Click here for more of My FREE articles on Coaching Youth Football
Agility Drills for Youth Football Using the Hand Pads
I believe as a youth football coach it is your responsibility to prepare the players with the basic football fundamental skills they will need as they progress through the sport. The old saying “football is all about blocking and tackling” is as true today as it was over 100 years ago.
I have run a quick agility drill every day starting with the first tryout. All coaches are amazed at the progress that the players make through the repetition of this drill.
Our daily routine is to put the players through a quick agility run through the five hand pads that we will lay on the ground in a horizontal row, approximately two feet from each other. See figure 1.
Figure 1
You will be amazed at the improvement your team makes in this simple agility throughout the year.
First, we have the player’s line up in a single file line and high step over each of the four pads, running straightforward. We make sure the entire team goes through the pads once, then turns around and comes back through using high steps each time. In addition, making sure both feet, land them between the spaces between each pads.
Next, we have the player’s sideways shuffle through each of the four pads again with high knees and making sure each foot lands between the pads with out crossing their feet. You want to make sure the players stay horizontal facing the coaches, use high knees, while looking forward and not looking down at the ground or their feet. I will let a coach throw a ball to the players to make sure they are looking forward.
The third and final agility is a zigzag through the pads. The players start sideways and shuffle left to right. After the pass the first pad, they sprint forward towards the coach. When they reach the top of the pads, they shuffle again left to right. When passing the next pad the player now backpedals to the end of the row of pads and continues this motion until the player is through the line. Please refer to figure 2. It is very important that the players keep their head up. I do not care how slow a player does these drills. I only care that they are done right. The speed will come through repetition.
Figure 2
As the season progress, you will be amazed at the team fluency through the pads. I will run this with all levels including flag football. When we are done doing the agility runs through the pads, we go into our blocking and tackling form and technique drills using the hand pads. I will give a detailed description of all I do under the Blocking and Tackling portions of this book.
For my complete article on this topic please purchase my book.
More free articles on coaching Youth Football
Watching Football on TV as it relates to coaching youth football
Today's headlines as it relates to Youth football