Basics In Football Drive The Good Teams To Be Better And The Great Teams To Be Undefeated
Basics to football hand offs
Whether you are a quarterback, running back, or a player that at anytime will receive a hand off you need to realize the basics of a great hand off. We will explain this in a common scenario between a quarterback and a running back. A running back at the start of a hand off should give the quarterback a target by opening up his arms that are in front of his chest enough to allow about one and a half footballs in. Once the quarterback has placed the ball in the pocket, or opening, the running back immediately clamps down on the ball protecting it and holding on to it. Now that the running back has the ball when he leaves the quarterback he should remain low to the ground in order to react quickly on the field.
Hand off drill
Because hand offs are such a vital part of a running offense, running backs should practice hand off skills every day. A simple drill for a hand off is to line up all of your running backs in two lines facing each other in what we will call line A and Line B. A player leaves line A with the football and runs at line B. At the same time that the first player leaves player B leaves his line towards player A, as they pass each other in the middle player A hands off the football to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. It is an effective drill to teach handoff skills and help running backs achieve higher accuracy and consistency.
Ball handling Drill: Hot potato
Without a solid foundation of ball handling players will be easy prey to a solid defensive team. This drill is meant to help players control and develop their ball handling skills. Players will move the football from one hand to another hand around differing parts of their body. The drill is simple and starts by having the player pass the ball around their head, torso, arms, knees, and even between their feet from one hand to another in constant motion.
In this drill the coaches responsibility is to observe the smoothness of the drill, and to also shout commands of body positions to move the ball around, and also to reverse the direction of the football. This change of motion will keep players from falling asleep, and ensure that you are developing handling skills and not just muscle memory.
At the very end of the drill the players will do several simple drops. The player will drop the ball and quickly pick it up again. To further increase pickup skills have your players change up the hands that they are using so that both their strong and weak hands are developed.
Conditioning: Dot drilling
Conditioning drills are effective in training and helping athletes be strong and reactive. For this reason, coaches like this drill for its focus on speed and accuracy. In order to execute the drill you will need a place with five dots, either marked on the grass or on a mat, forming an x shape much like the dots for the number five side of dice.
The athlete starts at the edge of the mat placing their feet on two of the outer dots and proceeds to jump with feet together on the center spot and then out again quickly to the outer dots similar to a simple hop scotch motion. The second phase is having the player touch each of the dots with only one foot, and then switch to the other foot. After this, the player will touch all of the dots with both feet together. The last phase is really returning to the original starting phase of jumping together and apart, however this time the athlete will change directions after they have jumped to the outer dots. Players will need to increase their speed and accuracy to be effective with this drill.
Whether you are a quarterback, running back, or a player that at anytime will receive a hand off you need to realize the basics of a great hand off. We will explain this in a common scenario between a quarterback and a running back. A running back at the start of a hand off should give the quarterback a target by opening up his arms that are in front of his chest enough to allow about one and a half footballs in. Once the quarterback has placed the ball in the pocket, or opening, the running back immediately clamps down on the ball protecting it and holding on to it. Now that the running back has the ball when he leaves the quarterback he should remain low to the ground in order to react quickly on the field.
Hand off drill
Because hand offs are such a vital part of a running offense, running backs should practice hand off skills every day. A simple drill for a hand off is to line up all of your running backs in two lines facing each other in what we will call line A and Line B. A player leaves line A with the football and runs at line B. At the same time that the first player leaves player B leaves his line towards player A, as they pass each other in the middle player A hands off the football to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. It is an effective drill to teach handoff skills and help running backs achieve higher accuracy and consistency.
Ball handling Drill: Hot potato
Without a solid foundation of ball handling players will be easy prey to a solid defensive team. This drill is meant to help players control and develop their ball handling skills. Players will move the football from one hand to another hand around differing parts of their body. The drill is simple and starts by having the player pass the ball around their head, torso, arms, knees, and even between their feet from one hand to another in constant motion.
In this drill the coaches responsibility is to observe the smoothness of the drill, and to also shout commands of body positions to move the ball around, and also to reverse the direction of the football. This change of motion will keep players from falling asleep, and ensure that you are developing handling skills and not just muscle memory.
At the very end of the drill the players will do several simple drops. The player will drop the ball and quickly pick it up again. To further increase pickup skills have your players change up the hands that they are using so that both their strong and weak hands are developed.
Conditioning: Dot drilling
Conditioning drills are effective in training and helping athletes be strong and reactive. For this reason, coaches like this drill for its focus on speed and accuracy. In order to execute the drill you will need a place with five dots, either marked on the grass or on a mat, forming an x shape much like the dots for the number five side of dice.
The athlete starts at the edge of the mat placing their feet on two of the outer dots and proceeds to jump with feet together on the center spot and then out again quickly to the outer dots similar to a simple hop scotch motion. The second phase is having the player touch each of the dots with only one foot, and then switch to the other foot. After this, the player will touch all of the dots with both feet together. The last phase is really returning to the original starting phase of jumping together and apart, however this time the athlete will change directions after they have jumped to the outer dots. Players will need to increase their speed and accuracy to be effective with this drill.
