Organizing Practices

I always keep the same daily routine during the youth football practices. I have an organized plan of action starting with the tryouts and ending with the last week of practice in the regular season. Each week has a goal, and every day helps my team achieve these deadlines.

The best way to keep the youth football team on course is to make sure you run organized practices. I know exactly what I need in my arsenal before the first game and what needs to be added as the season progresses.

The daily routine I use stays the same throughout the year. I start each practice on time to the minute. There is nothing worse you can do as a coach than starting practice late. I always arrive on the field 45 minutes before the practice starts. This gives me time to

• Relax and get focused
• Review the practice plan with the staff
• Fix any equipment issues
• Deal with any parent issues
• Work specific skills with certain players

When I blow the whistle, practice is officially started. I not only start on time, but I make sure I end on time. There is an occasional youth football practice that runs a little late but this is not the norm.

Below is the list of what I run in my practices

• Warm up lap
• Team Exercises
• Team Exercises
• Team Agility Drills
• Team Pad Blocking Techniques
• Team Pad Tackling Form Techniques
• Team Fundamentals
• Team Special Teams
• Stations Offensive Breakdown
• Team Defense
• Team Offense
• Fundamental Fun Drill

I give the complete details and include all the drills and preparation I use in my Practice Organization Youth Football Book.

There is big difference in opinion regarding how much to exercise, stretch and warm up before your youth football practice starts. I have seen both extremes from coaches who run some type of “military” warm up/exercise ritual, to coaches who do nothing. I think both methods are wrong. I do not believe that players from the ages 5-14 need to be over exercised. The reality is there is not enough time to do the proper conditioning required for every extreme situation the team may face on the field. If you do nothing, the team will not be ready for anything.

I am somewhere in the middle on this subject. I open every youth football practice with a lap, usually around one goal post about 50 yards away. I circle the team up and go thru a variety of stretches and exercises. I do this more for team unity than for building muscle and strength. Let us be honest, how much arm strength can be built up doing push ups for a youth football season? The team unity that is built up by the players counting together and helping teach other is priceless.

My personal opinion on conditioning running at the end of youth football practice is that it is a waste of time. There can be some mental toughness that the players develop from this, but once again, I have seen too many idiot coaches running the hell out of their team FOR NO REASON. I have observed that the least knowledgeable, insecure and just terrible coaches do this to the extreme to make up for their lack of youth football coaching ability.

It is my opinion that too many youth football coaches practice too long. The younger the players, the shorter each practice should run. I believe there is a point when the players burn out and their attention span goes away. I have always maintained that the young players have the attention span of an earthworm.

My youth football practices are very efficient. Each minute is accounted for with no time wasted. Each drill has a purpose and builds to a bigger drill or purpose. I have the entire year mapped out from the beginning of tryouts and have a very good idea on how long it will take to prepare the team properly. The preparation I do on my own time saves hours of wasted time on the field.

I believe that once you start going over an hour of actual practice time, you will start to lose the players attention. I allow time to warm the team up, run agilities, exercises and time to address the team before and after practice. These few items take between 15-30 minutes. That makes my total youth football practices run from one hour and fifteen minutes to one and one half hours.

If I need to work on any special drills or skills, I will have only that group (usually backs or lineman) come before the group practice. This will be for 20 to 30 minutes and is rarely done with the younger kids. I do this all the time with older kids, especially if I choose to use the Run and Shoot. The timing and quarterbacking for this offense takes extra time at the youth football level.

The answer to this question may be made for you. You need to check with the youth football organization you are coaching for the rules regarding practice times and length. I am sure there will be a different rule for during the summer versus when the kids go back to school. The current league I am coaching for allows for unlimited practice until the kids get back to school. Once in school the maximum time you can practice is six hours per week.

I will address the summer first. Just because you are allowed for unlimited youth football practice time, you need to keep it real. Even if you want to practice 12 hours a day, seven days a week, I think you will have parent problems. I do run specialty practices for just the backs or lineman, but I usually do this practice an hour or so before I run the entire team practice.

You need to consider the age of your players as well. If you are coaching 5-year-old flag players, they will have the attention span of an earthworm. You will have to run much shorter practices with the younger players. I would never run a youth football practice longer than two hours regardless of the age of the players.

When school starts, you will have some kind of limitations and will need to adjust your schedule. I suggest you adapt the six-hour maximum practice schedule for the players. If you need more than six hours of practice then you are defiantly doing something wrong. Most coaches hold youth football practice three times a week for two hours apiece.

I do not agree that the team need to have a full two-hour practice. All players and even the coaches lose focus when the practice is too long. I can get EVERYTHING I need done two times a week with a one hour fifteen minute practice. I usually go three times a week for an hour and fifteen since I have the younger players and they can use more repetition than the older players can. I always drop to two days a week once the weather becomes an issue.

I believe it is important to be able to get all the necessary fundamentals, drills and plays done within a two-hour timeframe. Too many times, you will be missing players or the weather will cause you to miss practice time. If you have your entire youth football season planned out in advance you should be able to accomplish this.