I am a believer that at every age level you need to practice the proper form for blocking and tackling. One of the local high schools in our area that has won three of the last 5 state championships believes in this as well. Each practice they take the time to make sure all the players know how to get into a stance, block and tackle with the correct form.
If it is good enough for them then I believe it is good enough for me. It doesn’t matter if I am coaching a flag team, tackle team, 5 year-old player or teenagers, I practice form blocking at every practice. After we do our daily warm-ups and agility runs through the pads, we block one on one against the hand pads.
We take our time with each player to make sure they are low and in the proper stance. When we blow the whistle each player fires out of their stance and drives into the player holding the pad across from them. We teach the players to make contact in the chest area with both hands open, while staying low and driving their opponent using their legs.
We make sure that the player’s hips stay straight and they do not turn towards the sidelines. We have learned that player’s who do not keep their hips straight usually lose the battle. It is importantto stay low and straight if you want to control the line of scrimmage. If the player’s form blocking is lousy we will work with them until it is perfected. We have found that less talented player with perfect form will out perform a more talented form.
