football teams

Friday, December 4, 2009

Verizon Football

When you dont have great 3G coverage, it shows. verizonwireless.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQIoZFd-pe4&hl=en

Zone Blocking For Youth Football Teams

There are many differences between youth football players and College, Pro and High School players. To say the difference is night and day would not do justice to how different they are. It would be like the differences in the beauty of Miss America and the 1,000 pound bearded lady at the State Fair.

College, Pro and even High School players practice 6 days a week and play their games on a 7th day. Most of these guys practice 20-30 hours each week, youth football teams practice from 4-8 hours every week. Pro, College and High School players have played the game for 7-25 years, they have the basics down, they know the game. Youth football players have 1-2 years of experience and many youth teams are made up of a majority of kids that have never played before. Most youth football players don’t know the difference between a 3 technique and a footstool. Pro, College and High School kids are 16-35 years old, they can move faster, control their bodies better and retain and process much more information than youth football players. Pro, College and High School teams cut weak players, they are the best of the best. The pros and college teams cut kids every day that were the best players in their respective youth and High School teams. Even the High Schools cut weaker players, they also send weaker kids to JV or Reserve teams.

Pro, College and even some High School players are being taught by coaches that coach for a living. Most devote 50-70 hour weeks to learning their craft and most have 10-15 years of experience playing the game. This compares to the amount of experience and time a youth coach can spend on developing himself as a coach, which for most doesn't even allow for the time to go to a single weekend coaches clinic or the purchase of a single Coaching Book or DVD. The difference in the levels of coaching expertise is just huge, yet a youth coach with no experience with complex zone blocking is going to teach it to others?

In a nutshell Pro, College and even most High School teams are made up of great players athletically compared to the typical youth football player that will never play High School football let alone even sniff at College or Pro Football. Youth teams are made up of a very limited amount of players, you cant send the kids down to JV, Reserve or Frosh teams, and you can't cut them. In fact you are going to play them, some probably will even start on your offensive line. While I have been blessed with talent on some of my teams, others had offensive lines that looked like the characters from the "Land of Misfit Toys."

By the time the youth kids get to High School, most of the real weak players have already quit playing, realizing football is just not their game. But today on your youth football team, these kids are still playing, still trying to figure out how to play and if this is their game. At the youth level in most leagues, everyone has to play some and most often you are going to have some unathletic players playing offensive line. Thast playing, not being cut or sent down to another team.

Pro, College and High School teams are not required to play all their kids, most youth teams do require you play everyone at least for a handful of plays. These less athletic kids are then playing a postion that greatly impacts every single play (offensive line) and they are going to zone block? Okay, that's great if I'm the defensive coordinator of the other team, but terrible if I'm the running back or the dad of the poor running back on the zone blocking team.

This is how perfectly good youth football players get soured on the game and quit and become part of the 70% of youth players that never play a down of High School football. It's a real shame and is the main reason I wrote the book, do all the clinics and developed the DVDs. Too many good kids get run off of playing football by poor coaches and terrible schemes, no wonder so many High School and Youth Football programs have love/hate relationships.

On the technical side, the zone schemes cornerstone is the “combo” block, where the offensive linemen gets an initial push on a defensive linemen, then comes off the block once good movement has been made, to then block a linebacker. This block mind you is blocked based on the type of defensive front the offensive linemen sees and can recognize, often involving line calls. This would be quite a lot to ask from a 9 year old youth player maybe playing his first game. Most kids that age are still struggling to figure out how to make a sound drive block on a player within 1 foot of them and making sure they remember to block on offense and tackle on defense.

Most High School teams can’t even zone block well with Spring Football, year round football workouts, excellent offensive line coaches and 6 days a week practice. And you are going to do it successfully with youth players? With team sizes of 24-25 for many teams, your worst athletes are playing offensive line. So you are going to ask this weaker player to recognize the front correctly, make the right line call, make an effective double team block, get movement on a double team block, spy the linebacker at the same time, then know when to peel off at the exact right time and block the speedy and strong linebacker "in space" on the run on the same play?

So one of your least athletic kids is going to spy and track down and block in open space the other teams fastest and most athletic player (linebacker) after engaging another linemen? Wow that will be quite an accomplishment akin to building an atomic bomb out of a few leftover juice cans and some old mothballs, good luck pulling that all off. If you can teach that at the youth level, you have a Select Football team, should be playing in the National Championship game and as a coach should be coaching O-Line in the NFL. Zone blocking takes GREAT coaching, lots of time, excellent athletic linemen and savy smart experienced football players that can recognize fronts and have impeccable timing, none of which is in abundance at the youth football level.

Simple rule blocking using angles and overwhelming numbers in limited space is what works within the constraints of youth football and is what we teach in the book and DVDs. Zone blocking will fail and frustrate the kids and coaches. It did not surprise me that this zone blocking suggestion came from one of those one-dimensional fails-every-time youth coaches that uses such failed and useless tactics like “attack the center”. Probably uses the famous “Hit Somebody” phrase and runs kids to death in football practice, then wonders why his teams can’t win any games.

No doubt when this guys team loses, he's the one that blames it all on a lack of talent (every year) or "the kids just didn't want it bad enough". Geez I tire of these kind of guys, they ruin so many kids and teams. Unfortunately we see too many coaches like that in our game and is one of the main reasons over 70% of youth football players never go on to play High School football, it’s a shame to see.

When coaching youth football, it’s your job to pick out a scheme that will work with the talent levels, athleticism, maturity, practice time and coaching ability you have available. Playing a youth football team trying to zone block would be like shooting fish in a barrel, the poor running backs, the horror, the horror.

For 150 free youth football coaching tips and coaching ideas, please stop here: Coaching Youth Football

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 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.
His web site is: Football Plays

Thursday, December 3, 2009

College Football - AP's Top 25 Welcomes North Carolina, Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Ball State

College Football's 6th week saw the AP pollsters kick Wisconsin, Fresno State, Oregon and Connecticut out of its Top 25 list and welcome in North Carolina (4-1) at 22, Michigan State (5-1-) at 23, Pittsburgh (4-1) at 24 and unbeaten Ball State (6-0) at 25.

No. 18 Wisconsin, which had risen to No. 8 in the 3rd week, fell the hardest, losing at home to No. 14 Ohio State 20-17. The Buckeyes true freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor scored on an 11-yard run with 68 seconds left to snap Wisconsin's 16-game home winning streak. When it counted, the Badgers could not stop Pryor to preserve their lead and also could not contain Chris "Beanie" Wells' 168 rushing yards.

No. 22 Fresno State got bushwhacked at home by unranked Hawaii in overtime 32-29. Hawaii capitalized on the Bulldogs' 6 turnovers and 3 missed field goals. The pineapple brigade of Hawaiian Warriors had lost 3 of their first 4 games and apparently were not willing to stop their winning tradition despite being on the road.

No. 23 Oregon had to travel to No. 9 Southern California, fresh off its 27-21 upset loss to the Oregon State Beavers in Corvallis. The Trojans were in no mood to entertain another loss to an Oregon team and took it out on the Ducks 44-10.

No. 24 Connecticut was unbeaten at 5-0 before heading to unbeaten and unranked North Carolina. The Tar Heels saw opportunity coming and dispatched the Huskies by taking a 17-3 halftime lead before polishing them off 38-12.

Michigan State led Iowa 16-6 after three quarters and hung on with some great defensive stops in the 4th quarter to outlast the Hawkeyes, 16-13. After losing its opener on the road to California by a touchdown, the Spartans have now reeled off 5 consecutive victories.

Visiting Pittsburgh put some heartache on No. 10 South Florida on its home turf, leading 17-10 at the half and winning 26-21. Dave Wannstedt's Panthers were every bit the match for the South Florida Bulls, which suffered their first loss of the season.

Ball State picked up its 6th straight victory by shutting out Toledo 31-0 in a road game. Toledo's Rockets hung tough in the first half, trailing 3-0, but the Cardinals stopped messing around and scored 4 touchdowns in the second half to put an exclamation point on their win.

No. 19 Vanderbilt continues to impress in the tough Southeastern Conference, picking up its 5th straight victory at home to remain undefeated by upsetting No. 13 Auburn, 14-13. The Commodores are the only undefeated team in the SEC's East Division, ahead of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee. Vanderbilt is 3-0 in the SEC for the first time in 58 years (1950) and 5-0 overall for the first time in 65 years (1943).

Vanderbilt's Mackenzi Adams came off the bench and threw for 153 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the Commodores to victory over Auburn for the first time in their last 14 games against the Tigers. News flash: Vanderbilt is no longer a pushover.

Among the top 16 of 22 teams that won besides Southern Cal, Ohio State and Vanderbilt were:

No. 1 Oklahoma won on the road over Baylor 49-17. The Sooners scored 4 TDs in the opening quarter and then added a TD in each of the succeeding quarters. No. 2 Alabama won at home over unranked Kentucky 17-14. Alabama's Glen Coffee rushed for 218 yards and Leigh Tiffin kicked a 24-yard field goal with 2:12 left as the Crimson Tide hung on to give the Wildcats their first loss.

No. 4 Missouri traveled to unranked Nebraska and gave the Cornhuskers a horse whipping 52-17. The win was Missouri's first at Nebraska in 30 years. The Tigers' Chase Daniel threw for 3 TDs and Derrick Washington rushed for 139 yards and 3 TDs. Don't get too excited yet; Nebraska's 3 wins have come over lame opponents. No. 5 Texas traveled to Colorado and torched the Buffaloes 38-14. No. 6 Penn State beat Purdue on the road 20-6.

No. 7 Texas Tech rolled past unranked Kansas State on the road, 58-28, after leading 38-14 at the half. BYU (Brigham Young) beat unranked, in-state rival Utah State 34-14 on the road. No. 12 Florida ripped apart Arkansas 38-7 on the road. No. 15 Utah just eased past Oregon State 31-28 at home.

No. 16 Kansas was down 20-0 at the half and just got by unranked Iowa State 35-33 on the road. Jayhawk fans must sense that Kansas is not that good after gimmie wins against Florida International, Louisiana Tech and 1-AA Sam Houston State and a narrow 3-point win over a South Florida team on the downslide.

No. 17 Boise State kept winning by stomping Louisiana Tech 38-3 at home. No. 20 Virginia Tech picked up a 20-13 win at home against a losing, 1-AA Western Kentucky team. The Hokies also have a signature win over 1-AA Furman; let's get serious with the scheduling, guys. No. 21 Oklahoma State downed Texas A&M 56-28 at home.

No. 3 LSU (Louisiana State), No. 11 Georgia and No. 25 Wake Forest were idle this week.

Twelve of the AP Top 25 teams from week 5 remain undefeated. They are Oklahoma, Alabama, LSU, Missouri, Texas, Penn State, Texas Tech, BYU, Utah, Boise State, Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State.

Three other teams among the 119 1-A competitors remain undefeated-Ball State at 6-0 and Northwestern and Tulsa at 5-0. Alabama and Penn State are the only other two unbeaten teams at 6-0.

At least two of these 15 unbeaten teams will lose in college football's week 7 as Oklahoma State (5-0) travels to Missouri (5-0), and Texas (5-0) travels to Oklahoma (5-0).

Three other unbeatens had better strap their helmets on tight because 4-0 LSU travels to 4-1 Florida, 5-0 Northwestern hosts 5-1 Michigan State, and 6-0 Penn State travels to an angry 3-2 Wisconsin team that is not used to losing at home. Two other key games pit 4-1 Notre Dame at 4-1 North Carolina, and 5-1 Minnesota at 3-2 Illinois (any team that can beat Michigan now can beat Minnesota).

Read my other detailed, knowledgeable, interesting articles on college football, including:

"So Who Are the Current Worst Players in Division 1-A Football in the Nation?"

"4 AP Top 25 Teams Have Some Proving to Do-Missouri, Texas Tech, South Florida and Kansas"

"College Football - Week 5: 9 AP Top 25 Teams Lose, 6 to Unranked Teams, No. 1 USC, No. 3 Georgia & No. 4 Florida All Lose"

"College Football - Week 4: 14 Teams Suffer Their First Defeat - Auburn, East Carolina, Oregon & Florida State All Lose"

"College Football - Week 3: Let There Be No Doubt: USC Crushes Ohio State 35-3 and Is Clearly No. 1"

"College Football - Week 2: East Carolina Smacks West Virginia, Upsets Its 3rd Straight Ranked Team"

"College Football - Week 1: No. 24 Alabama Stuns No. 9 Clemson, East Carolina Upsets No. 17 Virginia Tech"

"College Football - Preseason - Only 5 Games Highlight First Week, 29 Others Must Win Their Opener"

Find my Blog at:
http://www.edbagleyblog.com
http://www.edbagleyblog.com/Sports.html

Barcelona Soccer Team Facts

Barcelona is a city long in love with sports, especially the Barcelona Soccer Team.

In addition to hosting the 1992 Summer Olympics, Barcelona hosted parts of the 1982 Football World Cup and has hosted the X FINA World Championship and Eurobasket. The city has two UEFA 5-star rated football stadiums: FC Barcelona's Nou Camp and the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

FC Barcelona's soccer team is almost a way of life in Barcelona. The rivalry with Madrid rises almost to the point where Barcelona can be considered the Catalonia national team. FC Barca was founded on 29 November 1899 by Joan Gamper, who created the team colors of blue and claret from the Swiss canton in which he lived. Barcelona lost its first ever match with some English expatriates 0-1, but within ten years began a string of Catalan and Spanish championships lasting decades. FC Barcelona went though tough times in the rise to the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, but was able to recover and by the mid 1940s resumed its championship ways.

FC Barcelona is a sports club containing basketball, handball, hockey, ice-hockey, figure skating, indoor football, rugby, baseball, volleyball and women's football, but the jewel in the crown has always been association football, or the Barcelona Soccer Team. The Barcelona team has qualified every year for the European competition since it was founded in 1955.

The club motto is "Més que un club" and they refer to their stadium as "Camp Nou." In English these are "More than a club" and "Our Ground." Despite a slump at the turn of the century, FC Barcelona has assembled a talented team and once again resumed winning ways. The club currently has a five-year deal with UNICEF, wearing the emblem on their jerseys and paying $1.9 million a year for the privilege.

Among the many claims to fame of the Barca team are that it has more victories than any other Association Football team in the world. They also have more wins in the Copa del Rey, the Spanish tournament, than any other team with 24 victories. There are 18 La Liga Championships, 7 Supercopa de Espana, 2 EUFA Champions League, 4 EUFA Winner's Cups, 3 Inter-Cities Fairs Cups, 1 Inter-City Fairs Cup Trophy Play-off, 2 European Super Cups, 2 Copa Latina, 4 Copa de Oro Argentina, 22 Catalan Championships, 2 Copa Martina Rossi, 4 Coupe de Pyrenees, 1 Mediteranean League, 2 Copa de Ligua, 1 Copa Barcelona, 1 Lligua Catalana, 5 Copa Catalana and one Little World Cup. It is little wonder Barcelona has embraced the Barcelona Soccer Team and reveres it as a symbol of Catalonia.

Luca Robi is the owner and co-editor of [http://www.bigbarcelona.com]

Visit us if you want to learn more Information about Barcelona Soccer Team [http://www.bigbarcelona.com]