Youth football is a tough sport to coach. Between conflicting personalities on the team, injuries, designing and teaching playbooks, and weigh-ins, football coaches have a lot on their plate. In this post, we want to outline the most common way to break down a football practice, why it works, and how you can maximize your team’s potential at practice.

Structuring Your Practice

Generally, practice is broken down into position drills and plays. This changes from day-to-day depending on whether the focus is on offense, defense, or special teams. Ideally, assuming your team practices five times per week, you’d do two days of offense, two of defense, and one of special teams.

1. Warm-Up:
   • Lead a full team warm-up of static and dynamic stretching.
   • Include a warmup jog to get the players moving.
2. Position Drills:
   • Offense: Linemen, Running Backs, and Receivers, with tight ends splitting time as Receivers and Linemen.
   • Defense: Linemen, Linebackers, and Defensive Backs, with a separate Quarterback group.
   • Focus on footwork, technique, and strength based on position.
   • Include a bit of hitting to build toughness and technique.
3. Team Drills:
   • Bring everyone together to run offensive plays and defensive formations.
   • Use a scout team to represent that week’s opponent.
   • Sub players in and out to ensure everyone knows their role, regardless of who is on the field.

Simplifying Playbooks

• Offense:
  • Stick to a few core formations like I-Formation, Single Back, and Gun.
  • Add wrinkles to well-understood formations rather than introducing new ones.
• Defense:
  • Keep formations simple, like 4-3 or 5-3.
  • Use sideline calls to shift formations or bring in a blitzer.
  • Focus on ensuring everyone knows their role and adjust by opponent week-to-week.

Conditioning and Stretching

• Conditioning:
  • End practice with conditioning to keep players engaged.
  • Options include sprints, laps, up-downs, or core workouts.
• Stretching:
  • Ensure a full stretch routine at the end of practice.
  • Teach players the importance of stretching to prevent injuries and develop good habits.

Communication

• End-of-Practice Announcements:
  • Give out necessary information, like arrival times for games and fundraiser details.

While this is a simple practice structure, it is designed for practices lasting at least 90 minutes. If your practices are shorter, get creative to fit everything in. Players looking to improve their technique and playstyle should consider getting a private coach to supplement practices. Check out Athletes Untapped to see our selection of private coaches in your area!