Youth Football Coaching Tips

A friend of mine was just "volunteered" to coach his son's youth football team - he came to me for advice. This was way cool for me - because I'm a GIRL! But wait - he's a smart man. He knows that I grew up around football my entire life. My dad coached middle school and high school football for 20+ years and my brother is a high school coach now and I would probably be coaching with him now if we still lived in the same town. So back to my friend, he got chosen to coach his son's 4th-5th grade team and he is totally clueless on how to coach and what to coach.

So I started to explain how to develop a youth football practice plan using the three P's of coaching youth football: practices, players and parents.

• Practices need to be efficient and fun for the kids - keep 'em moving.
• Players need to be motivated and engaged during practice and games.
• Parents need to be on board with your coaching philosophy and be respectful of your directions to the players and your time - you are volunteering after all.

I told him having a football practice plan, you will keep him sane will during the next 8-10 weeks of football season and lower player/parent headaches too. There are lots of resources available online - I directed him to FootballTools for more resources because of the great football coaching videos and football coaching software. I also told him that I would be glad to come and help him out on the field - I just hope I don't make all those boys cry!