Post by Coach Campbell on Jun 7, 2009 12:48:52 GMT
USE THE BEST PERSONNEL
Special-teams play requires exceptional athletes. As such, each coach must work at identifying players with unique talents such as the ability to catch punts, sure hands for holders, confidence for kickers, etc. The players must be athletic, with great hand-eye coordination, and an incredible desire to compete. Balance, agility and speed with the ability to play in space are qualities of a player that can contribute to special teams play. However, the most important characteristic is unselfishness – one heart beat with team.
The better the athletes you have on your special teams, the better your special teams will be. For example, average players with a great scheme will yield average special team results, but good players with an average scheme will yield good results. However, good players with good schemes will yield great results. An athlete is a player that knows what to do and how to do it. Put as many of those types of players as you can on your special teams.
All coaches talk about having their best eleven players on the field for special teams. However, when the cleats hit the field, especially for those programs that do not have the luxury of being two-platoon, every coach must make decisions. For us, we have fundamental requirements for each of our special teams’ positions. If a player can execute them, we will use that player over a two-way starter. However, we will not put a player on the field just to give him playing time. That is not fair to the team.
ALL COACHES HAVE A STAKE
Staff assignments become a key indicator to your players about the importance of special teams. To reinforce the importance of special teams, every coach, including coordinators must have special teams’ responsibilities; the head coach being responsible should have a passion for it. It will rub off on the players and the coaches.
We have a coach assigned to work with punters and kickers each day. We will work our special teams into our practice schedule. If it is as important as offense and defense, then it needs to be part of practice, not an after thought. We do not ask our players to come early or stay late to work on specialties, however many will elect to work on their skills, individually or with a coach, if they did not get enough repetitions during practice.
USE PRACTICE TIME EFFICIENTLY
Our special teams practice time always includes fundamentals, skills and team. The fundamental period include, (1) blocking, (2) tackling, and (3) turnovers. We typically work on these as part of a special teams’ circuit, in which every player participates, including our kickers. The skills segment includes all of our group work and may be in the form of a circuit or specific skill period. Our team period is typically the shortest period and it always builds from the skills segment to our team session.
Many of us can remember the old 3-whistle drill. The head coach would blow three-quick whistles and everybody went to hit somebody. As we know, we can or should no longer be using this drill. However, we still incorporate the concepts of “hearing and reacting” each week. We work into our practice schedule, typically during a team session, a Surprise Special Team’s Drill, which we call the “SST”. The head coach will call out a special team and the unit needs to be lined-up ready to execute within 25-seconds. This drill has served us well so many times when we have run out our Field Goal Team with no time outs, or need to call on a special team after a sudden change. We always try to work a special circumstance; i.e., a kick after a safety, kick quick, a pooch kick from a field goal alignment, etc. We feel this helps prepare our players for when something unusual happens on game night.
Finally, as part of the design of the special teams’ schemes, we always plan to have back-up players. Do not just list players name to fill in a depth chart! The back-up players must get enough repetitions to not only know their assignments, but be contributors on game night if called upon. The outcome of the game may depend on one of those back-up players.
Special-teams play requires exceptional athletes. As such, each coach must work at identifying players with unique talents such as the ability to catch punts, sure hands for holders, confidence for kickers, etc. The players must be athletic, with great hand-eye coordination, and an incredible desire to compete. Balance, agility and speed with the ability to play in space are qualities of a player that can contribute to special teams play. However, the most important characteristic is unselfishness – one heart beat with team.
The better the athletes you have on your special teams, the better your special teams will be. For example, average players with a great scheme will yield average special team results, but good players with an average scheme will yield good results. However, good players with good schemes will yield great results. An athlete is a player that knows what to do and how to do it. Put as many of those types of players as you can on your special teams.
All coaches talk about having their best eleven players on the field for special teams. However, when the cleats hit the field, especially for those programs that do not have the luxury of being two-platoon, every coach must make decisions. For us, we have fundamental requirements for each of our special teams’ positions. If a player can execute them, we will use that player over a two-way starter. However, we will not put a player on the field just to give him playing time. That is not fair to the team.
ALL COACHES HAVE A STAKE
Staff assignments become a key indicator to your players about the importance of special teams. To reinforce the importance of special teams, every coach, including coordinators must have special teams’ responsibilities; the head coach being responsible should have a passion for it. It will rub off on the players and the coaches.
We have a coach assigned to work with punters and kickers each day. We will work our special teams into our practice schedule. If it is as important as offense and defense, then it needs to be part of practice, not an after thought. We do not ask our players to come early or stay late to work on specialties, however many will elect to work on their skills, individually or with a coach, if they did not get enough repetitions during practice.
USE PRACTICE TIME EFFICIENTLY
Our special teams practice time always includes fundamentals, skills and team. The fundamental period include, (1) blocking, (2) tackling, and (3) turnovers. We typically work on these as part of a special teams’ circuit, in which every player participates, including our kickers. The skills segment includes all of our group work and may be in the form of a circuit or specific skill period. Our team period is typically the shortest period and it always builds from the skills segment to our team session.
Many of us can remember the old 3-whistle drill. The head coach would blow three-quick whistles and everybody went to hit somebody. As we know, we can or should no longer be using this drill. However, we still incorporate the concepts of “hearing and reacting” each week. We work into our practice schedule, typically during a team session, a Surprise Special Team’s Drill, which we call the “SST”. The head coach will call out a special team and the unit needs to be lined-up ready to execute within 25-seconds. This drill has served us well so many times when we have run out our Field Goal Team with no time outs, or need to call on a special team after a sudden change. We always try to work a special circumstance; i.e., a kick after a safety, kick quick, a pooch kick from a field goal alignment, etc. We feel this helps prepare our players for when something unusual happens on game night.
Finally, as part of the design of the special teams’ schemes, we always plan to have back-up players. Do not just list players name to fill in a depth chart! The back-up players must get enough repetitions to not only know their assignments, but be contributors on game night if called upon. The outcome of the game may depend on one of those back-up players.