Posts Tagged ‘Youth’
Youth Football Players Prefer to Join in Football Club and Camp to Have Professional Training
With no not allow that will football has grown the most popular video game on the globe. Nowadays a lot more young children are generally passionate about many extracurricular exercise sessions, they love to play football since many of them aspiration to become football heroes from now on. Since football possesses excellent assistance with kids at all times advancement, majority of the youngsters tend to play football by simply wearing Staubach white jersey amongst various kinds of physical activities. Due to rigid exercises along with restrained finding out environment connected with educational institutions, that turns into more challenging intended for these people to be able to sole their particular interest along with remain their particular enthusiasm along with full enthusiasm along with commitment.
While using boom along with advancement connected with many football camps along with golf equipment, which turns into easier intended for young children to be able to have a chance to obtain specialized exercise sessions drills. Put on to become who they desire to be to get most outside life, along with the much needed confidence along with boost. The specialized professional poker coaches worth mentioning golf equipment include numerous years of knowledge along with excellent idea of the distinctive wants along with prerequisites of the children. They frequently assist young children to select their particular preferred authentic reebok jerseys. They are going to make certain that young kids acquire everything they have to learn football along with move forward from the further more levels from the video game. The gurus during younger will not take care of young kids similar method that will TCH along with physical activities coaches perform.
Aside from the specialized teaching, you can find continue to various earmarks of these types of football golf equipment. One is that they will offer you highly calm environment to the young children along with have a shot at their utmost to be able to minimize demand. You need to include observed that will a large number of coaches are generally unproductive along with outdated ways of teaching your kid who use realistic football jerseys frequently drop interest amongst people. This is when these types of golf equipment along with camps be different. They are going to perform whatsoever you will need to be able to changes lives inside your childs procedure for the experience. Your kid will unquestionably beautiful the opportunity to travel play football in a calm atmosphere.
For most mother and father its hard to cope with the insufficient confidence inside a person children. With no acquiring corrective guidelines on time after that the problem will probably worsen from the days and nights in to the future. Simple to be able to overlook the close up atmosphere from the classes happens comprising exercise sessions connected with football enjoyment. Actively playing to the team therefore first is a aspiration for a lot of babies. Should you be seriously interested in aiding your kid to be able to trust these people, you need to sign up while using football golf equipment the best way to commence along with produce these people content.
If the baby prefers to try out football, no matter the best way accomplished they are you need to have a shot at your best that will your pet comprehend his aspiration. Purchase authentic children’s NFL jerseys wholesale intended for your pet is a best. Blend specialized exercise sessions knowledge along with his very difficult exercise, when called he’ll become the shimmering football superstar sometime from now on. Like a parent, the thing you need to undertake could be to provide your pet help support along with motivate your pet frequently.
http://entertainment.ezinemark.com/youth-football-players-prefer-to-join-in-football-club-and-camp-to-have-professional-training-31e244810a5.html
Youth and Steroid in Sports
It used to be that kids would join little league teams excited to play baseball, football and hockey. Young boys all over the country had dreams of being the next Mickey Mantle or Roger Staubauch. These days, as kids innocently join teams ready to begin their dream of becoming a professional in their chosen sport, and as parents cheer from the stands hoping that their little one doesn’t get hurt, the pressure to be bigger, faster and stronger than the other guy gets harder to ignore.
With professional sports contracts paying out millions of dollars for each player every year, a kid’s dreams can bring him fame and a pretty big fortune. But only if he is successful at beating out every other kid with the same dream. Out of the 1,500 or so active professional football players, there are maybe millions of kids who dream of being a great pro quarterback. With those odds, kids, sometimes coaches, and sometimes even parents begin looking for an edge for their child. Even though they are illegal to use more and more kids are turning to steroids to give them the edge they are looking for.
Steroids are hormone drugs that make athletes stronger and more muscular. This is an obvious advantage on the football field. Kids realize that their high school sports years are when college recruiters are going to make offers to the best players to play on a college team. Being recruited by a major college means that the player will get not only a free ride scholarship to the college but will play on a great team and then maybe get a job on a pro team. This is true for high school baseball, soccer, and hockey team players too.
Kids are sometimes introduced to steroids as young as junior high school and sometimes the pressure to be the best makes the steroids too hard to resist. Also, some kids are given silent permission to use steroids by their coaches and parents because these adults may recognize the signs that a teen is using steroids but not do anything about it.
Steroid use can cause some pretty complicated side effects. Young men who use steroids can become larger and more muscular very quickly. They can also have bad acne breakouts, they can be shaky, have bad body odor, mood swings, and become aggressive and hard to get along with. For girls, using steroids can make them moody, and give them facial hair and a deeper voice. Unfortunately, many of these things are present during the teen years anyway. Some of the more scary side effects are heart damage, liver damage, and shrinking of the testicles.
Even over the counter steroids have side effects. Protein drinks and steroid powders are available in health food stores and kids have easy access to these products. Since teen steroid users are not done growing the damage that steroids do can mean much more to them than to adults. Even over the counter steroids can cause kidney damage and heart damage.
As many as thirty million kids play a sport in this country and up to 11 percent of those kids have at least tried steroids. Steroids are a drug and using them is illegal. Sometimes kids are introduced to steroids by their coach. There have been some recent stories in the news about coaches who gave their players steroids or who suggested that the player give steroids a try to become a better player. Most often, another player introduces them to the drug either because the user brags about using steroids or a weaker player befriends the stronger one and the steroid user shares his secret.
Because steroid use has become such a problem for teenagers, parents, coaches and other adults are taking steps to stop the use of steroids. Some students learn about using steroids in health class. Some schools require that their students who play sports attend a lecture about steroid use in sports. And some other schools pass out a flyer or a pamphlet about steroid use to sports team members.
Even the National Football League has become involved in teaching kids not to use steroids to enhance their sports performance. These organizations have developed an approach of education to keep kids from trying steroids or to get them off steroids once they have started. Kids know that if they are caught using steroids, they can get kicked off of their sports team. But they also know that if they take steroids, they can be bigger, stronger and play better than some other players and that they have a better chance of winning.
For years kids have been learning that smoking, drinking and drugs are not good for them. But kids still continue to smoke, drink and do drugs. Even adults smoke, drink and do drugs. Some people say that teaching kids that these things are wrong is all that is needed to keep them from doing it. Other people say that if adults, mostly parents, don’t smoke drink or do drugs, kids won’t do it either. Since kids are still smoking, drinking, and doing drugs, including steroids, it’s obvious that this approach is not really working.
Education will work for some kids, but it obviously doesn’t work well enough. The only way to get the majority of kids off of steroids is to perform random drug testing for high school sports team members. Since steroids are still an issue even after years of education and millions of dollars spent of getting the word out, it’s obvious that kids need a stricter sports environment.
If random drug testing for teen sports players is done along with a program of education, we are bound to catch the majority of steroid users soon after they start. Maybe in areas where steroid use is really a problem, mandatory testing can be done on a regular basis. Once kids see that high school sports programs are serious about keeping steroid use out of high school sports, the use will probably decrease even more than with education alone. There will probably always be some kids who will try to get away with using steroids and a system has to be put together to handle those kids also.
Once an athlete has tested positive for steroids, a policy of zero tolerance can evict him from sports for a period of the rest of the school year. He can be welcome to try out again for the team the following year. The policy should include a three strikes and your out policy too. Once a player has tested positive three times, he won’t be allowed to play school sports again. Professional sports should be even tougher. Any player caught using steroids should be banned from the game forever. By educating, enforcing and treating the use of steroids, high school sports should become steroid free.
http://www.bukisa.com/articles/508145_youth-and-steroid-in-sports
Football can be described in two simple terms: Power and Finesse. Whatever your philosophy is in the game of football these two terms are important in determining your on field success. In fact, if your team has both elements to it, power and finesse, chances are that your success on the football field will be great. On the other hand, on field success can be good with just one of these elements. A team built on finesse such as speed and athletic ability can be successful. On the same token a team built on power such as size and strength can also have the same success on the football field.
But what if you had to choose one or the other? Which way would you go? Would your present football system enhance either power or finesse or would they struggle?
For example, what if your youth football team was not gifted with size and strength but was gifted with speed and athletic ability? Would your football systems reflect their strengths? Or, what if your football team were big, strong, tough but lacked speed and athletic ability? Again, would your football systems reflect their strengths? Consider this for a moment. We all have our favorite offence and defense that we know and love to run. For the most part, it’s probably the same football systems we learned back in high school. We know it inside and out, know how to adjust and tweak it and it’s easy for our football players to grasp. But ask yourself this question: Is my football system the right one for my football team to thrive in, or does my system put them in a position that based on what they bring to the table, they will fail?
]]>
This is a common situation for all new football coaches to consider. It’s very important that as a youth football coach we evaluate our team’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be done in spring training if you run one, or in summer training camp. The worst thing you can do as a football coach is to place them in a system that they don’t have the ability to thrive in just because it’s your personal favorite system.
It has to be the system that suits their strengths!
t’s quite possible that the football system you liked, and the playbook you developed and studied inside and out all winter including all blocking assignments, may not be the one suited for your football team. So be prepared to change or tweak that football philosophy in order to enhance your player’s strengths.One of the common questions I get a lot from a lot of people is: Are you going to run that 3-4 championship defense again this year coach? I always respond with” I’m not yet sure, I’ll know once we get into our training camp”. Usually, I get the dumbfounded look at this point. The main point is, to be prepared to change your systems from season to season and it’s truly based on what strengths and skills your players have and not on the successful football systems you had the season before!
Cheers!
http://www.articlesbase.com/football-articles/youth-football-seasonal-system-evaluations-4511180.html
Coaching youth football allows you to teach young football players the fundamentals of the game and bring individual talent together to play as a cohesive unit. That said, success on the gridiron begins on the practice field. Learning and implementing proper youth football skills & drills during practice will have you, your coaches, and players ready for the big game. There are no shortcuts when coaching youth football. Hard work, discipline, determination, in addition to coaching football fundamentals is what produces winning football teams and successful youth football players.
Below are some of the skills needed to become a good football coach, and you can find the football drills needed to run a practice properly in books or online from others football coaches at free websites like Weplay.com.
Youth Football Coaching Skills
Be A Good Role Model – youth football players are an observant bunch. They imitate their role models whether on or off the field. It is the football coach’s responsibility to display the character that they want to see in their players. Character traits such as consistency, emotional control, honesty, and integrity are important.
Teach Football Fundamentals – practice to the players strengths and determine where they are weak. Pay particular attention to teaching football skills such as stance and footwork when players are performing youth football drills. Be sure you’re your players are focusing on all aspects of the drill and do not become sloppy in any area.
Use Creative Football Plays In Practice – like most children, youth football players need variety in their practices. Vary the practice schedule from day to day to keep them interested and continually learning. Keep the football drills short enough that players don’t lose interest and concentration.
Use Constructive Feedback – too many youth coaches “channel” football coaches they see in the movies. They believe that coaching football drills involves acting like a drill sergeant. While this attitude can have its place in the coach’s arsenal, it should not be the sole motivator. Teach them. Explain the who, what, where, why, and how of the football drill. You’ll end up with more intelligent youth football players.
Be Positive – youth football coaches must look to the positive aspects of the situation. Negative emotions bring negative results. The kids are going to be making mistakes throughout their lives. It’s important for a youth football coach to teach them how to overcome mistakes and even to capitalize on them. A successful and well coached football team masters the fundamentals, handles adversity, and brings home the championship due to the team’s attitude. Positive expectations will most likely bring positive results.
http://entertainment.ezinemark.com/coaching-youth-football-1489ac58722.html
I grew up down the street from Gene Upshaw, Hall of Fame offensive lineman for the Oakland Raiders, and Head of the Player’s Union for years. I love football.
That said, my 12-year-old son and I have an ongoing debate over whether or not he can play PeeWee Football (in the San Ramon Valley it’s called Thunderbirds). As a psychologist, I have told him repeatedly that the damage done to his body, in particular his brain, is not worth any success that may be had playing football. I have followed the research findings over the past 5 years with regards to brain trauma and football and here is what I have found.
The brain is the consistency of a wet sponge or a soft boiled egg. The human skull is hard to keep your brain safe from injury. However, the inside of the skull has pointed ridges which can damage the brain when the head and body are stopped suddenly, such as that which happens on many plays in football. Even those hits which do not result in a concussion still bruise the brain to an extent.
Damage to the brain is not as simple as one has a concussion or one does not. It is not black and white. Damage to the brain occurs on a continuum. One way to think of it more accurately is to imagine a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being uninjured and 10 being a severe concussion. Obviously, this is overly simplistic, but a step above thinking of concussions as binary (i.e., I have a concussion or I do not).
Even lesser hits in football can result in minor bruises to the brain, bruises which may not be considered even mild concussions. But there is still a cumulative negative effect on the brain. And we’re beginning to see the results thanks to former NFL and college players who have donated their brains after death.
Researchers have known for roughly 20 years that ex-NFL players suffer from the degenerative brain disease known as CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy. CTE is the only fully preventable cause of dementia of which we know.
]]>
A new study has revealed that the brain of a deceased 18-year-old former college football player showed early signs of CTE. This is the youngest age that signs of CTE have been found, to my knowledge.
The same study also report that Mike Borich, a former college football player who passed away at the age of 42, showed advanced signs of CTE. This is the first time that advanced signs of CTE have been identified in a former college player who never played in the NFL. It is also the first time that CTE signs have been found in one who played the position of wide receiver. This means that the damage done to the brain in high school and college football is taking a toll on the brain that adversely affects quality of life later on. Adverse effects of CTE may include symptoms such as change in personality, self-destructive behaviors, addictive behaviors, memory loss and more.
According to Dr. Robert Cantu, a leading sports concussion expert and clinical professor of neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine, ‘ It is our hope that this evidence helps draw the focus of the CTE discussion to amateur athletes, where it belongs. Young men and women are voluntarily exposing themselves to repetitive brain trauma without full knowledge of the potential consequences, and the rules of the games are designed without an appreciation for the risks carried by the players.’
Cantu and the other co-directors of the BUSM CSTE, Robert Stern, PhD, and Chris Nowinski, a former division I football player, published a paper that reported these CTE findings in the July issue of the Journal of Neuropathology and Experimental Neurology (2009, vol.68¸ pp. 709-735). The results were also presented to the NFL Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee and NFL Players Association.
As long as I’m in charge of my son’s health, he won’t be playing football. The risk is too high. The importance of a healthy brain is too great. A healthy brain is necessary for a thriving, happy and meaningful life. Odds are, he will be angry with me for some time. I’d rather deal with his temporary anger than with his permanent brain trauma.
Dr. John Schinnerer is in private practice helping people learn anger management, stress management and the latest ways to deal with destructive negative emotions. He also helps clients discover optimal human functioning via positive psychology. His practice is located in the Danville-San Ramon Medical Center at 913 San Ramon Valley Blvd., #280, Danville, California. He graduated summa cum laude from U.C. Berkeley with a Ph.D. in psychology. He is collaborating with the University of New Zealand on the International Wellbeing Study to look at what we do right and what make for a meaningful, thriving life. Dr. Schinnerer has been an executive and psychologist for over 10 years. Dr. John Schinnerer is President and Founder of Guide To Self, a company that coaches clients to their potential using the latest in positive psychology, mindfulness and attentional control. Dr. John Schinnerer hosted over 200 episodes of Guide To Self Radio, a prime time radio show, in the San Francisco Bay Area. Dr. Schinnerer’s areas of expertise range from positive psychology, to emotional awareness, to corporate culture, to sports psychology. Dr. Schinnerer wrote the award-winning, “Guide To Self: The Beginner’s Guide To Managing Emotion and Thought,” which is available at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com. His blog is among the top 3 in positive psychology ( http://drjohnblog.guidetoself.com )
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-and-family-articles/football-and-brain-trauma-should-you-allow-your-child-to-play-youth-football-4591067.html
Coach provides played very important role inside football exercising. Because he / she coaches your football players to find out the competencies of participating in football as a way to have an effective football sport. As there are various styles and strategies to coaching, to decide on the enjoyable ones is definitely most smart. Especially, this is essential in the event you coach children. Children should be encouraged in order to win, but there are various other important facets of the sport of football to get considered using this age team. This comprises teamwork and has interesting while doing sporting events. Then, lets see easy methods to choose your pleasant solutions to coach your youth soccer players.
The lawyer, you must make sure that you make your coaching interesting. For children like a person’s team, you should create video games and pursuits, all affiliates can participate in stay away from exercises and stuff that adheres to that means of which children should queue and wait his or her turn. You’ll be able to ask all of them to wear the conventional Women’s Clay Matthews ladies pink jersey to acquire the interesting football education. This great loss taking into consideration time in order to develop a person’s players that will make your formation associated with football can be quite boring to get children.
The second is, you must produce a good getting ready before lessons the youth football competitors. Come with an index of exciting video games and physical exercises that children can participate in. Make positive that all these efforts to produce a general and technical competence of each player. Its crucial to the enhancement of calcium is definitely interactive and stimulating for your child. In case you are ready, and realize exactly what you look for to target, the team is certainly to employ a wonderful period and discover many new things.
In addition, in order to confirm your players employ a wonderful period during a person’s pleasant lessons, you should arrive in advance of everyone other than them and build the exercising area. And youd better to organize the discount football jerseys that they wearing for their training course. I found you as well as your team will certainly soon start out training, as soon as everything provides arrived. This avoids the need to take the kids to help create pursuits and tired before the item even begins. You may decide to encourage early on arrival in order to explain in order to members one more two people can pick way up the cones along with the balls are utilized during the entire year. With fast action, an amazing and stimulative, and encouraging people that come on the last there is some prior to next period. Also, this can be a great help every time a strenuous exercising!
While, many instructors may believe precise lessons methods could be more suitable for youth soccer training. They ignore the important of boosting players activities within a harmonious and pleasant setting. And in case you have a team filled with happy competitors, their performance will be better. Hence, it is required to select the pleasant solutions to coach your youth soccer players.
http://entertainment.ezinemark.com/coaching-youth-football-players-needs-too-much-wits-and-skills-31e789e64fb.html
Youth soccer players are characteristically not as much of egotistical and further able to translate information that is appropriate to them and take action upon it. For that reason, your soccer coaching can turn out to be more detailed and progressive as these young players begin to appreciate the concepts of time space, width and intensity.
Youth soccer players are as well more capable to rationalize their behaviour – for instance, the soccer trainer might ask “why did you shoot then?”, and the youth soccer player can provide a articulate justification as contrasting to a more classic ‘dunno’ you would get from a younger player. Use the capability of the player to be positive in their replies to aid them attain and think about erstwhile options and learn from mistakes.
Player qualities can consist of:
Learning – persuade players to evaluate and resolve problems by reviewing their own performances throughout the soccer drills and entertaining questions, answers and observations. At present, the players should have good familiarity of soccer techniques and be able to constructively contribute to the soccer training assembly. Keep on providing your proficiency and knowledge but as well permit a component of letting the game develop into the teacher.
]]>
Technical – As player reach the age of 11 up, they develop to 11-a-side soccer on which several will prosper in this new soccer pattern while others may discover it hard to settle in. As a youth soccer coach you have to be conscious of this and give confidence to players to labour more as a team rather than individuals. The content of your soccer training drills must reveal this and focus on sensible game situations. Youth soccer players should be conscious of the roles and responsibilities of all playing positions on the playing field, particularly their own.
Social – Youth soccer players (U11, U12, U13, U14) who are excellent at sport be inclined to be more communally acknowledged by their peers, no more so than in soccer and soccer training drills. Players who are excellent at soccer training will uncover themselves developing a better communal circle of acquaintances also as getting noticed by the coach! Soccer players for under 11, under 12, under 13 and under 14 soccer teams can be formed by peer pressure and role models off the playing field so use this to your full benefit. Make them think they will be the next Rooney or Gerrard! Put in standards and philosophy in to your youth soccer team and for all time promote sportsmanship and fair play.
Physical growth – as players begin to mature physically, your soccer training sessions have to begin to get on a diverse importance by encouraging players to fight to win.
If you organize a proletarian soccer team and need more guidance, instructions and inspiration for soccer training drills, then there is a website for you. www.canyouplaysoccer.com has over 140 soccer training drills categorised in to diverse topics (such as defending drills, shooting drills, goalkeeping drills etc) and listed by age group. They also have a soccer team organiser that helps managers handle their soccer team off the playing field. For additional information, visit www.canyouplaysoccer.com.
Andy Smith is a qualified football coach and veteran of many football coaching courses. He has experience in both senior and junior level football management and aims to help other football coaches develop their football team by sharing his knowledge of the game.
Article from articlesbase.com
Coaching youth football allows you to teach young football players the fundamentals of the game and bring individual talent together to play as a cohesive unit. That said, success on the gridiron begins on the practice field. Learning and implementing proper youth football skills & drills during practice will have you, your coaches, and players ready for the big game. There are no shortcuts when coaching youth football. Hard work, discipline, determination, in addition to coaching football fundamentals is what produces winning football teams and successful youth football players.
Below are some of the skills needed to become a good football coach, and you can find the football drills needed to run a practice properly in books or online from others football coaches at free websites like Weplay.com.
Youth Football Coaching Skills
Be A Good Role Model – youth football players are an observant bunch. They imitate their role models whether on or off the field. It is the football coach’s responsibility to display the character that they want to see in their players. Character traits such as consistency, emotional control, honesty, and integrity are important.
Teach Football Fundamentals – practice to the players strengths and determine where they are weak. Pay particular attention to teaching football skills such as stance and footwork when players are performing youth football drills. Be sure you’re your players are focusing on all aspects of the drill and do not become sloppy in any area.
Use Creative Football Plays In Practice – like most children, youth football players need variety in their practices. Vary the practice schedule from day to day to keep them interested and continually learning. Keep the football drills short enough that players don’t lose interest and concentration.
Use Constructive Feedback – too many youth coaches “channel” football coaches they see in the movies. They believe that coaching football drills involves acting like a drill sergeant. While this attitude can have its place in the coach’s arsenal, it should not be the sole motivator. Teach them. Explain the who, what, where, why, and how of the football drill. You’ll end up with more intelligent youth football players.
Be Positive – youth football coaches must look to the positive aspects of the situation. Negative emotions bring negative results. The kids are going to be making mistakes throughout their lives. It’s important for a youth football coach to teach them how to overcome mistakes and even to capitalize on them. A successful and well coached football team masters the fundamentals, handles adversity, and brings home the championship due to the team’s attitude. Positive expectations will most likely bring positive results.
Blocking and tackling equals Football success. Period, end of story. This holds true at every level of football, but especially the youth level. The most successful teams are the teams that block and tackle better than their opponent. Blocking is 99% attitude at the pee wee football level. Any player who listens, and has the desire, can become an effective blocker at the youth football level. All players will need this skill since at some point during a game, they will need to perform an effective block against the opposition. It may come on a special team or an interception return, but all players will need to know how to block.
I know in my heart, that each child that wears a football helmet and straps on a pair of shoulder pads can be taught how to successfully block. Each player may not succeed at executing every different style, or type of block, but each player can execute at the minimum, the really introductory blocks. Each kid can be coached on how to properly assist during a double team block.
Only players who do not want to be on the team and put in no effort, have a problem learning how to block. Get used to it at the pee wee level as many kids are forced to play by their parents and have no desire to play football. If you are coaching a “B” level team this may be the case with many of the players on your team. It is common for me to ask certain parents why they have registered their son to play football when the child clearly has no desire to play. The players tell me straight to my face that they do not want to play and their parents are making them. I usually talk to the parents and try to put it in perspective explaining that basketball is a contact sport, while football is a collision sport.
In over 20 years of youth football coaching, I have yet to hear even one valid reason from a parent on why they make their son participate in a sport the child has no desire to play. The standard, or canned, response is they do not want their kid sitting around the house watching TV or playing video games. That is what soccer is for. Let them run crazy with no chance of collision contact.
In any case, off my soapbox, let me correct my statement to all willing players can be coached to block. The most satisfying part of coaching blocking, at the pee wee football level, is that with proper form and using their brains any player can have success. These two factors are most important for a player to learn how to block.
It does not matter how potent or mighty the block is at the pop warner level. The strength and power of the block matter more at the high school level. At the youth football level, blocking is basically running interference on the defenders. Usually you need your line to just slow down the defenders by getting in their way while the backs get running. The quicker your ball carrier is, the less time your offensive linemen will have to run interference (block).
In conclusion, your job as a teacher, is to instruct the correct blocking techniques and provide the participants the suitable schemes to have success.
A youth football running back must be a “jack-of-all-trades” to play the position completely. He must be able to run, receive, block, and have a high level of physical and mental toughness. A talented and hardworking running back can break a game wide open by finding the right hole or securely running the ball to “eat up the clock” and protect the lead.
In order to meet the needs of this challenging position, future running backs must practice every day through a variety of football skills & drills to develop the fundamentals in each area of the position, particularly those they are weakest in. They should constantly be looking for ways to improve their football skills and can even find free tips from football pros online at sites like Weplay.com. Let’s look at some of the attributes an aspiring youth football running back should work on to improve their skills:
Position Training & Conditioning
The physical attributes of a running back can vary somewhat. What good running backs do have in common is overpowering speed, a low center of gravity, total body strength, and exceptional balance. A strength training program is highly recommended for a running back in youth football.
A running back needs quick reactions to locate holes in the defense and to exploit them. He must be able to change direction quickly while keeping his balance and protecting the ball.
A youth football running back should learn how to break tackles. He must keep his legs moving, driving them into the ground with forward momentum. An effective running back will be able to throw off larger tacklers with his arms and shoulders through sheer strength and balance.
A youth football running back must have good blocking skills. On passing plays, the running back must protect the quarterback. He is often the last line of protection and, if effective, can provide the quarterback with a couple of seconds to complete the pass. On plays with two running backs, he is called upon to block for his partner.
Mental Approach
The running back in youth football should learn how to read defensive positions and understand the blocking schemes of his offensive lineman. This will prepare him to spot the openings quickly during the heat of the play.
To be a quality running back, he must obtain mental toughness. He is hit hard and often throughout the game and must be able to shake it off. He must develop the ability to “never give up on the play” in order to get those extra inches that may result in a first down.
Receiving
He must know how to catch a football. The running back is often the target of an outlet pass when there are no other options. He must learn how to catch, tuck the ball, and run.
Drills for the Youth Running Back
Ball Protection Drill – This drill teaches youth running backs to run and protect the ball while maintaining balance. Have your running backs line up to receive a handoff. A running back carries the ball through a two-sided wall of defenders trying to strip the ball. As a running back, get down low, protect the ball and focus on four points of security. Each player then takes a turn.
Running Back Handoff Drill – This running back drill teaches the technical aspects of receiving a handoff. The player should create a pocket with the arms, the inside one on top and the lower arm cradling the ball. Line up players in two lines about 10 yards apart and facing each other. The first player takes the football and hands off to the player opposite him. That player then hands off to the running back coming from the other direction and so on. Speed is not important; it is the technical aspects that are essential. As the players become more adept you can speed up the tempo.