGA and our Freshman A and B teams have 9 and 11 AM games. The varsity staff finalizes which scout film we will mark over the weekend as homework and are dismissed, usually around 11:30 AM. Coaches work independently at home on the scout film and scouting reports, communicating via email prior to our Sunday Night Game Planning meeting. Each assistant coach has data to enter on the scout film: D/D, yard line, hash, formation, motion, play, result, front, stunts, blitzes, coverage are split up among the coaches.

Sunday –  On Sunday night we meet at 6:30 PM until about 9 PM. This allows our coaches to get away from the game some, spend quality time with their families on Saturday as well as Sunday. The 6:30 start allows the coaches to have dinner with their families and also arrive before bed time for their children. On Sunday night we meet first as a staff and review the game statistics and receive an injury report from our athletic trainer. We discuss the depth chart and any changes for all 3 phases of the game. We complete the practice plans for the week and discuss game day travel times if necessary. We talk about the offensive and defensive game plans and then split up by offensive and defensive staff to finalize the game plan and review scout film. Scout film and game plans are shared with the players on HUDL.

Monday – The offensive and defensive coordinators and coaches meet with the players after school in the classroom and communicate the game plan to the players and watch scout game film. Practice in full pads.

 

Weekly In-season Preparation (School #3)

Game planning truly begins in the off-season and carries into the pre-season with film coding and breakdown. Before the season begins the coaching staff should have a general understanding of the makeup of their league or conference especially at the HS level where teams often have similar offensive and defensive schemes. It is important that similarities and general opponent tendencies are identified to properly prepare the pre-season install.

On a weekly basis, responsibilities and meeting times are structured in the following ways:

Friday Night (Post Game): Position Coaches watch and critique position players preparing for a more thorough breakdown and grading of the previous games performance. Head Coach and Coordinators do the same, but should immediately begin examining the next opponent for general information about offensive and defensive scheme.

Saturday: Position coaches, on their own time, grade previous game’s performances and identify points of emphasis for the following week. Specific coaches are tasked with coding film of the upcoming opponent. Often we focus only on the film that includes opponents who run similar offensive and defensive schemes as our own to maximize efficiency in film breakdown. It is the duty of the Head Coach and Coordinators to examine as much film as possible, regardless of scheme to see if there are any wrinkles/adjustments we would want to implement that other teams have had success with.

Sunday: All Varsity coaches meetings, open to any lower level coaches who wish to attend, to discuss the previous week’s pluses and minuses, personnel decisions based on previous weeks performance, upcoming opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and possible game plan adjustments for the week. Position coaches are expected to have grades from the previous week’s performances to discuss personnel, as well as have an understanding based on film study of the next opponent. All coaches are encouraged to bring suggestions to the table in regards to positional points of emphasis, schematic adjustments they feel will be beneficial for their position group and thus the success of the team, and have drills ready to address the points of emphasis throughout the upcoming week. All coaches meet and discuss both sides of the ball, as often times a defensive coaches perspective on offensive adjustments can be vital in deciding the expected success of the adjustment and vice-versa. While it is the job of the coordinators to make the final decision on schematic game plan and personnel decisions, every coach has the right to voice an opinion and open a line of communication that should ultimately lead to the best plan of action. Before Sunday meetings are done each coach should have their weekly plans in place, ready for adjustment at any point, and the general game plan should be in place for practice the rest of the week.  Monday: Film time with the team is used to cover the strengths and weaknesses of the previous week’s game and discuss the current week’s points of emphasis for each position group. Once that has been covered, the previous week is put behind the team and we move our focus to the upcoming opponent. Film is used to discuss the opponent’s offensive and defensive schemes and tendencies, identify personnel that will be a focus of the week to stop, and to cover any planned adjustments to scheme or personnel for the week. This time is VERY important for keeping an open line of communication with the players and helping them understand why the game plan is the way it is and how we intend to achieve success with the game plan.

Monday-Thursday: Daily coach’s meetings before and after practice are important for discussion about the adjustments that are being implemented, how successful they look to be and what can be removed for the week, as well as keep up with personnel decisions (obviously influenced by a number of factors such as health, academics, performance, etc.). These meetings are meant to sustain an open dialogue about the success of the team and keep everyone on the same page heading into the upcoming game. As always, every coach is expected and encouraged to present questions, concerns and ideas that can be debated to reach a positive outcome.

Approach to Practice

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The following information represents several different programs’ approaches for running a successful football program from top to bottom.

Approach to Practice

The first thing that is told to the student-athletes is that practice is the coach’s time; the intent is to work hard, be efficient, and simply get better. The games are for the players; this is the player’s opportunity to show their improvement and skill on the field. Practice is designed specifically to be efficient, challenging, and focused. The practice schedule will be broken down into five 30 minute segments with specific focus for each segment. The schedule is broken into 35 segments of five minutes each, which helps to keep the practice efficient and focused. Segments are intended to be broken up into short time frames so that there will be constant movement, instruction, and drill work. The quick pace of practice is ideal for student athletes and coaches because it helps differentiate instruction and allows players to remain focused due to the constant movement. This is also important because it allows for efficient movement from individual position period, into group period, and then a smooth transition into team period. Practice will begin each day with a team meeting in the film room where we begin with going over the practice agenda, word of the week, and focus for the day. There are times where the coaches will show a short video that helps emphasize our focus and word of the week. After our team meeting the players will break off into their positions to get detailed and specified instruction from their position coach. After film and instruction, the players will put on their pads, get a team breakdown, and head to the field to stretch.

Stretching before practice is intended to be focused and is taken very seriously in our program. Each coach will be placed strategically throughout the stretching line to ensure the players are stretching properly and at an intense level. Properly stretching is essential in injury prevention and also sets the tone mentally for an efficient and focused practice. Before each practice and game our team will use plyometric stretching technique which uses movement and is ideal for pre-workout performance. Saturdays after games we will use static stretching to relax the muscles and help the healing process after a long week of practice and an intense game Friday night.

Our first segment is working with our specialist. The kickers and punters will work with long snappers and holders while our return specialist will rotate working on fielding kicks and punts. While this is going on our gunners, jammers, and punt blockers will be working on specific drills to improve technique. The quarterbacks will be going through their throwing progression to get warmed up during this segment. The offensive line and defensive line will be also going through their pre-practice routine working on technique and warming up. After the individual segment of special teams is done the specialists will move into team segments to work on kickoff return, kick coverage, punt, punt return, punt block, and punt protection. The team segment will vary on each day depending on the emphasis and the scouting report for that week.

The next segment will be offense specific in which we start off with position specific individual instruction. The first thing we always will work on is footwork and technique. We feel as though footwork and technique is the most important aspect at any position which is why we will work on every day with every position. The last five minutes of indy each position will go over responsibilities in the playbook.

After the individual segment the offense will move into a group segment in which the quarterbacks will rotate between working on the passing game with WR’s and DB’s to working on the running game with the OL and RB’s. During this segment the focus will be on carrying over the footwork and technique that was worked on in the individual segment along with executing responsibilities on each play. It should be noted that although this segment is emphasizing offense, the defensive players will also be going through individual instruction, working on technique, and executing their responsibilities on each play.

The final portion of the offensive segment will be focused on executing plays by coming together as a whole team. This will give the 1st team offense an opportunity to go against the 1st team defense and also give the 2nd team players, offense and defense, an opportunity to improve as well. The team portion will be live drill with the defense “fitting” the tackle; we do not want full contact tackling. We always finish our offense segment off by working on PATs and field goals, while also working on PAT and field goal block.

The last segment of practice is always our defensive focused segment in which is ran much like the offensive segment. The players will break off into individual instruction, move into group, and finish off with a team segment. The offense will also be going through indy, group, and team; however, the difference is that this segment is designed to be focused on defense. It should be noted that while during the team period of the offensive focused segment the scout team will give defensive looks of the opponent of that week and during the team period of the defensive focused segment the scout team will give offensive looks of the opponent of that week. The team portion will be a mix of scouting our opponent and going “best” on “best.

The end of practice is designed to do two things: Work on “unique” situations such as Hail Mary’s, two-minute offense/defense, victory formation, etc. We then finish practice every day by spotlighting players that have demonstrated the word of the week. For instance, if the word of the week is effort we will spot light a player(s) who had shown great effort in practice for that day. The goal of each practice is to work hard, be efficient, be intense, give constant instruction, and improve in each segment. Practice is designed to have constant movement and instruction for all athletes, we want to limit players from standing around. A properly planned and executed practice is essential to build and maintain a successful program. Furthermore, a properly planned and executed practice will maximize player improvement and minimize behavior issues. Our program will continue to emphasize the importance of a focused and properly executed stretch and we will continue to make adjustment when needed to ensure that our practices are structured with an emphasis on maximizes each minute for player development. We are also committed to developing and maintaining a positive and safe learning environment for every athlete, this includes keeping players properly hydrated throughout practice.

 

Coach #2

More important than any game strategy or fundamental technique ideology is the quality of the practice session. Practice sessions must be meaningful, fast-paced, and efficient. We want to accomplish as much as possible in the short amount of time we have. We do this through careful preparation and planning, enthusiasm throughout the session, and “coaching on- the-fly.” If we have 150 minutes to practice, we want to spend as much of those 150 minutes practicing as possible. Water breaks occur after reps. Bottles and water cows are always available. Critiques from coaches occur during natural breaks between reps. We do not stop practice to explain something unless absolutely necessary.

Student to Student Interaction: Just as we have a limited amount of practice time, we have a limited number of coaches. Therefore, players must assist the coaches in the following ways: 1.  Players are enthusiastic in drills and support their teammates vocally. 2.  Players offer drill explanation during natural breaks between/during reps. Players should not critique the quality of their teammates’ performance. Rather they should point out tips on proper completion of the drill/reinforcement of teaching points. 3. Players jump in on reps and hold each other accountable. Older players will help coaches establish a rotation on scout teams.

Student to Coach Interaction: Student/coach interaction during practice should be limited to asking for clarification when necessary, and responding to questions when prompted. Players need to recognize the short amount of time available to the coach and should allow him to use the time as he sees fit. Suggestions or comments should be tabled until after practice at an appropriate time and place. Players should not attempt to tell a coach what he saw, unless asked for input. Such communication detracts from the efficiency of a practice.

Teaching Methods: Drills should be designed by each position coach to maximize the time available. When planning, consideration should be made to get the greatest number of players the maximum amount of repetitions. Standing in line should be minimized. Explanation should be minimized. Drills should be named for ease of setup. Any necessary equipment should be available and set up prior to the drill segment beginning. Coaches should use team managers to accomplish this.

Drills should be fast-paced. We need to get our conditioning in during our drills. When practice is over, practice is over. We do not extend practice to run sprints. Our conditioning must come from 150 minutes of hard, full-speed practice. Live drills are kept to a minimum to avoid injury. Full-speed practice means full-speed to the ball… not through the ball.

Formative Assessments: Coaches should constantly be checking for understanding of concepts and mastery of skills throughout drills and practice sessions. Checking for understanding should be performed “on-the-fly.” Mastery of skills can be observed by the coach. Any concept or skills the coach identifies as needing re-teaching or reinforcement will be recorded by a team manager. The coach will then have the opportunity to incorporate reviews into video teaching sessions and/or future practices.

Summative Assessments: As coaches, we have the luxury of weekly games to serve as evaluative tools. Following each week’s game, the position coach will establish grades based on points of emphasis from the previous week of practice. Players will only be graded on 1) points of emphasis from the week and 2) in-game effort. Coaches will use these assessments to plan the following week’s practice segments. Coaches should plan to continue to emphasize points until an acceptable level (determined by the coach) of mastery has been reached. Additional points of emphasis may be added, but no more than three points of emphasis should be incorporated into any one week.

Practice Organization: The daily practice will be organized into between 24-30 5-minute segments, depending on the time of year and whether 6th period was used for weight training. The horn for each segment will be strictly adhered to for the following reasons: 1.  We have multiple concepts and skills that need to be addressed in each practice session. 2.  We will do everything in our power to get to all of them. 3.  The segments keep practice moving at an efficient pace. 4.  As the segment clock progresses, coaches are provided instructional time feedback. As a coach is notified he is on his final segment of a three-segment teaching period, he knows he needs to move on to his final concepts if necessary. 5.  Five minute segment breakdowns provide coaches with a real indication of how long drills take to accomplish effectively. Since we are constantly revisiting our drills, the log of past practices will give us an idea of which drill period need to be extended and which periods can be cut down.

Football Practice Philosophy and Guidelines

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Practice Philosophy and Guidelines for Coaches During Actual Practice Sessions

Utilization of practice time is of utmost importance.  You must have practice segments organized to the minute.  Each segment should last approximately 5 minutes but not longer than 10 minutes in duration.  Each segment should be coached to its fullest potential and once the period is over then you must proceed to the next period, no exceptions.  By sticking to this routine, it forces coaches to coach hard and too near game like situation.

Coaches are to get as much “talking” done as possible before going onto the field.  You do not want to slow down the tempo of practice.  Enthusiasm is a vital role in a good practice.  By standing around and “talking” to your players will sometimes slow down their intensity.  Players need to know that when they step onto the grass they must be a 150% player as well as the coach being a 150% coach to his players.  Your practices should be sharp, enthusiastic, with lots of hustle.  This can only be possible if you have “A Unified Coaching Staff” demanding the same style of play.  Be Positive … Coach up and make your players the best that they can be!

As a staff you must stress to your players the importance of a great work ethic.  If your opponent runs 10 – 100 yard sprints then you must run 10 better and harder.  It is my belief that if you are going to change the attitude of your players then you must change the attitude for what it takes to win.  The little Things Make the Difference, Never Compromise Your Beliefs, and the Way You Practice Is the Way You Will Play On Game day.  If you are to win on Friday night, then you must prepare Monday through Thursday as players; and Monday through Sunday as coaches.  You must want to practice the basic fundamentals of football every day.  You must want to be fundamentally sound, physically and mentally tough.

Approach to Establishing Your Football Drills Both  In-Season and Off-Season

“A good coach makes better players out of border line athletes and often makes good players out of mediocre ones.  A good coach emphasizes their abilities – enables them to make the most of the latent talents – gives them the best chance by putting the right player in the right place.”  Robert Zuppke

As a coach we make our greatest contribution in the construction, planning and administering of drills.  More important than what system of offense and defense you run, it’s how you teach your style of football.

You must be very selective in the drills that you use.  They should:

Cover considerable ground in a short period of time.

Be well planned and administered.

Be known by name to the players so that they do not require re-explanation after the first two or three times the drill has been run.

Most drills should have a secondary movement.  Almost all actions in football are based on carrying out a secondary movement, after an initial one.

Do not make drills too elaborate; keep them short, snappy, crisp, and positive.

The preparation for drills must be made in full detail before hitting the practice field.  The coach conducting the drill should see that his drills are prepared in advance, including any necessary teaching aids, such as balls, cones, practice bags, etc.  Be certain managers are informed in advance of what equipment is needed, and if no managers get to practice early to have your stations set and ready to go.

 

Basically There Are Five Types Of Drills:

Fundamental Drills – these are to teach all the skills of tackling, blocking, stance, etc.

Reaction Drills – primarily for developing quickness, balance, and agility.  These should be included briefly in almost every practice.

Conditioning Drills – once the season has begun these will be almost entirely running drills.

Toughening Drills – the primary purpose here is to develop and encourage the desire and ability to utilize the physical contact aspect of the game of football.   These drills should be used only to the extent so as not to dull the desire for further contact.

Fun Drills – used to lighten the practice load late in the season or as a morale booster.

 

How to Win Football Games:

Don’t get out worked.

Don’t get out hit.

Don’t get out hustled.

Eliminate the turnover.

Eliminate the long run and long pass.

Eliminate missed assignments.

Eliminate foolish penalties.

Have a great kicking game.

Win the battles on the goal line.

Always believe that it can get done.

Make half time adjustments.

Morale is the catalyst that turns offense, defense, kicking game and goal line into victory.  It is not something you can buy; it is something that comes from enjoying success, success breeds success.  There must be a need on a player’s part to desire success and wish to work for it.  This is where the coach plays an important role in determining whether pride will grow and flourish.

 

Practice and Drill Development Considerations

The following information is basic practice and drill development considerations each coach should remember when installing and developing his position players and for developing general points for establishing a practice plan.  Remember, no matter the age or the situation people need to feel important.

  • Give each player a chance to succeed and be positive. We’re only as good as the last guy; so how good will that player be?  How important will you make him feel?
  • Push players to their full maximum efforts.
  • Make your “Drill Atmosphere” full speed.
  • Teach at the top position skill level, don’t coach down.
  • Correct all techniques and assignment and assignment errors “Immediately.”
  • Maintain positive discipline – control action – stress execution.
  • Teach high percentage repetitions with low percentage group discussion, develop position skills.
  • Skills are perfected by “Repetition” – move players fast through drills.
  • Begin new practice segments as fast as possible – predict effort.
  • We as coaches must continuously teach blocking and tackling, proper pursuit and contain. Emphasis first key reactions.
  • Teach the easiest way to complete the assignment – learn from repetition.
  • As a position coach stress basic skill techniques, the game is secondary.
  • Instill a practice work ethic – force your players to “Practice Hard.”
  • Be persistent in demanding that techniques are performed correctly.
  • Coach at near game like player reaction.
  • Plan and only use position drills that relate to specific position assignments.
  • End practice segments on the whistle – start new drill as soon as possible.
  • Always bring practice schedule with you to practice.
  • When working with other groups (example OL vs. DL) get your group ready quickly – do not wait for the other group – reps most important thing.
  • Be sure to set your equipment up prior to practice this helps from wasting time.
  • Recognize fatigue and be ready to adjust your drills.
  • The most important point to remember is; your coaching image can change the football life of your position players.

Remember this important point only coach what you know how to fix, this adds credibility. Don’t be a coach that your athletes have to wait on, prepare and coach with a sense of urgency.

 

About the Author of this post:

Jerry Campbell has over 30 years of high school and college coaching experience. He has experience as a head coach, offensive coordinator, and various position coaches. He has written numerous football coaching articles in various publications, is the author of over 30 books on coaching football, and has produced 12 coaching video series. Additionally, he is a nationally sought after speaker on the coaching clinic circuit.

Communication in Practice

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This article from Coaches Network discusses ideas to help you make your communication in practice more effective.

By Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

On the surface, communicating with players during a practice session may seem simple. You talk, they listen. But good communication entails much more. It needs to be done in an effective manner for each individual, as different people process information in different ways.

As a coach, you are a teacher and you spend most of your time at practice in an instructional mode. As such, you should always be clear, concise, specific, and appropriate. The following are some suggestions that should help:

To ensure that the athletes focus on what you are saying, always stop the drill. Eliminate any and all distractions.

Make sure that only one coach speaks at a time. This way, athletes are totally focused on the correction, point of instruction, or any explanation given.

Always use the same, consistent terminology to teach any skill or concept. Key words are developed with this approach and these cues should also be used during games, which should prevent misunderstanding and any accompanying mistakes.

Prepare your practice plans very carefully in the same manner as a classroom teacher does with his or her lesson plans. With time very limited for drills and instruction, explanations have to be brief and yet provide all of the necessary information. To meet this expectation, it takes time and thought to plan what and how you are going to introduce and explain skills and concepts. Long, rambling dissertations won’t work.

Deal with mistakes and possible ensuing frustration in a calm, instructional manner. It is important to remember that all students, and this includes athletes, learn at their own rate. This means that you may have to repeat explanations, reteach skills, and provide additional opportunities for more repetitions.

Never use foul or inappropriate language, even in moments when you might be aggravated or want to add emphasis. There simply is no place in education to address students in this manner.
Always be positive and encouraging in your interactions with your players. Sure, your athletes will make some mistakes as everyone does. But most individuals respond much better to positive reinforcement than stinging criticism.

While you may never have thought about how you communicate with your players during practice sessions, it is critical to your success. Knowing the skills and concepts of your sport is not enough. You have to effectively transmit this knowledge to your athletes, which takes time, effort, and thought. Exemplary coaches constantly work at and refine their communication skills and delivery methods.