Improving Your Youth Football Defense - The Punting Game

Coach Kohl from the Kohl's Kicking Camps presented three times at the Chicago Glazier Clinic and did a great job. Kicking is an area we admittedly have yet to develop a core excellence in and Coach Kohl showed us why or better yet, maybe why not. Like most youth football coaching staffs, we used some common sense, trial and error and hoped for the best. As you might expect, we had better than average results when we had good "natural" kickers and weaker results when we had average natural kickers.

Punting Goals For Youth Football

Obviously the goal of a youth coach should be to have good results with just average players and great results with better than average players and I'm firmly convinced that this a reasonable goal when it comes to the kicking game as well. I'm more firmly convinced of that now after listening to Coach Kohl and other kicking coaches this clinic season. At every clinic I went to I sat in on the kicking sessions, often they were the lightest attended sessions in the clinic.

Progression Punt Teaching

I was pleased to come to the conclusion that like any teachable football skill, the punt is best taught in a progression. Like many poorly taught football skills, many youth football coaches teach a player to perform multiple fairly difficult tasks nearly simultaneously and that certainly describes how most of us teach the punt.

The punt consists of a number of very specific and coachable tasks: the lineup, the stance, the readjustment, the catch, the grip, the ball "mold", the "drop table", the approach, the plant foot, the drop, the contact fit and lock, the extension and follow through. The youth football player can be taught every one of these concepts and we can even link them together into an integrated movement. We as coaches just have to teach each specific step and perfect each step in our kickers, one step and concept at a time.

Coach Kohl has kicking camps all over the country and has no problem if coaches want to attend and watch free of charge, those are listed on his web site. He also has two kicking DVDs that I bought and highly recommend. They can be purchased through "Championship Productions" you can find them on the web.

While coach Kohl and others aren't coming out with anything brand new, it is important to understand the intricacies of punting, the key points and how to teach it in an easy to understand progression based manner. I'm not going to spell out all of his coaching points and methods here on the blog, but we certainly plan on applying coach Kohl's concepts next season with both our punters and kickers.

The Drop Table

Two simple to understand and implement concepts is the "Drop Table" and the "Drop Angle". These are commonly agreed upon kicking terms, the drop table refer to the height the ball is kept at from the time of the catch to the time of the drop. It is an imaginary "table" that the ball should never go below. The drop angle refers to what angle you drop the ball at to your kicking foot. All the experts do agree that the drop table should never go below the waist. If the ball is constantly moved to various elevations after the catch, the ball is often thrown out in front of the kicker where he has to catch up to the ball or even tossed up rather than down if the ball height is varied with the punters stride.

Smooth and consistent is what you are looking for here, arms fully extended, the drop table never varying or going below the waist.

The Drop Angle

The drop angle is very important and very easy to correct. The drop portion, like any other progression move is isolated and practiced and coach Kohl and other kicking coaches have a plethora of drills to practice this portion of the kick. One of the key coaching points of the drop is that you want to drop the ball at 11:00 if you are right footed kicker, not in a straight line or 12:00. If you drop the football straight down and not at an angle, quite often the back tip of the ball is going to strike your shin first before it touches your foot and you get what punters call a "double hit". When you "double hit" the kick will be a short end over ender, with the ball not receiving the full force of the punters foot, ankle, leg and hips. By dropping the ball at 11:00, the back tip of the ball just misses the shin on the drop and the first contact of the ball is to the top most portion of the face of the foot, the protruding hump bone on the top of your foot "the sweet spot" for all punters.

Our goal as coaches is to make sure our players have the tools necessary so that they will maximize their potential while playing for us. For my teams this means the kicking game too. We will excel in this very important part of the game next season, I assure you.

Don't be intimidated by kicking, it is something you learn to teach just like anything else.

Remember, field postion is a key factor in developing a solid defense in youth football. While we have not had to punt very often in the last 8 seasons due to our prolific offense, we need to establish competency in it for when we do need it and for the benefit of the kickers. We aren't going to settle for mediocrity in any part of our game or just hope some natural Ray Guy Jr. type player shows up on our field for our first practice.

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington.

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 94% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips newsletter or to see his 325 free tips go to: Football Plays

A Video Taste of Dave's teams:

Youth Football Defense

Offensive Line

Improving Your Youth Football Defense - The Punting Game

Coach Kohl from the Kohl's Kicking Camps presented three times at the Chicago Glazier Clinic and did a great job. Kicking is an area we admittedly have yet to develop a core excellence in and Coach Kohl showed us why or better yet, maybe why not. Like most youth football coaching staffs, we used some common sense, trial and error and hoped for the best. As you might expect, we had better than average results when we had good "natural" kickers and weaker results when we had average natural kickers.

Punting Goals For Youth Football

Obviously the goal of a youth coach should be to have good results with just average players and great results with better than average players and I'm firmly convinced that this a reasonable goal when it comes to the kicking game as well. I'm more firmly convinced of that now after listening to Coach Kohl and other kicking coaches this clinic season. At every clinic I went to I sat in on the kicking sessions, often they were the lightest attended sessions in the clinic.

Progression Punt Teaching

I was pleased to come to the conclusion that like any teachable football skill, the punt is best taught in a progression. Like many poorly taught football skills, many youth football coaches teach a player to perform multiple fairly difficult tasks nearly simultaneously and that certainly describes how most of us teach the punt.

The punt consists of a number of very specific and coachable tasks: the lineup, the stance, the readjustment, the catch, the grip, the ball "mold", the "drop table", the approach, the plant foot, the drop, the contact fit and lock, the extension and follow through. The youth football player can be taught every one of these concepts and we can even link them together into an integrated movement. We as coaches just have to teach each specific step and perfect each step in our kickers, one step and concept at a time.

Coach Kohl has kicking camps all over the country and has no problem if coaches want to attend and watch free of charge, those are listed on his web site. He also has two kicking DVDs that I bought and highly recommend. They can be purchased through "Championship Productions" you can find them on the web.

While coach Kohl and others aren't coming out with anything brand new, it is important to understand the intricacies of punting, the key points and how to teach it in an easy to understand progression based manner. I'm not going to spell out all of his coaching points and methods here on the blog, but we certainly plan on applying coach Kohl's concepts next season with both our punters and kickers.

The Drop Table

Two simple to understand and implement concepts is the "Drop Table" and the "Drop Angle". These are commonly agreed upon kicking terms, the drop table refer to the height the ball is kept at from the time of the catch to the time of the drop. It is an imaginary "table" that the ball should never go below. The drop angle refers to what angle you drop the ball at to your kicking foot. All the experts do agree that the drop table should never go below the waist. If the ball is constantly moved to various elevations after the catch, the ball is often thrown out in front of the kicker where he has to catch up to the ball or even tossed up rather than down if the ball height is varied with the punters stride.

Smooth and consistent is what you are looking for here, arms fully extended, the drop table never varying or going below the waist.

The Drop Angle

The drop angle is very important and very easy to correct. The drop portion, like any other progression move is isolated and practiced and coach Kohl and other kicking coaches have a plethora of drills to practice this portion of the kick. One of the key coaching points of the drop is that you want to drop the ball at 11:00 if you are right footed kicker, not in a straight line or 12:00. If you drop the football straight down and not at an angle, quite often the back tip of the ball is going to strike your shin first before it touches your foot and you get what punters call a "double hit". When you "double hit" the kick will be a short end over ender, with the ball not receiving the full force of the punters foot, ankle, leg and hips. By dropping the ball at 11:00, the back tip of the ball just misses the shin on the drop and the first contact of the ball is to the top most portion of the face of the foot, the protruding hump bone on the top of your foot "the sweet spot" for all punters.

Our goal as coaches is to make sure our players have the tools necessary so that they will maximize their potential while playing for us. For my teams this means the kicking game too. We will excel in this very important part of the game next season, I assure you.

Don't be intimidated by kicking, it is something you learn to teach just like anything else.

Remember, field postion is a key factor in developing a solid defense in youth football. While we have not had to punt very often in the last 8 seasons due to our prolific offense, we need to establish competency in it for when we do need it and for the benefit of the kickers. We aren't going to settle for mediocrity in any part of our game or just hope some natural Ray Guy Jr. type player shows up on our field for our first practice.

Dave Cisar-

Dave has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized. He is a Nike "Coach of the Year" Designate and speaks nationwide at Coaches Clinics. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington.

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 94% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

To Sign up for his free tips newsletter or to see his 325 free tips go to: Football Plays

A Video Taste of Dave's teams:

Youth Football Defense

Offensive Line

Improving Your Effectiveness As a Football Halfback - Four Tips to Dominate As a Halfback

The halfback is probably the most decorated and affluent runner on the offensive team. It is up to the half back to execute first down or touchdown plays, running through a tough defense. Having a great half back will ensure any football team extra points as they try and dominate their season. This article intention is to give four fundamental tips in improving your game as a halfback. First, increase your understanding of the role of a half back. Second, use running to increase your endurance. Third, gain greater strength by weight lifting. Fourth, visualize and memorize the plays from your teams playbook.

Increase your understanding of the role of a half back

A half back by nature is a runner. Their primary role is to gain yardage on the field when it is needed most. In close plays, where a yard or two is needed for a first down you will see a team solely rely on the merits of the half back. They also need to use there teammates effectively. Meaning that they know the full back and offensive linemen's abilities and play off there strengths to make more effective plays. The most important thing that a half back can do is be quick and keep a strong hold on the football.

Use running to increase your endurance

Running drills are one of the most basic ways that you can enhance your endurance. These drills are meant to help you play your hardest throughout the entire game. Teams, or individuals, that do not complain throughout the running drills will be better off and better prepared for a game. Because in the end, the team or players that are the fastest are the ones that win the championships. Running also will teach you how to push yourself even when you don't want too.

Gain greater strength by weight lifting

Lets not forget weightlifting. It is one of the essential elements that will help you improve your game. The benefits of lifting weights are found in added strength, but more importantly it will increase your maximum power Maximum power should be the goal of your training, because it involves muscle strength and muscle excursion during play. Strong and powerful execution will enable fast plays, quick action, and recognition on the field. Weight lifting can cause injuries, and as such we highly recommend having a professional coach on hand during weightlifting sessions. You trainer will also help you accomplish your weightlifting goals and teach you new techniques.

Visualize and memorize the plays from your teams playbook.

Every football team will have certain plays. It will be essential to learn your part in that play to benefit yourself, and the whole team. In order to start learning a play, make sure that you first pay attention to the instructions when they are given. In order to avoid learning a play wrong, or developing bad habits, we recommend that you go through the entire play slowly at first. Practice is a great time to get some extra help, so if you are struggling with a certain play remember that your coaches are their to help you master the techniques. Always, always ask for the help that you need. Are you done with the play after practice? No way! the best thing that you can do after practice is visualize your plays. Sleep on them, and you will learn them twice as fast.

Conclusion

These tips are a few of the many things that a halfback can do to improve their game. When you understand your position, increase endurance and strength, and memorize the plays you add to the strength of the entire team. Half backs especially are called upon to lead their offensive team in running and major offensive plays.

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Football Center Position - Four Golden Tips in Improving Your Game

The center fielder in the game of football is overlooked as an important character, and yet this position leads the offensive linemen in energy and plays. The center's biggest responsibilities include hiking the ball to the quarterback, and blocking the defense. This articles purpose is to bring out four ways that you can improve your game as a football center. First, understand the importance of your position. Second, increase your endurance with running drills. Third, increase your strength with weight lifting. Fourth, learn and master the playbook plays.

The importance of a football center position

In many cases it is just as important to remember your importance on the field as it is to practice your position. The centers role is vital in starting the play correctly with a good snap. Though rare, a bad snap can totally ruin the chances of a well executed play. Make sure that you are communicating with the quarterback about the snap. Is is a hand off or a NFL snap? Also, once the play begins you are the for runner in blocking the defense and opening routes for the running back. A good center ensures good starts and great blocks. A bad center can cause a loss of yards, fumbles, and quarterback sacks.

Increase your endurance with running drills

Endurance is the name of the game when it comes to football, and running will help you endurance grow. Running drills will help you gain stamina so that you will be able to play to your full extent throughout the game. Even with all of these benefits you will notice that most of the complaints in practice come from running drills. Just remember that in the end it is the fastest that win games. Running has a final help to your team, and that is learning how to push beyond your limits, you will be surprised how often that happens in football, and in life!

Increase your strength with weight lifting

Lifting weights is a fundamental requirement to improve your football skills. Not only will it add muscle to your body and increase your strength, it will also help you to increase your maximum power. Maximum power differs in importance to strength due to the fact that it is exertion during play and not just muscle mass. This exertion will help you as a football player to execute your skills on the field with speed and force. We highly recommend working with a personal trainer when weightlifting to insure that you are doing it properly, and to help you design a program that will fit your position.

Learn and master the playbook plays

Every football team will have certain plays. It will be essential to learn your part in that play to benefit yourself, and the whole team. Because football plays can be intricate, it is important that you understand and follow the coaches instructions. A lot of habits can form in the first couple of practice plays, for this sake it is a good idea to take them slow at the start. Practice is a great time to get some extra help, so if you are struggling with a certain play remember that your coaches are their to help you master the techniques. Always, always ask for the help that you need. Are you done with the play after practice? No way! the best thing that you can do after practice is visualize your plays. Sleep on them, and you will learn them twice as fast.

Conclusion

As you apply these four tips into your position as football center you will find that you have a greater passion for the position, increased strength and endurance, and a well thought plan of action. In the end it is a team that achieves victory, and that team is made up of several positions doing what they do best.

ChargersProShop.com is the official online store for the San Diego Chargers and their Chargers Jerseys. Its products include jerseys, authentic game worn merchandise, Chargers Shirt, Hats, and More! Shop Now!