A New Program!

Coach,

Welcome to the board! This is the one place where youth coaches can actually come and get responses from other coaches. There are a lot of great people on this board.

Defensively.....you can run a 5-3 defense and it will at least look like a 3-5. A 5-3 is one of the best defenses in youth football. However, you have to have a solid core(NT, MLB, and Safety). Your NT needs to be your best, most vicious lineman. Your MLB needs to be very aggressive and flow fast to the ball, as most of the time he will be unblocked. Your safety needs to be the fastest kid on the field. If you have those three things the 5-3 is a great defense. You can mimick a 3-5 at the youth level even if you don't use the exact same system. In a basic 30 stack, the three linemen and three linebackers play gap control defense. The corners and safety play either cover three, or cover one. The two extra backs are pretty much the same as monster backs. You can line them up anywhere and do anything you want with them. The basic premise to me of a 30 stack is to force the play outside, and make the tackle behind the LOS. However, all that being said, coach what you know.

Offensively......there is no magic offense. Coach what you know. If you are not confident in what you are doing, the kids won't be confident either. They will feed off of your confidence, and if you are not familiar with what you are doing, they will sense it, and you will not be able to get into a rythym. The wing-t, while a great offense, if you are not familiar with it, don't go there. Any wing-t coach will tell you, if you are going to run wing-t then you have to commit to it. In order for a wing-t offense to be successful you have to have a talented line. I haven't had one in the past that could get in front of our backs on a sweep play.....our line was good, but way too slow. Misdirection has it's place....I run my share of counters, traps, and bootlegs.....but against disciplined defenses, you can't make your living on misdirection. Teach the kids to block, and you can run anything you want.

In short.....coach what you know.....that is the absolute best offense and defense you could ever run!

Hope that helps,

Tim

Coach,
I'm a new Head coach as well, this board is one of the best resourses you've got. Lots of bright minds here willing to help.
Coach Reed's book "Coaching Youth Football" was a huge help to me. I was able to put together a plan and stick with it.
On Offence have a couple of ideas in mind, take the time to evaluate your players and see what the level of skill is on your team. Once you know what kind of players you have then you can put in a offence the can utilize there skills.
I like the gap-8 defence for youth football, It's plain and simple and it gives your team a chance to be in control of the game on both sides of the ball.
Good luck Coach.

Coach,

If your team is smaller than everyone else, then you have to rely on speed. If you have neither size nor speed, you are in for a long year.

Personally, I love playing against defenses that put 6 or 8 kids on the line. We then just down block along the front, kick out the DE, and lead through on the linebacker. We've been very effective on sweeps, and off tackle plays against 6 or 8 man lines. So I wouldn't suggest that......just my opinion.

We don't put any of our smaller players on defense until they are ready to contribute. By that I mean, they have to be able to tackle. Then we put them at corner and use them for run support. Most times we use our smaller players on offense. We have minimum play rules, and we use our smaller kids on offense, and then when we can refine their tackling skills, we use them on defense.

Tim

Coach, I too am a new head coach. I agree that you need to keep it simple. Having too many formations will come back to bite you in the a**. I say if it's too hard to draw up the plays or too much work to put into a playbook, then you're wrong. Our offense runs a stack-I with a fullback, powerback, and tailback. Running weakside or strongside doesn't matter because you will almost always have equal or more blockers for your runner. Defensively, I run a 5-2 invert. We don't run too many plays. We just try to run them to perfection. Good luck with your upcoming season.

Coaches,
I'm only a few days new to this site and already I am very impressed. A lot of great topics and terrific ideas being tossed around. I'm a High School assistant in Wisconsin who is working his way up to hopefully a head job some day. Up until this year I was pulling double duty coaching youth football as well as the varsity to sharpen my skills as a head coach and coordinator. I'm no longer coaching the little guys but I am now in charge of all the coaches for our community's 6-8 grade program. As I train these guys I run into a lot of questions and problems similar to you Lurker. I completely agree with the comments of everyone in this topic. You have to keep it simple. At this age teaching the kids how to play the game is all that matters. That means more than the fundamentals. The biggest point of emphasis I make with our coaches is on practice and practice planning. I stress up tempo practices with a premium on enthusiasm and intensity. Along with teaching the fundamentals we need to teach kids the attitude that goes along with playing this great game. Teach them to practice with a smile on their face and a fire in there hearts and you will find that you get more out of them than you ever expected. Our coaches are taught to keep practices moving quickly from one drill to the next. Never spend too much time on one thing, just make sure you hit it EVERY DAY. Be organized, lay out you practice plan and stick to it. When the kids know exactly what to expect from you each day they will be more prepared to learn. Finally, as someone said earlier, believe in what you are doing, and make sure the kids see it too. If you believe they will too.

Hope this will be a worthy first contribution to the board. Good luck!
Speltze

Youth Coaches,

All of you and your willingness to learn, along with your zealousness for the game and hopefully real sincere attitudes that are dedicated to the kids well being, are exactly what this game needs! All kids today start out in, at least for the most part, in some type of youth program. Coaches who are willing to learn, and to master the fundamentals of the game, as well as, the arts of communication and the teaching of spotsmanship, fair play, etc. to the kids, are very special people in my book!!! It takes the patience of Job, the resolve of mind to see a task through to it's completion, and the heart of a lion to get the job done with the little guys. I know I speak for most coaches here when I say that we stand willing to help you with the mountain of questions that will arise in the seasons ahead. Stay dedicated, work hard to improve your methods, and above all love the kids a little more each and every day that you have the privilege of working with them. Keep up the absolute great job that you guys do!!!

Coach J.C.Easton

Hi, I notice that in the youth football discussions there is very little discussion of the 0-line. The focus appears to be on the running back. I have limited football coaching experience, but it is very clear to me that the offense can be a back running up the middle, sweeps, runs to the 5/6 holes, or complicated pass plays - all as your skill players permit. Run the offense you have. Speed leads to one type of offense, players willing to go into the fray and run up the middle leads to another type of offense, etc... The reality of the situation is that nothing works if the line does not hold its own. In our team we break down the practice sessions so that the front line gets worked as much as possible, in order to insure it is as tight as it can be. Then we can run the plays we wish to. I guess what I am saying is the focus of the coaches trying to create a team, in my opinion, must be knowing the limitations of the skill players and developing the O-line players as much as possible.

Jeff Fettner
I coach pop warner peewee division (10-12)

Very Astute observation, Jeff! Your right on the money, as it certainly all begins on the offensive side of the ball with the line! You may have the most talented group of backs ever assembled, but if they can't get out of the backfield they are not going to help you much. Another point that may interest you is the fact that line coaches are always in demand for their skills! If you have intentions of going on in coaching, becoming an offensive line coach is something you may want to seriously check out.

JC Easton

Hey coach4life,

Just thought that I would let you know that I am old school as they come, but learned long years ago to be adaptable to new, modern and better techniques! As soon as I became aware of "hands free" rules when first introduced that made it legal for the offensive guys to use our hands, I never have taught shoulder blocking again. When it became legal to use hands, I recognized immediately that was the way to go. IMO, that is the single best rule for the offensive minded that has taken place in the last half century! So, you young whipper - snappers, don't put us out to pasture yet as we may turn up on the opposite sidelines one night and teach you how this game was meant to be played!!! I hope you know I am just having a little fun on the board today, pulling your chain before practice! Have a great day, coach!

JC

Coach4life,

Your a good man, I can tell! Just continue to work hard and get better every day!

Coach Easton

I thought it was time for an update. I considered updating last week but it ended on such a negative note that I didn't feel good about the post. First let me update on the team. Maybe you might have some suggestions.

We have settled on 53 as our base defense and have moved into the 44 as our different look on defense. We are experiencing some degree of success as we hold most teams to single digits. Like most youth league team who face the formation we struggle to defend the stack I to the C gap. That single play is resulting in long possessions for our opponents. I believe these possessions are taking the legs right out from under our offensive backs. They are the linebackers and DE. They are playing iron man football and all of them are 10 years of age in a 10 and 11 year old league. I believe we are struggling with stamina issues and we have been flat out overpowered in two of our games.

On offense we chose to run the Wing-T. Let me pause here in the discussion as we are not scoring prolifically and there are circumstances clouding my judgement of the success of the offense. The circumstances are astounding.

At this point in the season, the single greatest detriment to our team is the parents of our players. Don't misunderstand me here as it is a select group that is in the minority. The team has experienced outbursts from the stands in the fourth quarter in each of our last three games. Cursing in the stands has become commonplace.

The parents that have chosen this vocal route have come from two different groups. The first group are talent evaluators. They are presently passing judgement upon our talent evaluation. At the completion of our last game one chose to discredit my coaching ability to one of our staff. At the completion of each game I've listened to the observations from this group. At first I chose to discuss the issues with them individually as they presented them. What I have found is that this group searches for and singles out every problem known to youth football. Nothing short of a 7 dollar championship trophy is going to please them. I believe even in that circumstance this group will cling to the belief that it was in spite of my coaching that we won and not as a result of it. They have said as much to a coaching counterpart in our first three victories. I have come to realize that attempting to ingratiate this group is futile.

The second group that have chosen to protest vocally are parents of two of our lessor talented players. This is despite my efforts to insure playing time for all participants. Frankly these parents believe I should just shove their kids in the game at any point in the game. They refuse to accept that this is a game and we as a group are seeking victory. It seems in their opinion that the weaker players should be shoved in at routine points in the game no matter the cost to the team. I've attempted to explain the first year players growth process to no avail. I've described my plan to insure playing time. I have pointed out that this team is the only team in the league that seems to place value on playing time for each participant. We have 30 players on this team. With a full quarter left in the game a couple stood up and shouted toward the sideline in our last game.

At this point in the season I am experiencing disgust in the human race. Currently I'm seeking support from our league director to suspend a participant from the team whose parents choose this route ever again. Quite frankly they destroy the fun for the majority of participants and parents. They are also killing this coach's will to continue in the coming year.

Currently we are a .500 ball club at the midpoint of the season. Within my coaching experience I have endured an entire season that was filled with loss but seemed to be a more enjoyable experience as we remained together as a team. This group of parents are in the minority and it seems they would have this team become a banana republic.

Coach,

Let me assure you that they will not get the best of me. I have resolve and remain steadfast to my approach. My only concern is the support that I may or may not receive from the league. I also have reserve as to whether the player suspension is the correct approach.

As you may be aware in youth league the crowd is usually family members and may include a few friends. As profanity is used in the stands it is heard everywhere along the sideline. It's inexcusable. It is killing team moral. From a team aspect it couldn't get any worse as the belligerents choose to kill the team IN THE FOURTH QUARTER with their comments.