Should the UK Get to Have Four National Football Teams Representing Them?

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland as it is formally known is one nation under one flag with all its citizens holding one passport and one nationality yet they have four national football teams to represent them. This despite the fact that they are a nation with a population that is about the size of Germany with territorial space that is half the size of France. All of which in my opinion making it unfair that they be allowed to present four national football teams to the world cup when all other nations are only allowed one.

Of course, in this argument I am aware that the average Briton would respond that they are four nations that make up one. This being the case since the UK is comprised of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which to a certain extent are not the same country though all their inhabitants are considered subjects (not citizens since they are a constitutional monarchy) of the same country yet it is to this argument that I would respond in the following manner. Before its disintegration the USSR or CCCP was also one nation comprised of many different nationalities, after all that is why it was called the "Union Of Soviet Socialist Republics" with an emphasis on the word republics; among them being Ukraine, Latvia, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Estonia and other countries. It even being a case where some of these countries were larger than not only England but the UK as a whole and had even been for the most part of their history completely independent yet despite this factor the Soviet Union played as one nation and not each republic independently.

Another argument presented by the British to keep the present situation and this one perhaps being the strongest, is that since England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own separate football leagues; they should also have their own national teams. As that is how it has always been. I however fail to see this as reason to justify four national teams to represent one country and again I use the case of the Soviet Union. It being they who also could have easily established or allowed separate leagues in each Republic that was a part of their country and by doing so they also would have had several teams to represent them in world football which in their case would have been 13 national teams.

The UK however is represented by one team during the Olympics as they are in many sports though for the reason of separate leagues they are not in either football or rugby yet I feel that if they can make one team to represent them in some sports then they should be able or rather be forced to do the same in football and rugby as well. Regarding the next Olympic games to take place in London however, it has already been decided that there will be for the first time a football team called UK.

Of course I am also aware that a lot of people from Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and England would not be happy with one team to represent them but if one thinks over the matter; it is unfair to the rest that they should get four teams when everybody else only gets one. I however for my part feel that a united team would be stronger and have more depth as I could imagine how it would have been back in the sixties to see George Best on the same team with Bobby Charlton. This a combination that obviously worked for Manchester United in 68 when they won the European championship. As for other combinations which also could have proven suitable on the field, I could think of Jordan, Keegan, Dalglish and Brookings in the 70s or Lineker, Shilton, Rush, Armstrong and Whiteside in the 80s or Gigs and Gascoigne in the 90s yet it was not to be though perhaps it should have been.

Another reason perhaps why one team would be a good thing for all is that in all reality England is the strongest of these teams. As they have the best record of the four in the world cup by far; this leading to many players from the other countries choosing to play for England. This given that with England they stand a much better chance of not only playing in the world cup but of possibly even winning it.

This the case since in all frankness, Northern Ireland has only qualified to three world cups with their last appearance being in 86 in which they failed to make the second round or even win a match. It also being that probably their greatest player; "George Best" never got to taste the glory of a world cup.

As for Wales, though theirs was to play well and go out with their dignity in 58 (after only loosing 1-0 to a great Brazilian team in quarterfinals); they have not qualified to another world cup since or even really come all that close to doing so. All of which perhaps making some Welsh players choose to play for England instead given how they may present a case of having lived in England longer than in Wales and since the nationality is the same; it should not represent a problem to choose England over Wales.

As for Scotland, I have come to believe (jokingly of course) that if four out of four teams could move on in to the second round; they would find a way not to qualify. This being the situation since in 7 world cups and 2 European cups, they never managed to go beyond the first round. This despite the fact that in the 86 and 90 world cups which they played in, 16 out of 24 teams qualified. Actually looking back they would have qualified to the next round in 82 had they been using the system which was used in the 86, 90 and 94 world cups but unfortunately for the Scots it was not. Scotland would also manage the feat of not qualifying further than the first round in the European championship in 96 which by virtue of being held in England was practically played in their own country.

Regarding England, it is they who are the most successful team to come from the British isles since it is they who have not only won a World Cup but have managed a fourth place and to qualify to most of the world cups they have participated in yet I wonder how much stronger their team would have been with Best in Mexico 70 or Jordan, Gemmil and Dalglish in 74 and 78 or with Gigs in 2002. All of which making me of the idea that perhaps it is high time the British thought of having one strong team instead of four weaker ones.

In conclusion I would like to claim that I believe (along with many others) that it is really unfair that one country get to have four teams to represent them even if they have four leagues, as the Soviet Union with all its republics could have easily done likewise yet choose to have one team represent them. Naturally in all this, I am equally aware that such thinking could lead some to ask if it is really fair that the UK also get to have more teams represent them in European cups such as the Champion's League and UEFA Cup?

My name is Gianni Truvianni, I am an author who writes with the simple aim of sharing his ideas, thoughts and so much more of what I am with those who are interested in perhaps reading something new. I also am the author of the book entitled "New York's Opera Society" which is now available on Amazon.

Should Youth Football Teams Run the High School Offense? Heck No

High Schools that Want You to Run "Their System" at the Youth Level.

A small number of Youth Football coaches get pressure from the local High School to run their offense. The High School coach in these situations often think that by teaching 8 year old kids to run his system, by the time the players are 18 years old, they should be very proficient at running said system.

I am 100% opposed to the High School coach imposing his will on the Youth Program.

For many reasons I am 100% opposed to the coaches imposing this will upon the youth coach and kids. My first reason has to do with basic control and effort. The often handsomely paid for his time, High School coach is telling a non-paid volunteer of a program not run or paid for by the School, to run his High School system. Part of the "benefit" of spending money out of your own pocket to coach youth football, is you get to choose what you are going to run and how you are going to run it. If I fail as a coach, I'm going to fail running something I did the research on and believe in, not something shoved down my throat by someone not even involved in my youth football program or by someone that probably never coached a down of Youth Football.

Who is to say this School coach will even be at the school 10 years from now, or better yet that he will be running the same offense? One of the local teams we feed into has run 3 different Offenses in the last 5 years and had 2 different Head Coaches. So which of the 3 offenses should my teams be running now? Yes lets train 70+ youth coaches a very difficult offense every year or two, when almost half of them have no football coaching experience. Most of these offenses had we decided to run them, had zero youth materials or support system available for our coaches. I'm sure we would have failed miserably and lost lots of players had we adopted these systems.

I've even seen on some coaching forums where some coaches say it doesn't matter at all if any team wins or loses below the varsity level. The "varsity" is all that matters, even their Junior High, Freshman and JV teams don't matter. Well, it matters to the kids and parents playing on these teams and isn't that why we are supposed to be coaching football in the first place? I wonder how that High School coach would feel if a college coach came up to him and said that it didn't matter if the High School won or lost, all that matters is what happens at the college level and that the High School should run the Colleges offense? Never mind the fact that few of the kids will ever play College ball, just as just 25% of youth players will play High School ball. Sound enough reasoning for you? Let's take it a step further, shouldn't the pro coaches be telling the College coaches their wins and losses mean nothing, all that matters is that the College kids are running the Pro Offense? This "next level" baloney is just that, baloney. Any coach with even fair coaching skills can develop players for whatever system he choses to run.

Such arrogance is disappointing to see from anyone involved in coaching youth football.

This type of attitude is rarely found among successful coaches, it is most readily seen from excuse making oaches that are doing poorly and are looking to lay the blame of their poor performance at someone else's feet. I've actually seen High School coaches blame Jr High coaches for their varsity teams woes, that's someone desperate to keep a job he probably shouldn't have had to begin with.

At the big clinics I do for Glazier and Nike, I always sit in on a session or two. In addition to a Darrin Slack session, I like to see what the best High School coaches in the country are doing, teams like Southlake Carrol, Jenks, Union, Hoover, Colton, De LaSalle etc. The guys that coach these teams care little about whether the kid coming into their program can read a 3 technique and can run their offense. They just want a chance to coach the kid, that he goes out for football. They want the youth coach to teach safe basic blocking and tackling and NOT to run the kid off. The good coaches are hoping to get a player that has a love for the game and is coachable. These successful coaches tell me they are pretty confident they have the coaching ability to teach a player about anything over a 4 year time frame with nearly 4 months of 6 day a week contact along with year round, strength, agility and skills training. On the other hand we youth coaches get the kids for a few months of very abbreviated 2-3 day a week practices, a mere fraction of what the High Schools get and we are supposed to have the biggest technical impact on them?

As stated in other articles, we know that 75% of youth players will never play High School football to begin with. So we are supposed to run the High School system that only a tiny fraction of our players will be using? Remember my study of the main reasons most youth football players quit playing: #1) Poor Coaching #2) Playing on consistently losing teams. Running a system that is often not age appropriate (High School) and losing will often lead to the High School coach getting fewer players than he would otherwise. Most of the great High School coaches could CARE LESS what the youth player runs as long as he's having fun, playing safely and developing a passion for the game. Developing that passion is hard to do if his youth football team is getting blown out every week or not scoring many points.

What really gets to me are a few of the simply preposterous e-mails I get from a few youth football coaches. One youth coach went 10-1 in 2006 and 11-1 in 2005 and was retaining right at 95% of his players. In that very same time frame, the local High School went 0-9 and 1-8. The High School coach was demanding the youth football program run his offense in spite of the fact the High School offensive football plays never worked at the High School level. Maybe the High School coach should have run the Youth coaches offense, he couldn't have done any worse. I make it a habit to support the High School programs, by encouraging the kids to go to the High School games and to play High School football. But I have not coached School ball, so I do not critique the High Schools practice methods or systems, no matter how often I'm asked to offer my opinion. I don't have the time or expertise to do an in-depth study of the situation and would hope they wouldn't do the same of my team.

Here are some other reasons the youth program should not run the High School offense:

Not age appropriate

Doesn't fit the talent level

Doesn't fit the size level

Does not work well with limited practice time

Does not work with small team sizes where you are not allowed to cut or send players to a JV squad

Does not accommodate minimum play players (I Formation, Spread)

Is beyond the physical abilities of youth players (Spread passing)

Is beyond the mental abilities of youth players (Triple or Midline Option or multiple read passing)

Most High Schools will not take the time to teach the youth coaching staff how to coach their system "correctly" anyway

School Offenses Change

School Coaches Change

Techniques Change

Very few youth coaching materials, books, DVDs available for most High School offenses

Many kids change positions as they go through puberty

Youth football players rightfully care about what's happening to them in the season they are playing in. They want to win and have fun, they are not concerned with developing the knowledge of football plays that 25% of them may or may not use 10 years into the future. They could care less about some technique he won't remember in the 9th grade or will be taught differently or changed by the time he gets to High School. If you can incorporate some of the High Schools numbering into your system without a big hassle, great, but resist the meddling of the High School into your program if your program is headed in the right direction.

The best coaches in the Nation could care less what offense or football plays the youth teams run. You should care that whatever offense you choose fits your kids, scores points, and wins ballgames. Until the High School starts buying your equipment, paying your fees and paying your salary (yeah right), run what makes sense for your kids so they have fun now and make it to play High School football.

In the Single Wing our kids are better prepared to play "at the next level" than kids from nearly any other type of system. Our linemen know how to pull, trap, double team, fold, crab block, drive block, rule block, pass block and work as a team. Our "QB" knows how to ball handle,give handoffs, take shotgun snaps, roll out, drop back,throw, boot,lead a team and run with the ball. Our recievers and backs all know how to take handoffs, block,read holes, read blocks, catch the ball etc, everything any other back or reciever would learn in any other type of offense. Most importantly, the kids have fun and do well, which is what keeps them coming back to play.

Winning and losing are both habits. I've seen very average teams with a history of winning win games they have no business competing in. These kids just feel somehow, someway they are going to win the game, even when they are down by 2-3 TDs and time is running out. I've seen the most improbable of comebacks and bizzarre plays in the last moments of games where the team of destiny beats the better team. On the other side of the fence, I see teams that expect to lose. Even when these teams are ahead they expect to get snake bit and lose the game, these negative expectations are usually met. I would think the High School teams would want kids that have a winning attitude, it's contagious.

Dave Cisar-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 that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Youth Football

10 Great Reasons You Should Join a Football Team

If you enjoy football, and having a kick about with your friends, perhaps you've never seriously considered joining a football team.  You might have thought that you weren't good enough or were too old or too young.  These days there are many local teams, and if there isn't one near you, why not start one up?

1. Improve as a player
If you're a keen footballer already, you might be getting a bit frustrated with the people you play with. Perhaps you take your game seriously, and want to improve, whereas your mates might just see it as a bit of fun.

2. Play regularly
Playing football regularly will help you improve, and you'll learn a great deal about the game.  You might even change position; you might have seen yourself as a defender, but the manager might see you as a winger, or a striker.

3. Exercise and fitness
Playing football will keep you fit and healthy, and if you take your game seriously, you might begin to think more about your body, and your diet. Lasting 90 minutes on a Sunday is a hard task, especially if you're not used to it, and not in the best shape.  You'll soon improve though, if you're serious about your game.

4. Improve as a person
Becoming a regular in your football team will give you added responsibilities and will help you to mature.  You'll have to turn up on time, and bring your kit, and be prepared for a training session or a match.  This can help you be more organized at work and at home.

5. Make new friends
Joining a team will be a great opportunity to make new friends, and benefit from their skills and experiences.

6. Not expensive
Football is a cheap sport to get involved in.  There's no need to spend a fortune on expensive equipment.  As long as your boots are comfortable and you have suitable shin pads and gloves if you're a goalkeeper, that's probably all you'll need, as the rest of the kit is likely to be provided by your team.

7. Work as a team
Working as part of a team will help you to play as a team, rather than 11 players.  You'll need to follow the manager's instructions during a game, and the coaching sessions will enable you to learn formations and tactics, as well as improve fitness and skills.

8. Achieve your potential
If you think you've got what it takes to be a footballer, you'll want to give it a go, and not wonder if you could have made it as a professional.  Joining a team will give you this opportunity.

9. Play like a professional
You might wear the same boots as your favorite player, and try and emulate them, especially if you play in the same position.  You might spend a lot of time watching other football, to help you improve, or have the same discipline as a professional, as you take the game seriously

10. Because you enjoy the game
If you didn't enjoy playing football, you wouldn't want to play it.  So if you're playing for a team, and you're not enjoying it, for whatever reasons, why not consider putting in a transfer request, and trying out for a different team?

You might not be the speediest winger with all the tricks, you might not get a hat trick every game, but as a player in the team, you're just as important.  If you let the team down, you let yourself down.  If you take your football seriously then you owe it to yourself to be the best player you can be. 

Who knows, you might even be spotted by a scout, become a professional footballer, and hit the big time!

If you want to learn How To Play Soccer properly and as part of a team, or just want amazing online Football Coaching, from a Premier League Club, then why not join the Everton Way? Use the same soccer drills and other soccer coaching methods as used in the Everton Academy?

Remember, if you want to be a Premier League player, you'll have to train like one first.

Advanced Marketing Systems - Should You Use One?

There are all sorts of methods that you can use to make your business more profitable. You can readily focus on improving your marketing strategies in order to attract more customers and to generate more sales. There are a number of different options you can choose from. There are many businesses that prefer to use advanced marketing systems for increasing their sales and profits. You should definitely consider the different aspects of the implementation of such a solution before deciding to use it.

The advanced marketing systems are based on complex vertical models and specific consumer target strategies. Their creation and implementation requires a lot of professional work. You need to have a working system that you can build on. More importantly you have to have reliable analysis on past performance. You also need to make future ones so that you can set the right goals for your marketing system and its campaigns. Generally, you will either need substantial experience in the field or you will have to hire a professional company to devise the strategy for your business.

In any case, the development of the system will require sufficient costs. The implementation of the different strategies will also be expensive. You will have to rely on a creative team. More importantly, you will have to pay for affiliate marketing and/or for media campaigns. The use of a wide range of software programs is also essential.

So, you really have to make a reliable cost analysis before choosing to use advanced marketing systems for your business. At the same time you will need to estimate the return on investment with the greatest accuracy possible. Keep in mind that the success of the campaigns you carry out is not determined solely by their performance. You might have a brilliant strategy, but the market and economic conditions might be against you. You should assess the risk carefully.

Are you looking for an online marketing system that actually works?

The key is outsourcing: http://www.johnsrhodes.com/blog/

Do not miss your opportunity. (Yes, it's FREE.)

Should Youth Football Teams Run the High School Offense? Heck No

High Schools that Want You to Run "Their System" at the Youth Level.

A small number of Youth Football coaches get pressure from the local High School to run their offense. The High School coach in these situations often think that by teaching 8 year old kids to run his system, by the time the players are 18 years old, they should be very proficient at running said system.

I am 100% opposed to the High School coach imposing his will on the Youth Program.

For many reasons I am 100% opposed to the coaches imposing this will upon the youth coach and kids. My first reason has to do with basic control and effort. The often handsomely paid for his time, High School coach is telling a non-paid volunteer of a program not run or paid for by the School, to run his High School system. Part of the "benefit" of spending money out of your own pocket to coach youth football, is you get to choose what you are going to run and how you are going to run it. If I fail as a coach, I'm going to fail running something I did the research on and believe in, not something shoved down my throat by someone not even involved in my youth football program or by someone that probably never coached a down of Youth Football.

Who is to say this School coach will even be at the school 10 years from now, or better yet that he will be running the same offense? One of the local teams we feed into has run 3 different Offenses in the last 5 years and had 2 different Head Coaches. So which of the 3 offenses should my teams be running now? Yes lets train 70+ youth coaches a very difficult offense every year or two, when almost half of them have no football coaching experience. Most of these offenses had we decided to run them, had zero youth materials or support system available for our coaches. I'm sure we would have failed miserably and lost lots of players had we adopted these systems.

I've even seen on some coaching forums where some coaches say it doesn't matter at all if any team wins or loses below the varsity level. The "varsity" is all that matters, even their Junior High, Freshman and JV teams don't matter. Well, it matters to the kids and parents playing on these teams and isn't that why we are supposed to be coaching football in the first place? I wonder how that High School coach would feel if a college coach came up to him and said that it didn't matter if the High School won or lost, all that matters is what happens at the college level and that the High School should run the Colleges offense? Never mind the fact that few of the kids will ever play College ball, just as just 25% of youth players will play High School ball. Sound enough reasoning for you? Let's take it a step further, shouldn't the pro coaches be telling the College coaches their wins and losses mean nothing, all that matters is that the College kids are running the Pro Offense? This "next level" baloney is just that, baloney. Any coach with even fair coaching skills can develop players for whatever system he choses to run.

Such arrogance is disappointing to see from anyone involved in coaching youth football.

This type of attitude is rarely found among successful coaches, it is most readily seen from excuse making oaches that are doing poorly and are looking to lay the blame of their poor performance at someone else's feet. I've actually seen High School coaches blame Jr High coaches for their varsity teams woes, that's someone desperate to keep a job he probably shouldn't have had to begin with.

At the big clinics I do for Glazier and Nike, I always sit in on a session or two. In addition to a Darrin Slack session, I like to see what the best High School coaches in the country are doing, teams like Southlake Carrol, Jenks, Union, Hoover, Colton, De LaSalle etc. The guys that coach these teams care little about whether the kid coming into their program can read a 3 technique and can run their offense. They just want a chance to coach the kid, that he goes out for football. They want the youth coach to teach safe basic blocking and tackling and NOT to run the kid off. The good coaches are hoping to get a player that has a love for the game and is coachable. These successful coaches tell me they are pretty confident they have the coaching ability to teach a player about anything over a 4 year time frame with nearly 4 months of 6 day a week contact along with year round, strength, agility and skills training. On the other hand we youth coaches get the kids for a few months of very abbreviated 2-3 day a week practices, a mere fraction of what the High Schools get and we are supposed to have the biggest technical impact on them?

As stated in other articles, we know that 75% of youth players will never play High School football to begin with. So we are supposed to run the High School system that only a tiny fraction of our players will be using? Remember my study of the main reasons most youth football players quit playing: #1) Poor Coaching #2) Playing on consistently losing teams. Running a system that is often not age appropriate (High School) and losing will often lead to the High School coach getting fewer players than he would otherwise. Most of the great High School coaches could CARE LESS what the youth player runs as long as he's having fun, playing safely and developing a passion for the game. Developing that passion is hard to do if his youth football team is getting blown out every week or not scoring many points.

What really gets to me are a few of the simply preposterous e-mails I get from a few youth football coaches. One youth coach went 10-1 in 2006 and 11-1 in 2005 and was retaining right at 95% of his players. In that very same time frame, the local High School went 0-9 and 1-8. The High School coach was demanding the youth football program run his offense in spite of the fact the High School offensive football plays never worked at the High School level. Maybe the High School coach should have run the Youth coaches offense, he couldn't have done any worse. I make it a habit to support the High School programs, by encouraging the kids to go to the High School games and to play High School football. But I have not coached School ball, so I do not critique the High Schools practice methods or systems, no matter how often I'm asked to offer my opinion. I don't have the time or expertise to do an in-depth study of the situation and would hope they wouldn't do the same of my team.

Here are some other reasons the youth program should not run the High School offense:

Not age appropriate

Doesn't fit the talent level

Doesn't fit the size level

Does not work well with limited practice time

Does not work with small team sizes where you are not allowed to cut or send players to a JV squad

Does not accommodate minimum play players (I Formation, Spread)

Is beyond the physical abilities of youth players (Spread passing)

Is beyond the mental abilities of youth players (Triple or Midline Option or multiple read passing)

Most High Schools will not take the time to teach the youth coaching staff how to coach their system "correctly" anyway

School Offenses Change

School Coaches Change

Techniques Change

Very few youth coaching materials, books, DVDs available for most High School offenses

Many kids change positions as they go through puberty

Youth football players rightfully care about what's happening to them in the season they are playing in. They want to win and have fun, they are not concerned with developing the knowledge of football plays that 25% of them may or may not use 10 years into the future. They could care less about some technique he won't remember in the 9th grade or will be taught differently or changed by the time he gets to High School. If you can incorporate some of the High Schools numbering into your system without a big hassle, great, but resist the meddling of the High School into your program if your program is headed in the right direction.

The best coaches in the Nation could care less what offense or football plays the youth teams run. You should care that whatever offense you choose fits your kids, scores points, and wins ballgames. Until the High School starts buying your equipment, paying your fees and paying your salary (yeah right), run what makes sense for your kids so they have fun now and make it to play High School football.

In the Single Wing our kids are better prepared to play "at the next level" than kids from nearly any other type of system. Our linemen know how to pull, trap, double team, fold, crab block, drive block, rule block, pass block and work as a team. Our "QB" knows how to ball handle,give handoffs, take shotgun snaps, roll out, drop back,throw, boot,lead a team and run with the ball. Our recievers and backs all know how to take handoffs, block,read holes, read blocks, catch the ball etc, everything any other back or reciever would learn in any other type of offense. Most importantly, the kids have fun and do well, which is what keeps them coming back to play.

Winning and losing are both habits. I've seen very average teams with a history of winning win games they have no business competing in. These kids just feel somehow, someway they are going to win the game, even when they are down by 2-3 TDs and time is running out. I've seen the most improbable of comebacks and bizzarre plays in the last moments of games where the team of destiny beats the better team. On the other side of the fence, I see teams that expect to lose. Even when these teams are ahead they expect to get snake bit and lose the game, these negative expectations are usually met. I would think the High School teams would want kids that have a winning attitude, it's contagious.

Dave Cisar-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 that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book "Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan" was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Youth Football

Football - Coloring Pages Kids Should Have Five Facts

Football coloring Kid, you love a football coloring book but don't know the game of pigskin?

Coloring football Kid, would you believe five facts about football will put you in the know?
Let's get started...

1. Football History


2. Football Fundamentals


3. Organized Football Structure


4. Players' Skills Levels


5. Football Season

1. Football History

American football comes from rugby football. The first major football game was won by Rutgers University (score - 6) against Princeton University (score - 4). Their war was in 1869 -- four years after the Civil War.

Coloring football boy, the main idea of football is still the same. Football fans still yell, "Run that football!", "Throw it!", "Kick it!", and "Score man, score!"

2. Football Fundamentals

Coloring kid, you must get the ball into your opponent's end zone.
Get yourself an egg-shaped, air-filled leather ball to throw, catch or kick.
Follow the rules and regulations. No running "any-which-a-way" with the football, man!

Only two teams can square off. Your team and the other guy's team must have eleven players on the field at one time. Smaller football leagues use fewer than eleven guys.

The teams take turns playing offensive (trash talking is allowed), then playing defensive (cry baby guys are not allowed).

The offensive team possesses the ball until they score, or fail to gain 10 yards in four tries, or loses the ball to the defensive team.

The defensive team tries to stop the offense from gaining yardage or scoring. The defense tries to steal the ball, too.

3. Organized Football Structure

Do you love knocking people down, kid? Is screaming in a big guy's face your dream
come true? Is slamming a little guy into planet Earth your idea of fun?
Well, Coloring football kid, tackle football is for you...

NO! Football coloring Kid, no scratching or spitting! "Eye-gouging and kicking?" NO! "Choke holds and pistol whipping?!" NO! Don't get greedy, kid...

Here is a little lowdown info to help understand organized football structure:

Teams may change their players as long as 11 guys are on the field.
Scrimmage is the action once the ball is snapped (quickly given) to the Quarterback by his Center until the ball is dead.
Line of Scrimmage is an invisible field line where teams face each other. Now get this...

Both teams can have three specialized teams where players have one or more roles.

Here are a few roles...

I. The Specialized Offense Team must score or gain yardage to win.

The Quarterback leader gets the ball from his Center man -- his second brain. The QB throws the ball to a Receiver, or hands it to a Running Back or runs the ball himself (gutsy!).

The Offense Line is five Mack trucks. They power protect the Passer, block, and leave tread marks on defense players' backs.

Running Backs have roles in running the ball, catching, blocking plus wrecking havoc on yardage.

Wide Receivers catch zooming balls from the Quarterback. These guys have "superhero" speed plus they block, too.

Tight Ends have two roles. They can perform as Wide Receivers or as Offensive Linemen who protect Quarterbacks and block for Runners.

II. The Specialized Defense Team must stop opponents from scoring or gaining yardage.

The Defensive Line has 3 to 6 "massive giants" blocking the sun and creating darkness and pain along the line of scrimmage.

Linemen ("monster trucks") roll over running backs. They crash test "sack" the quarterback before he passes or hands off the ball.

Linebackers cause nightmares. They lurk behind the Defensive Linemen plus rush the quarterback or cover receivers.

Defensive Backs with superhero speed cover receivers and stop zooming passes plus rush quarterbacks!

III. The Specialized Special Team must score extra points.

Got a funky leg and foot, kid? Become a punter or place kicker to get those game saving extra points. Long snappers need pinpoint skills, too.

4. Players' Skills Levels

Professional level


There are 32 US teams for wanna be professional players.
American football leagues are found in 50 countries!
Maybe you can sign with the German Football League (GFL) or the Japanese X-League.
Sports agents and lawyers help you make big money deals.


Football coloring kid, if you can't cut the professionals levels go to the semi-professional leagues. Or become a sports agent or lawyer! Don't play the fool, kid, study hard at the...

College level


Your pro football training starts in college. Nearly every college and university has a football team and stadium.
You like crowds, football coloring kid? Go to a college game. If you get lost hold your tears, boy. Wait by the security station. After the last 60,000 to 100,000 fans leave your people can spot you!


High School level

More high school boys play football than college guys play football.
High school leads to collegiate, then to professional level football careers, then to high paying TV commercials careers.
The high school sophomore year is when most players decide about a football career. Some professionals learned to play football in...

Youth and Pee Wee level

Do 5 to 14 year old players have fans besides mom and dad? "Yes."

5. The Football Season

Can organized teams throw pigskin any ole time? No? That is right.

• Football season starts in August.
  
  


• Football runs you crazy until January pro playoffs



• High school games are played on Fridays.



• College games are played on Thursday and Saturday.



• Professionals play on Sunday and Monday. We will...
  

Wrap it up, football coloring Kid...

Do you know about players' numbers?



• 1-19 for Quarterbacks, Wide Receivers, Punters plus Kickers


• 20 - 49: Running Backs plus Defensive Backs


• 50 - 59: Centers plus Linebackers


• 60 - 79: Defensive Linemen and Offensive Linemen


• 80 - 89: Wide Receivers plus Tight Ends


• 90 - 99: Defensive Linemen plus Linebackers

Now, you know the game of football, coloring Kid. You learned basic: football history, football fundamentals, organized football structure, players' skills levels, and the football season...

So get yourself into a game with other football coloring pages kids.

Play hard. Laugh Loud.

Permission is granted to reprint this article "Football - Coloring Pages Kids Should Have Five Facts". Use it for your website, class, home school, football camp, church or library with the http://www.coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com/football-coloring.html links and credits intact. Get more free Coloring Page articles, too. No permission is granted to edit, alter or sell the articles.

Michael J Bennett -- editor of Coloring-Pages-Book-for-Kids-Boys -- Extreme coloring pages for boys. Coloring buddy Mike started drawing and coloring by creating coloring fun for his daughters. Visit http://www.coloring-pages-book-for-kids-boys.com

Women in Men's Sports - Should it be Allowed?

Over the past century, women have come along way in terms of equality. Ever since Women's Suffrage (which, by the way, may be the worst name ever for women's equality), in most aspects women have been put on a level playing field with their male counterparts. During the brunt of the 20th Century, women largely spent their time tending to the home. However, as a society we have since left those archaic times, and women currently comprise nearly 50% of the work force.

So, the next question that comes to mind is whether or not this equality issue should be taken to the next level, allowing women to participate in sports that are predominantly played by men. Here are my thoughts on the issue.

I generally feel as if I am a progressive thinker. In no way, shape or form do I believe that women are of a lesser life form than men. Women are just as intelligent, talented and capable as men, far surpassing men in some areas. However, when it comes to sports, it is a virtual certainty that men are bigger, faster and stronger than women. As a result, it is no secret that women find it rather difficult to compete with men. But, does that mean that women should be excluded from the male side of sports? Not necessarily. I feel that in sports like swimming, golf, track, and tennis, women should be allowed to compete with men if they feel up to the task. You may be wondering why women should be allowed to compete in some sports and not others. Here is why. The aforementioned sports are individual, non-contact sports. If there is no physical contact between the contestants, the outcome of the game depends less on physical prowess than on skill. Physicality still is a factor, but not nearly as much as in team or contact sports. When skill is the main determinant, I don't see any reason why women should not be able to play with men.

However, when it comes to contact sports like football, basketball, soccer and hockey, I personally don't think that women should be allowed to compete. My reasoning is two fold. First, when women and men play together, men find themselves at a distinct disadvantage. Men have been raised to treat women with respect and kindness. This notion definitely shows up on the playing field. For example, when in college I participated in co-ed intramural sports. As I found myself playing against a female opponent, I felt bad taking the ball away from her. Furthermore, even if I did decide to take the ball, I did it in a very unnatural way, trying not to be too rough. I simply did not want to be that "jerk" who was too physical with a girl. Because of experiences similar to my own, I feel that women should not be allowed to play contact sports with men.

The second reason I am against women in male team or contact sports is as follows. I have heard countless horror stories of sexist treatment of women who play male sports. The one that comes to mind occurred in 1999. At the University of Colorado, a young women by the name of Katie Hinda played on the football team as a replacement placekicker. During her tenure at Colorado, she was subjected to sexual harassment on a daily basis, eventually claiming that she had been raped by a fellow teammate. Regarding whether or not women should be allowed to play sports with men, I thing this instance speaks for itself.

In summation, I want to reiterate my belief that women are equal to men. However, when it comes to contact sports, there are just too many issues and obstacles in the way. Not only are men at a psychological disadvantage because of our society's consensus towards gentle treatment of women, but also, women can often times find themselves in very compromising, even dangerous situations. Therefore, women in men's sports is not a good idea.

Nishan Wilde is VP of Sales at RobbinsSports.com, an online resource for Gym Bags and Portable Scoreboards

Should You Script Football Plays in Youth Football?

Many great High School, College and Pro coaches script plays. Ken Hofer, the Single Wing Legend from Menominee High School in Michigan scripts his first 15 plays or so. He likes to see how the defense lines up and how specific defenders respond to certain football plays in his playbook. I’ve watched many Menominee games and often thought the play calling was a bit odd in the first possession or two. The Maroons didn’t seem to move the ball as well as normal in their first two possessions, and ran a different play on each snap. On subsequent possessions they seemed nearly unstoppable. It became obvious Coach Hofer was scripting his first 10-15 plays.

When coaching youth football, you are under different constraints than the High School guys. The quarters are just 10 minutes long in most cases instead of 12 minutes at the High School level. The youth games move slower so there are far fewer possessions, each possession then becomes very important. Using up an entire possession or 2 or 3 to follow a script may put your youth football team in a hole that may be difficult to crawl out of.

A hybrid way to get some of the benefit of scripting without giving up 2-3 possessions is to scout for just your base play and a handful of your “homerun” plays. An example would be on your off-tackle run, make sure and scout the playside defensive end, if he’s boxing keep running off-tackle, if he’s a rush end, run the sweep. On wedge plays see how hard the weakside defensive tackle is coming, if he’s charging hard, run a trap play, if not charging hard keep wedging. On sweep plays if the playside corner is sitting back keep running the sweep, if he is coming hard, throw the sweep pass. On the sweep, if the backside defensive end and corner bail out, run the reverse. All this is detailed in Chapter 13 my book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” along with our “Quick Scout” and “Easy Count” scouting methods . Most youth football coaches prefer to “watch” the game rather than scout the game, you have to stay disciplined and watch your keys to determine what will work and what won’t. It is definitely more fun to watch the game than to properly scout it.

Another thing many youth football coaches fail to do well is to set up their home run plays properly. If you are running a play action pass, the run off that play has to be established well before you go for the throat on the play action pass play. In youth football, that means 5-6 times minimum. If you are running a trap or reverse, the off-tackle or sweep flow has to be there and it won’t be there if you have not run the off-tackle or sweep enough. The buck wedge series won’t work unless the wedge has been established, so on and so forth. Too many coaches get anxious and go for the throat when the opponent isn’t quite ready yet for the “kill shot”.

I go into a game with a script for the first 6 plays or so. I'm going to scout specific defenders on each of those plays to help determine what I’m going to call most of the game. Then I have mini scripts of 4 play series that I’m going to run as the game unfolds, each mini script is designed to set up a home run play in the series or something in the next possession. I also remind myself to try and work in a certain play or two we may have neglected or need work on. In the meantime I’m making sure the defense has to stop our base football play, if they don’t I’m going to keep running it until they over adjust, then they get hit with that plays complementary play for a long gain. Too many youth football coaches don’t pound a play that is working enough. Make the defense do something they aren’t used to doing, make the overcompensate for that football play, then hit the weakness it exposes.

For more useful youth football coaching tips please go to:

Youth Football

Copyright 2007 Cisar Management

Republishing permitted if links are kept intact.

Dave Cisar- Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues at all levels and age groups while retaining 90% of his kids.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His web site is http://www.winningyouthfootball.com

More Reasons Why Youth Football Teams Should Never Run the High School System

More Stats for NOT Running the High School Offense in Youth Football:

Here are a few stats for you youth football coaches feeling the pressure to run the local High School offense:

Let’s say you have a team size of 25 kids. National studies from Michigan State University and the National Youth Sports Alliance say less than 30% of your players will play High School football. So now, out of 25 kids you have 7 players that according to the studies go on to play High School ball. Of those 7, not all will play at the local Public High School, they may move, play for a different local High School, or they may play for a Private School, let’s say you lose 1 player there. Of the 6 remaining, after they go through puberty some will grow and others won’t. That skinny wingback that fills out to a slow 250 pounds is no longer a wingback in High School, kids change. The big hulking center you have doesn't gain a pound and ends up playing fullback. At least half of your players will play a position different than what they did in Youth Ball.

With the weight rules in place for most leagues that restrict large players to the interior line positions, your big players are usually not allowed to touch the ball. So forget about the big players getting any training at receiver, tight end or running back, positions they may very well play in High School. In 2006 two of my former Omaha players, offensive guards James D and Ronnie C both played fullback for Omaha North High varsity as freshmen.Ronnie even ran for a TD in one big game. North has over 2500 students, made it to the state semi-finals, had two DI scholarship players and a parade all-american (Niles Paul) on their team. Neither of these former offensive guards ever got to touch the football for my teams, as both were over the running back weight limits. Neither had played in the backfield or ran this schools offense, yet they did very well at their new positions in a brand new offense. I doubt Omaha Norths head coach cared one iota that these kids had never run his offense. He gets paid to coach football and train football players, not sit back and call football plays from a tower with kids that are already trained for him by a bunch of youth coach volunteers.

So now we are at 3 kids of the 25 that would be playing High School ball and playing the very same position on the High School team as they did at the Youth Football level. If you decided to make the choice for the High School offense for the benefit of just 3 players at the expense of the 22 others on your team, it would not benefit anywhere near the majority of your players.

Add in the slim chances that your 8 year old youth football player will be playing High School ball 10 years down the road and that the High School will even have the same head coach or be running the same offense 10 years into the future. It seems darn right ridiculous to even consider trying to run the same system as the local High School, the odds are very long it would help even a tiny fraction of your youth football players.

The numbers just don’t add up to make a decision to run an offense that in most cases will have little success for your team and in the end will most likely result in fewer players deciding to go on to play High School ball. Because as you will read in subsequent posts, most youth football players quit playing because of poor coaching, their teams are not competitive and they aren’t having fun, all are symptoms of running a system that doesn’t work at the Youth Level.

While the Single Wing Offense has proven itself at the Youth Level all across the country, it is also seeing a rebirth of sorts at the High School and even College levels. Last year 3 Single Wing teams played for State High School Titles in Virginia alone, with 2 teams winning, Giles and Osborne. Menominee High School a perennial Single Wing powerhouse in Michigan won its second State Title in 7 years and blew out the Defending State Champions in the largest class in Minnesota as well. Colton High in California finished in the USA Today Top 20 running the Single Wing Offense. Those are just a few teams I know of off the top of my head that are having success running the Single Wing in High School.

If you watched Urban "The Mad Scientist" Meyers Florida team last year, you would have seen lots of Single Wing football, especially when they went into their “Tebow” formation. Other College teams running lots of Single Wing included West Virginia, Arkansas and Utah to name just a few. My guess is we will see more of it everywhere this coming season.

For those of you that get static for running what you run:
There are many high schools that run the Wing T, Flexbone, Wishbone, Straight T, Veer and Double Wing Offenses and virtually no Colleges at the Division I level or Pro teams run these offenses. Are the thousands of High Schools that run these offenses doing something wrong? How about De LaSalle and its 170 game win streak running the Veer or Bellevue Washingtons National Championship team running the Wing T? Shouldn't they be running what the College and Pro teams are running? No, they dont have the players needed to run those Pro and College offenses and neither do you.

Don't let that weak High School coach sell you on the snake oil that the most important football coach in his program is the youth or Junior High coach, what silliness. The most important coach in the High School system is the High School Head Coach, only responsibility shirking weaklings would put it off on someone other than themselves. This isn't the language I hear at the clinics from the top High School coaches in the nation, they rightfully think they are the coach that has the most to do with their teams success or failure. They wouldn't dream of trying to blame someone else for their failure or success.

Did Lou Holtz blame poor High School coaches for his last South Carolina teams failure to reach a bowl game? How about Bill Parcells, should he be blaming the college coaches for his Dallas Cowboys not making the Super Bowl? It never happenned, it would be silly, but I hear it from a handfull of perrennial losing High School coaches from accross the country on football coaching forums. Great coaches aren't excuse makers, they take and teach responsibility, it's the right thing to do. Don't teach your players by your excuse making example to be excuse making dog ate the homework kids.

Another article brought to you by http://winningyouthfootball.com Copyright 2007 Cisar Management. Republishing allowed if links are kept intact.

For more great youth football ideas and football plays, sign up for Dave’s free youth football coaching tips newsletter, please click here:
Football Practice [http://winningyouthfootball.com/author]

Dave Cisar-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 that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Coaching Youth Football

More Reasons Why Youth Football Teams Should Never Run the High School System

More Stats for NOT Running the High School Offense in Youth Football:

Here are a few stats for you youth football coaches feeling the pressure to run the local High School offense:

Let’s say you have a team size of 25 kids. National studies from Michigan State University and the National Youth Sports Alliance say less than 30% of your players will play High School football. So now, out of 25 kids you have 7 players that according to the studies go on to play High School ball. Of those 7, not all will play at the local Public High School, they may move, play for a different local High School, or they may play for a Private School, let’s say you lose 1 player there. Of the 6 remaining, after they go through puberty some will grow and others won’t. That skinny wingback that fills out to a slow 250 pounds is no longer a wingback in High School, kids change. The big hulking center you have doesn't gain a pound and ends up playing fullback. At least half of your players will play a position different than what they did in Youth Ball.

With the weight rules in place for most leagues that restrict large players to the interior line positions, your big players are usually not allowed to touch the ball. So forget about the big players getting any training at receiver, tight end or running back, positions they may very well play in High School. In 2006 two of my former Omaha players, offensive guards James D and Ronnie C both played fullback for Omaha North High varsity as freshmen.Ronnie even ran for a TD in one big game. North has over 2500 students, made it to the state semi-finals, had two DI scholarship players and a parade all-american (Niles Paul) on their team. Neither of these former offensive guards ever got to touch the football for my teams, as both were over the running back weight limits. Neither had played in the backfield or ran this schools offense, yet they did very well at their new positions in a brand new offense. I doubt Omaha Norths head coach cared one iota that these kids had never run his offense. He gets paid to coach football and train football players, not sit back and call football plays from a tower with kids that are already trained for him by a bunch of youth coach volunteers.

So now we are at 3 kids of the 25 that would be playing High School ball and playing the very same position on the High School team as they did at the Youth Football level. If you decided to make the choice for the High School offense for the benefit of just 3 players at the expense of the 22 others on your team, it would not benefit anywhere near the majority of your players.

Add in the slim chances that your 8 year old youth football player will be playing High School ball 10 years down the road and that the High School will even have the same head coach or be running the same offense 10 years into the future. It seems darn right ridiculous to even consider trying to run the same system as the local High School, the odds are very long it would help even a tiny fraction of your youth football players.

The numbers just don’t add up to make a decision to run an offense that in most cases will have little success for your team and in the end will most likely result in fewer players deciding to go on to play High School ball. Because as you will read in subsequent posts, most youth football players quit playing because of poor coaching, their teams are not competitive and they aren’t having fun, all are symptoms of running a system that doesn’t work at the Youth Level.

While the Single Wing Offense has proven itself at the Youth Level all across the country, it is also seeing a rebirth of sorts at the High School and even College levels. Last year 3 Single Wing teams played for State High School Titles in Virginia alone, with 2 teams winning, Giles and Osborne. Menominee High School a perennial Single Wing powerhouse in Michigan won its second State Title in 7 years and blew out the Defending State Champions in the largest class in Minnesota as well. Colton High in California finished in the USA Today Top 20 running the Single Wing Offense. Those are just a few teams I know of off the top of my head that are having success running the Single Wing in High School.

If you watched Urban "The Mad Scientist" Meyers Florida team last year, you would have seen lots of Single Wing football, especially when they went into their “Tebow” formation. Other College teams running lots of Single Wing included West Virginia, Arkansas and Utah to name just a few. My guess is we will see more of it everywhere this coming season.

For those of you that get static for running what you run:
There are many high schools that run the Wing T, Flexbone, Wishbone, Straight T, Veer and Double Wing Offenses and virtually no Colleges at the Division I level or Pro teams run these offenses. Are the thousands of High Schools that run these offenses doing something wrong? How about De LaSalle and its 170 game win streak running the Veer or Bellevue Washingtons National Championship team running the Wing T? Shouldn't they be running what the College and Pro teams are running? No, they dont have the players needed to run those Pro and College offenses and neither do you.

Don't let that weak High School coach sell you on the snake oil that the most important football coach in his program is the youth or Junior High coach, what silliness. The most important coach in the High School system is the High School Head Coach, only responsibility shirking weaklings would put it off on someone other than themselves. This isn't the language I hear at the clinics from the top High School coaches in the nation, they rightfully think they are the coach that has the most to do with their teams success or failure. They wouldn't dream of trying to blame someone else for their failure or success.

Did Lou Holtz blame poor High School coaches for his last South Carolina teams failure to reach a bowl game? How about Bill Parcells, should he be blaming the college coaches for his Dallas Cowboys not making the Super Bowl? It never happenned, it would be silly, but I hear it from a handfull of perrennial losing High School coaches from accross the country on football coaching forums. Great coaches aren't excuse makers, they take and teach responsibility, it's the right thing to do. Don't teach your players by your excuse making example to be excuse making dog ate the homework kids.

Another article brought to you by http://winningyouthfootball.com Copyright 2007 Cisar Management. Republishing allowed if links are kept intact.

For more great youth football ideas and football plays, sign up for Dave’s free youth football coaching tips newsletter, please click here:
Football Practice [http://winningyouthfootball.com/author]

Dave Cisar-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 that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Coaching Youth Football