Preparation for the First Week

One of the most difficult days during the youth football tryouts is the cut down days. I always make sure to keep this day very positive and let the players know as a group that we are splitting them up to make sure they are competing at the appropriate skill level. At the young ages, it is vital that no kid is starting out his tackle career overmatched.

It is hard for seven, eight and nine year olds to understand the entire cut concept and sometimes-even worse for the parents. I will take all the time a parent needs to explain why a certain player is placed at the level he is. During the youth football tryout and evaluations, I keep an updated power ranking of each player, which includes every skill and drill we have tested. All of the drills are based on performance with no subjectivity allowed. This makes it very easy when you need to have a back up. I have found by using this system it also makes the cutting job clear cut.

I start the youth football tryouts cut day by addressing and thanking all the parents while the players are warming up. I let the parents know that we will be telling the kids where they will be playing. After we do one last group warm up together I pull all of the players together in a group, thank them for their hard work and let them know we are ready to split them up.

I like to split the group up by announcing the youth football player’s full name and calling each player out, one at a time and ask them to go in a group by their new coach. In the past I have cut just the select team and allow for the rest of the players to have another day or so practicing alone, allowing the coaches a chance for even further review.

I will also take MORE kids on the first cut, making sure I get a good look at any question marks. I let all the players know in advance that I am taking a few extra players that will eventually be sent down to the “B” teams. This is a nice surprise for those teams. I make sure the players sent down are split up even so no one team is stacked on the “B” level. We want to make these teams as even as possible. Our “B” youth football teams will be competing against other teams of similar skill levels.

This is one of the more sensitive days of the year, and I want to make sure it goes as smooth as possible.

As a youth football coach, your responsibility is to look out for all of the players during the youth football tryouts. It amazes me how many parents still make their kids play football when the kid clearly has no desire to play. There is soccer, basketball and many other non-collision sports you can place your child. Regardless of the reason why it is your responsibility to make sure all new players and flag players joining tackle football for the first time get the proper additional instruction, attention and care they need.

During the youth football tryouts, I split the team into groups making sure that on contact days the players are in the appropriate groups by experience. The new and flag players start out together. It is easy to move the player who excels at contact up a level. If continues to succeed there then move him to the stud group.

More important is making sure that the players that are struggling or afraid of contact are not forced into doing anything. You do not want any player participating in any drills where he may get hurt.

I do not now, never have and never will believe in the “military” approach to coaching youth football. Nothing turns my stomach quicker than watching some goon scream and yell, antagonizing players into “hitting harder”. There should be a law against these brainless idiots.

If you are coaching a young youth football team there will probably be many parents around the practice. If the player feels the need to go by his parents, let him go. These are youth football tryouts and you want to make sure each player is placed at their appropriate skill level.

If your youth football league is like most others, there will be a waiting period for each player before he can participate in full contact, during the youth football tryouts. It is very important that you obey this rule. Do not let any player participate in any contact until he has practiced the required amount of “no contact” practices.

Youth Football insurance will usually only cover claims when the rules are followed. If you break this rule and a player gets hurt, there may possibly be a liability claim against you and the league that insurance will not cover. Please make sure you have the youth football administration explain all the details to you.

The question is during the 3 days of no contact so what should I do during the youth football tryouts. I always make sure I fill these days with as many non-contact youth football drills and tests that I can.

A few of the youth football skills I look for without contact include

• Speed races
• Power contests
• Agility skills
• Passing skills
• Receiving skills
• Kicking skills
• Holder skills
• Snapping skills

For complete details and all the specifics I run please, refer to the book.

I want to make sure I have all these skills tested for since I know when contact starts I need to check toughness, tackling and blocking. I will only get two days of contact before I need to cut the squad so there is not much time for any non-contact drills during the youth football tryouts.

Youth football tryouts or evaluations by an organization are done to split the players into different teams. The different teams may be split based on

• Age of the players
• Talent Level
• Experience
• Geographical reasons
• Any combination of the above

I believe that the youth football tryouts need to be fair and unbiased. Each player deserves a new look each year. In youth football, years of experience can change player’s ability greatly. I think it is best to have different coaches look at the players each year. A new set of eyes may find something in a player that another coach misses, and this way any old biases will not matter.

The youth football organization you are coaching for may have a complete agenda fro you to follow during the youth football tryaouts and evaluations, but if they do not, then please read to see how I do it. I believe that the youth football evaluations need to be run with as little individual coaching as possible. The players all need to be treated equally so the evaluation is fair. The only exception I make is for the first year tackle players. These players are always in a separate group until the prove they are ready to go to a more experienced group of players.

Please do not misunderstand what I am saying, each drill need to be fully explained and demonstrated in great detail before the players are to try it. Once it has been explained to the group then the coaches become evaluators and need to see which players excel in the drills as well as who listened to the instructions.

I make most of the youth football tryouts and evaluations competitive among the players. I will first take the entire group and break them into smaller groups for each evaluation. Please look at figure 4-1 to see how many smaller groups I will use based on the entire number of players.