Preparing for this upcoming season I was going through a few of my notes and I came across a letter/template that I have used in the past with some success to try and get kids excited about playing football. In a time where many programs are faced with low numbers I thought I would share a couple of sample in the hopes that it might provide some ideas to other Coaches.
Dave Marshall has been a Head Coach at the youth level with ages 10 – 13 for 6 seasons and the mission of his program is to “Use football as a tool to build men by striving to ensure players feel that they are unconditionally loved for who they ARE, not what they DO, never putting profits and winning above relationships.” Dave and Denise have 3 teenage children and live just outside of Detroit. Dave is 50 years old, a retired United States Marine and works as a Police Officer. Over the past 6 seasons Dave’s teams have gone 43-14 and won the league championship 3 times.
With a little more time on our hands these days, we thought these workouts created by Coach Greg Eichler would be nice to share with all of the Youth and High School Football Coaches that follow this site to keep their athletes productive. If these workouts are of value to you, please let Coach Eichler know at twitter@CoachEichler_GT and thank him for putting these together.
It would be hard to argue that services like Hudl are not a tremendous help to Youth Football Coaches and their programs when it comes to simplifying the process of video review and sharing. Unfortunately, due to the nature of Youth Football many coaches have to pay for such services out of their own pocket. This has become even more difficult with recent price increases. In the following article we are going to outline a process using a relatively inexpensive video utility from AVS4YOU called Video Remaker and free Google Drive storage as a relatively inexpensive option. It should be noted that it is not a perfect process, but we believe for many coaches this would meet their needs.
Step 1 – Detect Clips/Cutups Using Scene Detection
AVS Video Remaker has the capability of performing “Scene Detection” which when used with Football video can detect the start and end of plays. In the example video below, we show you how we import a video file into the Video Remaker utility and start the Scene Detection process.
Step 2 – Clip/Cutup Editing
The Video Remaker tool does a nice job of automatically detecting the beginning and end of plays, but occasionally you will have a clip that either contains multiple plays or no video at all. In the case of no video, you can simply delete that clip. In the example video below, we show you how to split one video clip containing multiple plays into multiple clips/cutups.
Step 3 – Creating Cutups for Upload
Now that the video has been edited for situations listed in Step 2, we are ready to create the individual cutups for upload into our Google Drive. In the example video below, we show you how to prepare the cutups for upload.
Step 4 – Upload Cutups
The next step to prepare the video for sharing with other coaches is to upload individual files/cutups created in the Step 3 to our Google Drive. In the example video below, we upload our cutups to our Google Drive and rename the directory to something more meaningful.
Step 5 – Sharing Video Cutups
Once Step 4 is complete you are ready to share the video with other coaches. In the example video below, we show you how to create a shareable link that can be emailed to other coaches. Note: There are other more secure ways to do this, but for ease we chose to creat a shareable link anyone can view.
Step 6 – Viewing Video Cutups
In the example video below, we show you what it would look like from the perspective of a coach that has received the email sent in Step 5.
You will notice that you can easly go to the next clip, as well as return to the previous one. Also, because Google Drive leverages the youtube player to play video clips you also have the ability to speed up or slow down each clip.
Summary
There is no doubt that tools like Hudl have much more functionality than the process we have outlined. With that said, using the above process we can do the following:
Break videos down into manageable cutups.
Easily share and access video with nothing other than a web browser.
Slow down and speed up video playback.
AVS Video Remaker is part of a suite of tools from AVS4YOU that can be purchased at the time of this article for $39 – $59 depending on whether you purchase a 1 year or lifetime subscription. Google provides 15 gigabytes of free Google Drive storage and depending on the quality of your video should easily be enough for a seaons worth of games.
If you decide to try this process, we highly recommed that you get comfortable with the process before the season starts.
Recently we received the following addition from a very close coaching friend of ours to our 7 on 7 Youth Passing Playbook.
The coach’s reasoning to add this was to take advantage of the skill set of his #6 receiver. Though it may be hard to tell from the diagram, the #3’s route is more of a Sit Route where he is instructed to attack inside the Linebacker finding space over the ball and “getting big in the paint”. As our coaching friend pointed out, this would be more of a Zone concept and when we draw it up against a Cover-2 Zone defense we like the possibilities that it provides.
We like that it puts the right Cornerback in conflict where either #6 or #2 should be open. We also like the fact that the #5 will likely occupy the left Cornerback freeing up the #4 on Whip Route.
Though not exactly the same, below is a video that we believe gives you a good idea of what it would look like on the Trips/Bunch side of the formation:
If you are interested in seeing some of our favorite 7 on 7 plays, as well as get a preview of our 7 on 7 Playbook, we suggest that you take a look at our 7 on 7 Youth Passing Playbook post we made a while back.
In this eBook, Coach Mike Rowe and Coach Slade Singleton look at the most talked-about run concepts and RPOs plays that have been executed out of the spread offense. See how two high school teams use top plays from FAU, UCF, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Clemson. They guarantee that you will find at least one concept that will help you win next season. The book covers a collection of 50 plays using 40 videos explaining the whys and hows these plays have been most successful. This is not a playbook, but an answer book. The diagrams and the video are perfectly illustrated to include multiple fronts, coverages and formations. Below is a sample preview, as well as what Coaches are saying after reading the book:
Coach Rowe and Singleton have knocked it out of the park again. This book has me reevaluating my playbook. I’m getting rid of some old plays to make room for a couple of these amazing plays. I can’t wait to run the “Ice” concept and the “Tre RPO”. This eBook is going to make offensive coordinators happy and defensive coordinators angry.
Ron McKie – Crestwood High School, SC
Another great resource from Mike Rowe and Slade Singleton. If you are looking for a great resource on the spread run game and RPOs, or you have to defend these concepts this is a great book to pick up. It is a quick read and the video links really add depth to it.
Chuck Hartman – Hutchinson High School, MN
Singleton and Rowe have done it again! Two coaches in one book, how can you beat that?Full diagrams and breakdown of 50 plays. Click the Football button and it takes to the YouTube world of 40 videos the play! Easy to read, great layout with coaching points put into their own special box. Excellent content with a diverse array of plays. A must have for your ebook collection.
Recently Coach Mike Rowe shared the video below with us outlining a nice teaching progression on how to teach Receivers how to block. This video does a nice job of demonstrating a number of drills and coaching points that can be applied to the youth game. As a new youth football coach, one of the the skills that I struggled with was teaching my Running Backs and Receivers how to block in space. It’s a skill that I believe is difficult for young athletes, but one with lots of repetition can be learned.
One of our go to drills over the past several years to teach this skill has been the Diamond Drill that we orginally learned from Coach Dave Cisar at Winning Youth Football that we have since modified a bit for our purposes.
On the whistle, the Defender must run around the designated point of the diamond trying to get to the center of the diamond to try and touch the football. The Blocker (offense) runs around the designated opposite (shorter) side of the diamond attacking the defender and keeping them from touching the football for 5 seconds.
Key Coaching Points:
Blocker needs to run his feet keeping a low center of gravity with his head up and helmet below the Defender’s chin. No Lunging!
Defender can use any type of move they want after rounding the designated cone, but should not be allowed to dive at the football.
Depending on the age group you are coaching you may have to play around a bit with the dimensions of the Diamond.
If interested in other drills for your backs and receivers, we suggest you take a look at another article we published covering Youth Football Drills for Running Backs and Receivers. This not only contains another Stalk Blocking Drill, but has links to other valuable drill material as well.
In the Systematic Analysis to Attack Defenses eBook Coach Mike Rowe and Coach Slade Singleton cover 13 of the most popular Run Pass Option (RPO) concepts in over 50 diagrams that have been used the last three football seasons at the high school, college, and NFL levels. They diagram each concept versus different defenses and how subtle changes will be needed to keep having sustained success on the offensive side of the ball. All the plays will vary from complex to very simple depending on the run or pass scheme you like best. They break down how to teach the offensive scheme to your players and play as fast as possible by giving concepts one-word play calls. Get ready to create some explosive plays!
Are you a High School Football Coach who often struggles with finding a consistent kicker or maybe you are a Youth Coach whose league awards 2 points for passing when converting on extra point plays? If either of these is true, you will want to take a look at Coach Mike Rowe‘s newest Course on Coachtube.com. In the Gaining an Advantage with 2-Point Concepts Course, you will learn how to use 8 different formations that give defenses fits. You will also learn the top plays that Coach Rowe has run that have helped his Rocori Spartans score 80% of their 2-point conversions in the last 6 years. Here is what some coaches are saying about the course:
“Coach Rowe has done it again. Here is a course for the coaches who want to go for 2 more but need help in how to formation and set up defenses this is a must have course!”
“Another great resource from coach Rowe! He does a great job of going into great detail of his 2pt. concepts with diagrams and film breakdown. This definitely could be a game changer for your program.”
