Installing Today’s Hybrid Pistol Offense Run & Pass from Top to Bottom
This manual provides you with the full offensive line, receiver, and quarterback mechanics for installing each offensive play presented. Coach Campbell has left no stone unturned for implementing today’s Pistol Offense into your program.
I have tried numerous drills, funamentals and techniques and even games to get my line to hit on the offensive side of the ball and they simply wil not do it. I have fifteen kids over the "ball carrying" limit and can not find five that will fire out and hit. does anyone have any proven way to get them off the ball and hit the guy in front of them?
I have at least a couple of kids every year that try to avoid contact with their pads or helmet at all costs. Although it sounds like you've tried just about everything, I try to do the following with kids that have an aversion to contact:
Start off hitting dummies rather than live
Introduce them to coming off the ball out of a 6pt. stance
Utilize an angle tackling drill at 1/2 to 3/4 speed (tackling onto dummies or a mat) before going full speed
If none of these methods seem to work at all, I will sometimes hold a player's hands behind his back while performing an angle tackle at 1/2 to 3/4 speed to demonstrate to him that his equipment will actually protect him during the collision provided he uses the techniques he's been taught
Let the kid run with the ball during a drill period (if they're over the weight limit just make sure that all kids involved in the drill are approximately the same size) - often times a kid will either receive a good lick or even accidentally dish one out and all of a sudden the light comes on that says hey, that wasn't so bad, I survived it and that was actually kind of fun!
Good luck with them coach! I'm right there with you with my o-line as well!
Dave Hartman
CYFL Coach
"It's not the will to win that matters - everyone has that. It's the will to prepare to win that matters."
Especially for first-year players, I sometimes have them hit a tree with their shoulder pads. I'm not kidding! The tree doesn't intimidate them, won't hit back and provides solid contact. After 15 minutes of feeling the pads, they are usually ready to try a real person.
As for the O-line firing off, I line-up the slowest and meekest against the quickest most aggressive player. This usually induces a sense of immediacy, and with positive reinforcement, builds confidence. Caution is a must for some who just won't defend themselves, of course. Each kid is different.
My annual problem is getting the entire o-line to fire off in unison.
We run the wing-t over here in California. I keep the linemen as far off the L.O.S as legally possible!
I actualy strech the center to the ball and align the linemen down hand on the heel of the center. This solves a few problems with lineblocking. 1: space between the O line and the D line is even greater giving the O line more time to execute thier blocks. We dont ask them to use a power blocking scheme, we get them to influence the D line and ride them outside or with quick traps. We get them to knock the defender off balance. We are more hands v/s shoulder technique, if you run the power scheme you need the players to fit it!
the problem you're having with getting your o-line to fire off together seems to be a very normal problem, even at the high school level. one way that we fixed that in high school was to do step drills. have everyone get into a preset and have them run a play STEP-BY-STEP. This may seem a little weird, i know it did to me when we were doing it, but it actually fixes a few problems all at once. Make sure all of the linemen take the first step together. It doesn't have to be fast, just together, at least in the beginning it doesn't have to be fast. Next, run through entire play one step at a time. have the players engage their block and stay low the entire time. this not only builds leg strength and stamina, but it also teaches them to stay low and keep a wide base as they are blocking. Once you have finished explaining the basic angles of the play have them extend and drive STEP-BY-STEP with the defender putting moderate to extreme pressure on the o-linemen. do this with every play for a few days, or up to 2 weeks. (if you go any longer than that, i promise you the players will start to really hate you. lol) Once you have finished this training method, you will notice a considerable difference in the way your o-line fires off and sustain blocks. Be sure though to emphasize the key points of blocking as well as the key points of the play. if you allow a player to stand up during the exercise, he will do it in practice and then he will do it in the games. If anyone would like to see a line that was a product of this drill, i'll be posting some up on a new site i'm working on. coming soon. anyway good luck, and let me know how it all turns out.
don't worry about what you don't know. if you had to know what you dont' know you would've learned it by now
i take it these kids are very young, say 9-11 yrs. old. CYFL Coach has some great tips for getting rid of the fear to hit. one i like to do is get the kids that are most afraid to hit and have them try to tackle each other. before i do this however, one coach grabs one of the kids and i grab the other, and we push them along straight into each other. it sounds a little funny, and maybe even a little mean, but sometimes kids this age need a little push to get them going. i mean that's how i learned how to ride a bike, swim, drive, and even kiss, i got a little push from someone, and that's all i needed to get me going. i usually push them into each other with increasing intensity, about 3 or 4 times, until it matches the kind of hit that i want to get out of them; then i have them go at it on their own. by this time they're so frustrated with being up there and getting pushed around that they're able to put that into their hit, and all of a sudden you got the next ray lewis on your hands. one thing you do gotta remember though is to never get impatient with a kid. you gotta think about what your asking him to do. you're asking him to run straight at this kid, who might be bigger than him, and not only hit him as hard as you can but also knock him down. that can be scary for any kid to do. if you have a kid that just won't hit, then do what i did when i had one, make him into a quarterback. LOL. naw, just keep working with him, if you're patient you might be very surprised just how good a hitter any kid can become.
don't worry about what you don't know. if you had to know what you dont' know you would've learned it by now