Youth Spread Offense

On Ultimate Football - The NFL link posted by Coach Hartman has a good explanation. It's essentially applying the rules of Ultimate Frisbee with a football rather than a frisbee. Those rules said the defense can rush the offense, that's a little confusing. The defense can obviously defend, but they must let a player pass the ball. In the frisbee version, you can stand in front of the guy and use you arms and legs as obstacles, but you can't touch him, that's called a "hinder" and the player gets the disc back. In my football version I tell the kids they have to let the player throw a pass unimpeded - no need to force a passer to go sidearm or underhand, though they are free to do so. I also start the action at the equivalent of the 20 depending on field size - in other words, the offense starts with 80% of the field in front of them.

I start out with the no running version to evaluate passers and catchers. Later I let them run to evaluate open field running, vision, etc. I add one proviso - once you start to run, if you're stopped before you score you turn the ball over to the other team (you can lateral to keep the ball in play). Before we put the pads on, we'll do it as two hand touch below the waist to somewhat simulate the same body mechanics and body lean you would use in a good form tackle. After we put the pads on, we'll let 'em hit.

It's a great way to evaluate talent, conditioning, hustle, leadership, and the kids absolutely love it.

I've got another little game we'll use with QBs and receivers. We call it 5 & Out, or 3 & Out. The basic idea is if you drop a catchable ball, or throw a bad pass, you get a point. 3 or 5 (or whatever other count you want to use) and you're out. If you make a great catch (say on a tough to catch ball like a leaping one-hander), you can subtract a point. If it's caught, or if the passer was trying to set up someone for a great catch and it wasn't cauught. there's no point to the passer for a bad throw. This brings a little strategy into things to make things interesting.

Set 'em up in a group, spread 'em out, and let 'em go. The kids will try lobs, bullets, all varieties of throwing the ball to get a guy to drop it. I love the game, probably because I am still the undefeated CHAMPION OF THE WORLD! (given that me and some kids invented it one summer at the beach).