Showing posts with label Frederick. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frederick. Show all posts

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Monday, January 18, 2010

How to Watch a Football Game - A Guide For Women

Men may call it football. But to you, it looks more like a half-off sale at Macy's.

Speaking of which, you can always go shopping while the game is on. But football season lasts a long, long time. And anyway, cuddling up on the sofa with your beloved on those cold winter evenings does have some appeal.

But if you don't know what's going on, and if your beloved (as so many beloveds do) makes it clear that he'd prefer you not ask questions while the game is on . . . what's a football challenged woman to do?

Well, we're about to tell you.

The thing is, learning the basics of football - that is, enough to make game-watching fun - is at about the same degree of difficulty as learning to send e-mails. Without attachments.

Okay. Get comfortable. Fix yourself some herb tea. Or a vodka tonic. Make sure you have a clear view of the television screen.

Now, pick a team to root for. Doesn't matter which one. Pick them for your own reasons. Because you like the color of their uniforms. Because one of the guys on the sidelines reminds you of your high school crush. Whatever.

It's just more fun when, as they say, you have some skin in the game.

But do feel free to switch to the other team if the one you picked is getting creamed by time the game is only half over. It's easy to tell when that is, by the way, because there's this long break away from the game with lots of commentator 'analysis' and many commercials that allow you time to refill your beverage of choice. Not surprisingly, this hiatus is called 'half time'. See? You know some jargon already.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's get back to the beginning of the game.

Things get kicked off by . . . well, by kicking off the football. Who gets to kick the football and who gets to receive the football is decided before the game by a coin toss.

After that, each team is allowed four chances (called 'downs') to move the ball a minimum of ten yards. There are white lines drawn across the field at five-yard intervals, so it's pretty easy to judge the distance. Plus when you're watching on TV, they superimpose this really cool digital line in bright yellow so you really can't miss it.

Anyway, if the team with the football succeeds in moving it ten or more yards, they get another four chances. If they don't, they have to kick the ball to the other team and allow them their four chances to do the same.

And that's about it for the format of the game.

To understand the action, you need to focus on the football.

You'll notice that, when the action starts (each piece of action is called a 'play'), the ball is sitting on the ground between the two teams. There are eleven men on each team, and you'll see that a bunch on each side stands in a line facing each other. These are called (all together now!) LINEmen!

Told you it was easy.

Anyway, the teams take turns trying to move the ball to the opposite end of the playing field. The guy in the center of the line (called, amazingly, the CENTER) tosses the ball backwards between his legs (weird but true) to the guy directly behind him, who is called the quarterback, and who is like the general of the team.

While the linemen on his team try to keep the guys on the other team from pounding him into the Astroturf, the quarterback attempts to get the football moving down the field toward the goal line (that is, the line that marks the end of the playing field).

He does this by running with it himself, handing it to someone else to run with it, or throwing it to someone else.

Meanwhile, their counterparts on the other team are trying to prevent them from succeeding.

But if the quarterback or his guys do manage to get the ball all the way across the goal line (called a 'touchdown'), they are awarded six points, to which they can add another point by kicking the ball between the uprights of the goalpost (you know what that is, right?) after the touchdown. This is generally referred to as a 'point after.'

If they can't get all the way to the goal line by running and throwing the ball, they can give up short of the goal line and try to kick the ball between the uprights from wherever they are on the playing field. This is called a field goal, and gets them three points.

Whoever has the most points when time runs out wins the game.

That's really all you need to know to watch a game of football. So go ahead: pick a team; focus on the ball; cuddle.

What happens next is up to you.




Bob Brooker and Kaye O'Dougherty want everyone to be happy. So if football season is disrupting your relationship, and the TV clicker wars are pitting Love against the NFL, they'd like to suggest some happier alternatives. Like intimacy, romance, sex and M&M's. All you have to do is look at football in a slightly different way. And Bob and Kaye are there to help you at http://www.footballforlovers.com

Saturday, January 9, 2010

The Keys To Perfect Execution In Youth Football

The keys to great execution in youth football are not what many youth football coaches think they are In my opinion the keys to great execution is: Limiting the size of your playbook to a few integrated play series.

Attention to detail in the Offensive Line, with simple set blocking rules. Offensive and Defensive Scheme is appropriate for the age and experience group of players as well as the practice time allowed. Limiting time wasting things that provide little football benefit like agilities and lots of cals. Focus on perfect fundamentals. Extreme attention paid to priortizing practices. Massive amounts of "fit and freeze" reps rather than all out scrimmaging.

Here are a few short video clips of some of my teams in action, this will give you an idea of the type of execution that is possible in youth football if the above are paid close attention to. Please note the Google Video is not the same quality as what you get on the DVD, the DVDs are much better quality. The 2006 shots were filmed and edited by a local TV cameraman.

These clips are of my 2006 Team age 8-10. What you see are some shots of our first 4 League Games. This team went 11-1, losing the Title Game in Overtime to the Superbowl Champions. We averaged about 40 points per game and scored 3 TDs in the first quarter of 9 games. We had 13 different players score TDs during the season. This is a rural "non-select" team.

Note the execution of the spinner football plays, considered by most to be the most deceptive series in football. In many of these plays you see the defenders running past or even away from the ballcarriers, something you just don't see in other youth football offenses.

Other video footbage of several of my teams show varying levels of competence, but all in all pretty fair executuon. The second clip teams went a combined 34-0. The 2003 team was age 8-10, a "Select" team from Inner-City Omaha , they were very big and fast, the first couple of clips are of them. We went 11-0 and were State Champions. We averaged 41 ppg and scored on every possession of every game we played.The 2004 team is an all rookie team, of 8-10 year olds with all 8 year olds starting in the backfield. We had just one player above 100 lbs and finished 11-0 playing a "B" schedule. We averaged about 30 ppg. The 2005 team is an age 8-10 team, rural, non-select and second year group. We finished 12-0 and not only won our league but beat the best "Select" teams in the State to claim a State Title. We averaged right at 40 ppg.




Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized.

These clips:2006 Season Clips

These are some clips of my 2003, 2004 and 2005 teams: 2003,2004 and 2005 Clips

For 150 free youth football practice tips: Football Practice Copyright 2007 Cisar Management and winningyouthfootball.com republishing this article are parts of it without including this paragraph is copyright infringement

With over 15 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach, Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams. His personal teams to using this system to date have won 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues. His web site is: Football Plays