| As a youth football player I was one of those odd kids | | | | football plays will fail and then our team will fail. The |
| that loved to go to football practice. We all have some | | | | kids need to be trained that every detail is important |
| of those type of kids on our teams every year, but in | | | | and non-negotiable. Peer pressure is a very important |
| todays world of unlimted choices and instant | | | | tool in youth football, the kids will police themselves in |
| gratification, we see less and less of these kids these | | | | this drill, they don't want to have to run endless 20 yard |
| days. As a youth football player, I dreaded those first | | | | sprints. |
| few weeks of torture and deprivation, but knew in the | | | | After a few start and stops, eventually the kids will |
| end that we would eventually get into learning the | | | | embrace this drill as a challenge and look forward to it. |
| game and actually playing. Other youth players on my | | | | Kids on our team actually ask for this drill, they like to |
| teams often never got to that point, they didn't know | | | | see how many perfect plays they can do in a row, |
| there was an end result that was worth waiting for, | | | | they want to set new records. After you've run this |
| some would sour on the game or quit during those first | | | | drill for 20 minutes in 90 degree heat there is no |
| miserable 2 weeks. | | | | greater pressure than to be on play number 18, the |
| As time went on, I ended up playing High School, then | | | | kids don't want to start over again at 1. To add even |
| College Football. The physical portion of the game | | | | more pressure to the situation, call a pass play on the |
| became less important than the mental toughness | | | | 20th play. You never know when a game can come |
| needed to perform well. Being perfect with technique | | | | down to a very last second pass play that you have |
| and assignment as well as the "mental toughness" of | | | | to make under huge pressure. |
| the individual was more important than just dominating | | | | Another great way to build mental maturity is to |
| physically at these upper levels. As a player moves up | | | | Scrimmage against teams that are out of your league. |
| the ladder of competition, the disparities in talent are | | | | There are multiple youth football leagues in our area |
| less and less pronounced and the mental portion of the | | | | and we try and develop relationships with teams in all |
| game becomes more important. | | | | of them. Set up mid-season scrimmages against |
| At the youth level, the higher the level of competition | | | | teams that are the exact opposite of your team or |
| the greater the importance of mental toughness is to | | | | the teams you typically face. If you are an inner-city |
| the success of your team. If you have a stud player | | | | team, scrimmage a rural or suburban team. If your |
| or two that has carried your team all season, when | | | | league is a run dominated league, play a spread |
| you get to the upper levels of competition, the other | | | | passing team. If your team is good but small, |
| teams are going to have two to three studs as good | | | | scrimmage a huge team or even a team that is an |
| or better than yours. You can rarely get by on talent | | | | age bracket or classification higher. Doing this shows |
| alone when you play at the highest levels of youth | | | | your kids you can play against anyone, the more |
| football especially when you got to the playoffs or | | | | extreme the differences, the better it is for your |
| travel out of town to play. Your team has to be | | | | football team. |
| prepared to play in dogfights where they may have to | | | | We also like to create pressure situations for our kids |
| play from behind or be matched up against far | | | | during practice. We will often wrap practice up by |
| superior teams. | | | | practicing field goals. In our youth football league the |
| Many youth coaches that are now in their playoffs or | | | | extra point kick is worth 2 points, the run or pass is just |
| traveling to National Tournaments are looking for | | | | 1 point, hence the kicks are very important. If you play |
| edges, physical, emotional and mental edges. Traveling | | | | a team that can't kick extra points and your team can |
| out of state to play games against unfamiliar teams | | | | and you score a touchdown, you in essence have a 2 |
| can be very challenging mentally for your football | | | | score lead if you can make your extra point kick. We |
| team. Maybe you are from a primarily white suburban | | | | put our field goal team on the practice field then put all |
| area and you are matched up with an all-black | | | | the other kids on the team opposite them, they jump |
| inner-city team or you play a team that outweighs | | | | up and down, yell, scream etc to distract the kicker. |
| your offensive line by over 60 pounds per player, it | | | | After a few kicks we then tell the kicker if he makes |
| happens all the time in playoff and tournament games. | | | | the next kick, we get 10 minutes of "game time", if he |
| If your kids don't have a lot of mental maturity, it's going | | | | misses we will run plays out 20 yards for the next 10 |
| to be very difficult for them to succeed in these type | | | | minutes. Obviously he's under a lot of pressure here, |
| situations. Often when faced with this type of | | | | we may even add a player or two behind the line of |
| challenges, many youth players develop mysterious | | | | scrimmage near the holder spot and have them yell at |
| illnesses or injuries. In boxing terms we call this "looking | | | | the kicker as well. |
| for a soft place to land". Many of you youth coaches | | | | We do the same with some of our pass catching drills. |
| that have not gone to these tournaments would be | | | | We will line up our offensive formation right in front of |
| surprised at how poorly some teams perform. Teams | | | | where the parents are that have come to watch our |
| that have been bullies in their own leagues face | | | | football practice. We let the kids and parents know |
| adversity or a quality match-ups for the first time and | | | | that if we complete the next pass, practice is over, if |
| fold like a cheap deck of cards. I'm speaking of teams | | | | we don't complete it, we get 10 more minutes of team |
| that come in with amazing records, but get smacked in | | | | offense with 20 yard football plays being run out. |
| the mouth for the first time and crumble. But there are | | | | Again we are creating pressure situations with positive |
| techniques you can use when coaching youth football, | | | | and negative team consequences based on the |
| to prepare your team for these inevitable challenges. | | | | results and effort of the team. We may even place |
| I've found there is no last minute magic bullet or | | | | 4-5 players at the catching point of this pass, having |
| speech that can help your kids over this type of hump. | | | | the kids yelling and waving their arms to distract the |
| There are some pre-game tips listed here on the blog | | | | reciever to train him to handle pressure. |
| that can help lessen some of the stress, see "Beating | | | | When doing team offensive reps on air in practice I |
| the Bully Team" entry. But helping your kids develop | | | | often require that we get a play off every 20 |
| some mental toughness throughout the season is | | | | seconds. I will call the cadence to set the pace and |
| what's needed to tame this ghost. We try and create | | | | tempo. Getting everyone into position and running a |
| pressure situations during practice all year that will | | | | perfect play every 20 seconds creates pressure, but |
| show our kids they can perform well under lots of | | | | also shows the kids they can run lots of plays quickly |
| pressure. | | | | in time sensitive situations. Since we are always a |
| Some of the tactics we use: | | | | no-huddle team, we are always in hurry-up mode. |
| 20 Perfect Offensive Football Plays in a row. We run | | | | While my teams over the last 7 years have rarely |
| our offensive plays out on air. Our backs and pullers | | | | trailed in many games, we have had a number where |
| run everything out 20 yards, our linemen take their first | | | | we did and had to make a comeback. We often |
| two steps and freeze, then on a whistle sprint 20 | | | | scored right before the half in time sensitive situations. |
| yards to a designated spot for the next play. Needless | | | | This season my age 7-9 kids scored on the last play |
| to say the kids get pretty winded as I'm calling out both | | | | of the first half in 3 separate games and in the last |
| the plays and cadence to keep the pace very fast. | | | | minute of the half in 5 of 9 games. We all know that |
| Each play must be executed flawlessly for it to | | | | scoring right before the half is a back breaker in youth |
| "count" and we don't quit until we get 20 perfect plays | | | | football. We did this by running a lot of plays in a small |
| in a row. Perfect means the alignment and stances of | | | | amount of time, our kids just didn't panic when the |
| all the players is perfect, each linemen has led and | | | | clock was winding down, they fully expected to score. |
| finished with his correct foot, each back has | | | | We have played out of league and out of state |
| performed his responsibilities either blocking, faking or | | | | tournament games against much larger and more |
| running perfectly and that we have 100% effort from | | | | athletic competition. Our teams mental maturity is what |
| everyone on the play. This includes the back-ups | | | | helped us compete in these games. Don't neglect |
| running with the group at full attention and effort. If one | | | | developing mental maturity with your kids especially if |
| player breaks down, we start over again at 1. | | | | you expect to play in a big game or travel out of town |
| The kids need to understand that this is an 11 player | | | | to play in one of the many youth football tournaments |
| game and if one player fails his responsibility, our | | | | out there. |