Tackling

Coaches - I would appreciate some feedback. We are not a very good tackling team right now. I am not sure exactly how to solve the problem. My perception is that we do not do a good job of wrapping up and we do not do a good job of breakdown down our hips before the hit. In others words we are really just flying at people. I'm not sure how to solve this. We are a young and inexperienced team. I think that is one of our problems. We are also not able to replicate the speed of a game during our practice. I only have 24 sophomores - through seniors.

My first inclination is to concentrate on the fundamentals of tackling (which we have been doing), but this doesn't seem to be transitioning well on the field. We are getting better but we are not where we need to be. Because, the small number of players I have on my roster, we only go helmet and shoulder pads during practice. About half my staff has been advocating for full pads during practice and perhaps an all out tackling drill.

I'm not sure that this is the answer. I am very concerned that we will just end up beating ourselves up. As I mentioned before we are a young team and I don't think hitting in practice is the problem. It would however, do a better job of simulating game speed.

Any thoughts out there would be much appreciated. How do you guys get your kids to tackle better, specially if you coach at a smaller school.

Thanks