Football Playbooks

How Do I Stop My Flag Football Quarterback From Throwing Interceptions?

We received a recent question from a fellow youth football coach.  He coaches the older level players in the 6th through 8th grade level and is having problems with his quarterback turning the ball over via the interception.  The question is copied below as we received it and our response will follow below the question.

I’m the coach of a youth flag football team (11-14 year old’s). . .our quarterback has a great arm, but he always finds a way to throw an interception. Are there any drills or tips that would help/prevent him from throwing so many interceptions??  The basic rules of our league state the defense is allowed to rush our quarterback from 7 yards away, and we play with no offensive line.

Our first question would be what kind of an offense are you running?  All passing offenses need multiple options to be successful.  That is the main reason having a passing game at the youth football level is so difficult.  You need to be running a scheme with hot reads (meaning if there is a blitz the receiver runs a certain route, like a slant) and check-down receivers as a safety valve in case all of the primary receivers are covered.

You need to have set routes as well as timing routes.  If the quarterback is throwing too many interceptions, and there is no offensive line, then the problem is the quarterback and receiver are not on the same page.  Video tape your games and show both players the reads you want them to make based on how the defense is playing them.  Maybe your offense is not reading the coverage right.  Some man under, zone deep coverages can be tricky for the young players to read correctly.

Review the tape and I’m sure you’ll be able to pinpoint the problem.

How do you stop an offense that keeps running to the outside?

We receive many different questions from coaches across the country and like to post some of the more common questions and give our thoughts and opinions.  The questions below we received from Pete in Seattle, Washington.

 ”I coach a youth football team and we are in the playoffs. The team we will play runs to the outside. They are bigger and I need to stop them before they beat my linebackers around the corners or they will score a touchdown.”

This is a common question we receive at every level, as well as every state in our nation.  Every coach wants to know how to stop the opponent’s superior speed.  There is no magic defense or system that will automatically make your team faster, or them slower, but with the proper scouting and preparation you can look to harness that speed and hopefully slow it down. 

The first step is to have a complete, updated and thorough scouting report of your opponent.  The key questions are:

• Is the whole team fast?
• Is it just one speed back?
• Is the back just fast or elusive as well?
• Any tendencies for certain plays?
• What big plays make him most comfortable?
• Can our fastest defender match up with him if we use a spy?

Your goal needs to have your defense trust each other and work as a unit.  Eleven good players working together as a team will always out perform one stand out individual.  You defense needs to take the star player out of his comfort zone.  Focus on making him go to areas of the field that he doesn’t like or is not comfortable with.  If you can get inside his head, he will take himself out of the game mentally.  If this happens he will not be a threat physically either.

If you have a player he you believe can stick with him, use a spy defender.  We love to run a spy out of our 34 defense since we can use a safety and the offense doesn’t even realize what we are doing.

Our coach above mentioned using his linebackers for outside containment and I believe this is wrong, especially against a fast backfield.  Use your corner backs as outside run containment and roll the safeties into a two deep zone.  This is an easy adjustment for your defense, while a hard coverage to recognize for the offense.

How Do You Become a Pop Warner Coach?

Many individuals who played high school, college and even semi pro football are now married and have a real job, however, they still want to stay involved in football. One great way is to become a volunteer youth football coach.  Youth football goes by many different names which include pee wee, midget, little guy, Pop Warner and junior football as well as many more names.

There are many different leagues and organizations where can volunteer to help.  A quick search on google, or in your local phone book, will show you the options available.   I’m sure there’s everything available from flag to tackle football with the ages ranging from 4 to 14 years old.  You will find competitive leagues, non-competitive football, local leagues as well as travel teams.  There are private organizations as well as park district level teams.

Coaching children is completely different from playing or being involved with the high school or higher levels of football.  Everything you do needs to be tweaked and adjusted for the appropriate age and skill level you are coaching.  If you have never coached little kids before, I suggest you spend at least two years as an assistant coach helping a long-term, well established successful coach.  You need to learn from a successful coach, not just one who has been coaching forever.  Many coaches have been at this for many years, yet continue to make the same mistakes because they never learned the correct way to coach kids.

In addition to helping out, you should continue to learn as much as you can about YOUTH football.  As I have stated before, youth football is very different  than older levels of football.  The younger the kids are the more difficult it is.  Far too many coaches try to relive their youth by attempting to install far too sophisticated offensive and defensive schemes.  You need to study only youth football since there are many different concepts you will need to instill into your players.

Do not take your old high school playbook and think you can teach it to a bunch of eight year old and have success.  You will learn from experienced youth coaches that there are only a few specific drills and skills you need to teach the players to have a successful season.  As the players get older you can add more detailed plays.

In closing, if you decide to coach youth football, please make sure you get a good foundation before you just take a team and hope for the best.

Where should I put my best players on defense when coaching Youth Football

A recent question we received from a fellow coach was:

Where should I put my best players on defense when coaching Youth Football? Should I play him at linebacker or at defensive end?  I am coaching a 7 and 8 year old team.

Should I put my best 2 kids at linebacker or at defensive end on defense. There is only 2 passes attempted per game roughly…
I forgot to mention that defensively, we have to play heads up on the offensive lineman. No nose tackle, etc.

When coaching such a young age group level, there is no real passing threat you need to worry yourself with.  Some coaches will chuck it deep and see if they can out run your secondary, but if you have a disciplined safety that should not be a big concern. 

It really depends on the defensive scheme you decide to use.  If you go with a 5-3 Defense then you will want to use you best players at the defensive ends position.  The defensive end has outside run responsibility and your best player should be able to stop the outside sweeps and turn the running back into the middle of your defense.

We run a playbooks.info/playbooks/defensive-playbooks/3-4-playbook/”>3-4 Defense where you need to put your best players at safety.  In the 3-4 we run our safeties have both outside run containment responsibilities as well as inside gap responsibilities like a linebacker.  There responsibilities vary depending on the stunts, blitzes or slants we are running on that particular play.

I coach 7&8 yr old football team. Should I put my best 2 kids at linebacker or at defensive end on defense. There is only 2 passes attempted per game roughly…
I forgot to mention that defensively, we have to play heads up on the offensive lineman. No nose tackle, etc.

Is the 4 – 4 Stack OR Base 5 – 3 A Better Youth Football Defense?

A recent question we received was  – Is the 4 – 4 Stack OR Base 5 – 3 A Better Youth Football Defense?  The question is repeated below.  There are many different types of defenses to run when coaching a youth football team, however a coach needs to be practical on which one to use.  At the very young ages most teams cannot pass at all so you will want to run a base defense that can stop the run.  Here is the question from our customer.

I coach youth football…….8-10 year olds. Last year we gave up a total of 8 TD’s in 9 games and went 8-1 running the base 5 -3. The good thing about the 5 – 3 is you clog the line but also are able to get your subs into the interior of that line 3 at a time so they can get their minimum plays. I am leaning towards the 4 – 4 this year because we have 2 studs at OLB and 2 studs at ILB. I have both returning starting DE’s and can work the inside of the line with my minimum play kids they just won’t get their plays as quickly as when we ran the 5-3. For anyone that has ever ran the defense or know of it how basic is it as far as gap assignments and all to teach to the boys? Like I said, I have 8 of my returners back on D when the A team takes the field so I have allot to work with. If I go to a 5 – 3 then I am losing talent at one of my LB spots. Sure I could work them into a SS role and bring them up to the strong side with the LB’s but still…….so any help is appreciated.

Our answer is pretty basic, if you went 8-1 why change?  Add a few stunts and rotations, but why would you change the entire defense?  Work on schemes for the team that beat you and solidify the returning player’s positions.  Our youth football playbook on the Base 5-3 is perfect for the 8-10 year old age group.

Is the I Formation Good for Youth Football?

A recent question from one of our readers asked  if the I formation was a good formation to run at the youth football level.  We love the I formation, in fact one of our coaches started 11-0 last year with the exact offense show in the Power I playbook on the site.  Below is the question as presented to us and our answer. 

Is the I Formation Good for Youth Football?

I don’t know if this is what we should run but this is what the head coach wants?

The first question that comes to our mind is regarding the head coach.  How much experience and what are his qualifications for coaching youth football?  Has he been there for years and has a proven track record?  Having a proven track record is important since we have many coaches with many years of experience that do not know how to coach at all.  These type of people have no business being anywhere around kids, yet they continue to coach year after year.  Some of these guy continue to coach for a variety of reasons, like being on the board of director, so first you need to look at the head coaches qualification.

If he has been around awhile, treats the kids right and has success I would be a little more trusting.  I would question anyone who is making a decision on the offense they are going to run without knowing your talent yet, unless this is grade school ball and you know all of the returning players and their ability.

If the head coach has little or no qualification, I would suggest coach elsewhere.  He will not listen to you and you’ll probably butt heads all year, so save yourself the BS and move on.  I have not had many parents help me with the direct coaching decisions due to this reason.  I have enough to do all year and do not have the time to be arguing with someone who is on a different page than our staff.

The I formation is great and we used it to help our team to an 11-0 start last year.  Our playbook is basic, but effective and that’s all you need at the 9-10 year old level.

How Do I Get The Youth Football Players to Listen To Me Better?

How Do I Get The Youth Football Players to Listen To Me Better?

What goes through you mind when you see a coach bellow at their team throughout the match and you know that won’t change a thing on the pitch?

The orders are bellowed repeatedly but the same thing happens, nothing changes.

In the end up the coach becomes exasperated as he can see what is going wrong on the field but he is unable to communicate effectively with his players, unable to make them understand what he wants changed. Could this coach be you?

If so, here are three simple ways to aid you in communicating better with your squad.

1. Do the team understand what you want them to do?

The team can only carry out your orders if firstly they know exactly what is needed of them. As well as taking in and understanding what they should do, being aware of what they SHOULD be doing is another point.

Let’s say you’ve relayed instructions for the defender to move up field to help out the winger.

The full back moves up and positions himself near the winger but keeps behind him as he considers his role as mainly a defender. He’s correct in thinking his chief job is averting the opposition attacking his goal but he needs to appreciate the advantages of combination play, as well as how he can attempt to make space or create chances for the winger.

As a coach you should set up situations both orally and visually that will allow the players to understand the bigger picture and not just how they should play, but why. This is called positive training and is valuable in helping players learn.

2. Always explain your demonstrations!

Demonstrations are an excellent way of showing the team how to play well and can be made even more so by explaining carefully why this is so. This enables players to make the association.

Using plain and simple language should be the overall objective of the coach.

Most coaches have been around a while and have picked up lots of football terminology but this may be confusing for young players.

3. Instructing during a game.

Three things I find valuable during a session are:

* Conditions

If I want my team to practice a specific tactic, we usually set up a small-sided match with a condition involved.

For example, we may focus on initial passing when positioned in the final third of the field.

to help understand when to use the first time pass I’ll mark out the final third of the pitch. We’ll practise moving quickly and running when not on the ball by strikers, so they learn to make chances for a first ball directed to them by the supporting teammate.

We’ll concentrate on the importance of the player realising where the space is, or where the runner is before he is past the ball so he can strike it. One thing I’ll ask everyone is the major plus points of passing first time in the final quarter of the pitch.

I’ll want replies such as: greater communication is needed when the game speeds up, the ball moves quicker and you need to see what’s going on around you.

* Freeze Work

During a session, I will occasionally shout ‘Statues!’ The players know to freeze precisely where they are and not to try to encroach on where they should have been.

Using this technique, you can show the players exactly where they ought to have been positioned. Ask them first where they themselves reckon they should have been and this will encourage them to work things out for themselves.

* Directing Play

Sometimes all that’s required is to have a quick word with the player when he’s running past, to remind him of tactical instructions, or how you’d like him to play.

If a player is on the opposite side of the pitch then what happens? There’s no need to halt the match, just shout the name of whatever player you wish to instruct and hold up a tactic board with a reconstruction of play on it.

Illustrate to the player what occurred and ask him how he could have done it differently. Show him how by using the tactic board then get him to repeat what he interprets from it.

What is the Effect of Problem Parents on Their Children in Youth Football?

What is the Effect of Problem Parents on Their Children in Youth Football?  Every year there seems to be at least one insane parent who cares about  nothing but themselves.  They don’t care about the team, you, your coaches, the program or worse their own kid.  These miserable excuses of a human being are not happy unless there are making trouble and bitching about something.

We have all seen it all too often. That “A ” player on the team has those laser guided missiles for parents. They know everything about the sport their child and in most cases the competition. Their vision is to see their child rise to the lofty levels of “D One”, or more commonly known as Division One College ranks. Oh yes, and this while their child is still in K-6 of course. No investment in their athletic future is too high. Personal trainer for young Mikey at all of age 7? You bet, he still needs to learn how to score with the left hand. Forget the fact that the basketball size and height of the rim could be problematic to Mikey’s physical capabilities, alas a trainer will fix that.

Then we venture into the athletic dome or for this tale the Gym. Inside the dome is where we really see it all. Live and it full color. Parents screaming for their child and cursing every bad call by the officials. Here’s another funny note, in every youth sport there is the constant need for the volunteer coach. I haven’t found the pay for coach level yet in the recreational leagues. We’ll leave that for a later novel. So here we are with the game in-hand and the poor coach trying to keep everyone happy by playing fair with their time on the court and then it happens. The A Player parent, who didn’t volunteer to coach their child takes over. With their rage in full stride they aggressively call out to the “team” to step it up and begin the quest to over take their teams coach by out yelling him or her from the bleachers. All this adds up to is chaos.

I always thought it would be fun to take all those video/dvd recorders and turn them back on the bleachers. Make a year end party video for all to see. Now that would be one pizza party worth the wait. You see, the one common thread in all this is that most parents have no idea what the sound like. They have no ill intentions in most cases either. But the negative effect this has on their children and the other players is quite real. One thing I must say about the individual sports is they are quite different on tolerance. I would give youth soccer an A for not allowing the sidelines to manage the pitch. Baseball would get an F and quite frankly I think it’s by design. Basketball is mixed. Where you have a strong League director its well managed and combined with good officials who must also make sure that they are not bigger than the game you have a great potential.

The real damage is not to the game, although it too suffers. The sad report here is the impact our children have when a parent becomes larger than the game itself weekend after weekend. All too often a child just drops out of their quest for a sports role only because the embarrassment or abuse is just not worth it anymore. Lots of downside to this when you consider most children tend to get in trouble when too much idle time is available. Sports is a wonderful way to keep this from happening.

I guess at the end of the day we as parents have to take stock. We have to look in the mirror and take a closer view of our desires personally versus our children’s enjoyment for their sport of choice. Always an interesting day at the youth games.

Which Basic Blocking Skills Should I Teach to 10-11 Year Old Youth Football Players?

Here at footballplaybooks.info we receive quite a few email questions regarding youth-football-to-win/”title=”Coaching” >coaching youth football.  We are going to start posting the questions here and our responses for all of our readers to enjoy and learn form.  Below is the question we received.

We are toying with the idea of zone blocking, and I know enough to be dangerous. My job is coaching the line.

I like the idea of double-teaming on the playside. How do we teach the kids to know who slides off to get the backer? What happens on the back side of the play? Is the center left to fend for himself in the case of a 5-3 and a nose man?

Should I bag this and go back to a man blocking scheme?

Our answer is 100% to implement zone blocking.  Man blocking is important and needs to be taught properly to the kids, but zone blocking gives you better angles and sets up double team blocks automatically.  The other advantage to zone blocking is you can teach your lineman to start with a double team block and have one of the lineman peel off to get a closing defender, usually a linebacker.

If you decide to use zone blocking make sure you have the offensive coordinator and running backs coach on board.  The running backs coach will need to teach the backs how to run when the offensive line is zone blocking.  There will be many more opportunities for cut back runs so if you teach the backs the proper running style, you can expect some large runs.

What is Your Favorite Play in the Youth Football Playbook?

This is a common question frequently asked when a group of coaches get together for a social gathering.  It doesn’t matter if you are talking about experienced coaches or rookies, everyone wants to know what every one’s favorite play is in youth football.

My answer is always the same, and it is not one particular play, but a type of play.  My favorite type of play is a counter.  It doesn’t matter if you have 5 year-old or 14 year-olds it is extremely hard to get young players to “stay home” and play responsible team defense.  Everyone wants to pursue the ball carrier and swarm to the ball. When I am scouting an opponent’s defense and I see linebacker that does not respect counters, I know my team will have a big afternoon.

Speaking of scouting, one of the basic questions you need to answer regarding your opponent is what their favorite play is.  If you log in each play during the game, you can enter it into your computer and find out what plays your opponent runs the most.  It is also smart to see how effective his plays are.  Many youth coaches  fall in love with their playbook and try to run every play they have. 

I have coached in games where my opponent is getting 7-8 yards per carry running off tackle against us and then this mental midget starts throwing the ball.  Many times this happens when the opposing coaches kid is the quarterback or receiver.  Make sure you check the roster of your opponent and see where dad’s kid is playing.