Paint The Grass

I'll have to try the 'slap the dog' technique and see if it works better than our 'elbow'... perhaps in the spring.

For pulling I've always used the coaching point of throwing that back elbow hard and sharp. I tell my guys to pretend that they're playing hockey, or in a street fight and elbowing someone in the chops. We've found it keeps their heads up, and opens their hips for the pull/trap. We've varied as to if we pick up the foot and point the toe, or just pivot on the heel. For some reason, we always end up with nice power angles when we use this technique.

When we throw the crooked elbow our hands are already set for a nice arm thrust into the chest of the defender or into our landmarks of the throat and the armpit (this always provides a NICE pancake block).