Category: Drill

Home Workouts

Keeping Athletes Busy

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.

Coaching, Drill, Football

Teaching Stalk Blocking in Youth Football

Teaching Stalk Blocking in Youth Football

(Running Backs and Receivers)

 

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.

 

 

Diamond DrillOne 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.

 

 

Coaching, Drill, Football, Offense

Tackling Circuit

Tackling Circuit

(Improving Your Youth Football Defense)

 

We believe that many of us would agree that the best defense in youth football is one that can tackle.  After getting the fundamentals of tackling down, we think that a tackling circuit is a great addition to any practice plan.  It allows you to get a maximum number of reps in a relative short period of time by splitting up into small groups and running multiple drills at the same time.  Concerning groups, we suggest that you create them with size and abilities in mind. Also, to save time and possibly even frustration we suggest that you know what the groups will be prior to your practice so that you don’t have to waste time splitting your players up.

If you are looking for drills to incorporate in your circuit, we recommend that you take a look at the following links:

Coachsomebody.com Every Day Drills
Glazier Clinics Tackling Circuit
Coaches-Clinic.com Tackling Drills Library
CLYFL Youth Football Drill Book
Winningyouthfootball.com

Coaching, Drill, Football

Youth Basketball Drills – Pit Drill

Youth Basketball Drills

(Pit Rebounding Drill)

 

A drill we like to use to work on our rebounding skills is the Pit Drill.  This is a competitive drill that works on both defensive and offensive rebounding skills. Below is a youtube example of the drill:

 

 

Because we don’t like to have our players stand idle for too long, we have put our own little twist on the drill.

Youth Basketball Drills - WAR Rebounding Setup

Youth Basketball Drills – Pit Rebounding Setup

Drill Setup

  • Two lines on the base line for Guards and Forwards/Centers (Defense).
  • Two lines on the elbows for Guards and Forwards/Centers (Offense).
  • Coach at the free throw line with a basketball.
  • The first player in each defensive line positions themselves about midway up the lane.

 

Drill Execution

  1. Coach takes a shot making sure to try and miss.
  2. Defensive players block out their offensive player and try to secure the ball.
  3. Offensive players work to beat the block out to get the ball.
  4. Rotate players after each shot.
  5. First team to 20 rebounds, offensive or defensive, wins the drill.
  6. We switch defense and offense when the combined score of both teams equals 20.

If you need more drill ideas, please take a look at our YouTube library of youth basketball drills.

Basketball, Coaching, Drill

Youth Basketball Drills – WAR Drill

Youth Basketball Drills

(WAR Rebounding Drill)

 

Over the years one of our favorite drills to run has been the Michigan State WAR Rebounding Drill. The drill stresses blocking out, as well as transition offense and defense. Below is a youtube example of the drill:

 

 

Another drill we like to use to emphasizes both defensive close outs and blocking out is the Scramble Box Out Drill.  Below is a youtube example of the drill:

 

 

Combining the two drills above we have come up with our version of the WAR Rebounding drill.

Youth Basketball Drills - WAR Rebounding Setup

Youth Basketball Drills – WAR Rebounding Setup

Drill Setup

  • 1 Basketball
  • Split players into two equal teams.
  • Assign each player a position number (e.g., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5).
  • Place the team starting on Offense in the corners, wings, and point.
  • Place the team starting on Defense in a single file line starting just in front of the basket and under the free throw line.

 

 

Youth Basketball Drills - WAR Rebounding

Youth Basketball Drills – WAR Rebounding

Drill Execution

  1. Coach passes to an Offensive player and calls a Defensive player’s number.
  2. Defensive player executes a close out on Offensive player.  For example, Coach yells 3 telling #3 to close out on the shooter.
  3. Offensive player immediately takes shot.
  4. All Defensive players locate an Offensive player to block out.
  5. Play continues until Offense scores or Defense secures rebound.
  6. If Offense scores, the team on Defense executes their secondary fast break.
  7. If the Defensive team secures rebound, they execute their fast break with the Offensive team transitioning to Defense.
  8. Once the original Defensive team either scores or is successfully defended, the teams flip roles on the other end of the floor (i.e. Offense goes to Defense, Defense goes to Offense) and we restart the drill.

Coaching Points

  • Scoring:
    1. 1 point – Offense scores on initial shot.
    2. 1 point – Offense secures rebound on initial shot.
    3. 2 points – Offense scores off of Offensive rebound.
    4. 1 point – Defense secures rebound on initial shot.
    5. 1 point – Defense scores in transition.
  • Execute drill for set period of time (e.g., 10 minutes).  At the end of the drill the losing team either runs or does pushups.

If you need more drill ideas, please take a look at our YouTube library of youth basketball drills.

Basketball, Coaching, Defense, Drill

Youth Football Drills – Offensive Line

Youth Football Drills

(Offensive Line – Fast Get Offs)

 

One of the difficulties Youth Football Offensive Line coaches face each year is getting their young Offensive Lineman to fire off the ball.  A youth football drill that helps address this challenge that has been a staple in our practice plans through the years is the tennis ball drill.  Another drill that we recently came across comes to us from Coach Kyle Mlinek on the Dumcoach.com forum.  The name of the drill is the Topple Drill and much like the tennis ball drill its purpose is to help players quickly come of the ball.

Youth Football Drills - Topple Setup and Execution

Youth Football Drills – Topple Setup

Drill Setup and Execution

  • 1 Standup Dummy
  • Create 2 lines with players on either side of the Standup Blocking Dummy about 1 foot way.
  • On your Cadence, each player will try and topple the Dummy first.
  • Once done, each player rotates to the other line.

 

 

 

 

 

If you are looking for additional youth football drills for your team, we encourage you to take a look at the CLYFL Youth Football Drill Book.  It consists of 85 drills covering many aspects of the game.  If you need more drill ideas, please take a look out our YouTube library of football drills.  Our library includes drills for Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.  We have even included some Flag Football drills.

Coaching, Drill, Football, Offense

Youth Basketball Drills – Rebounding

Youth Basketball Drills

(2 on 1 Rebounding Drill)

 

In our previous Youth Basketball Drills blog post we shared our tweak to the 6 Shot Circuit Shooting Drill called the 10 Shot Circuit.  In this post we are going share a simple Rebounding Drill that over the years has become a staple in our practices.

Youth Basketball Drills - 2on1 Rebounding Setup

Youth Basketball Drills – 2on1 Rebounding Setup

Drill Setup

  • 1 basketball
  • Line up players in a single file near half court from the shortest to tallest player.
  • First player goes to the rebounding position in the middle of the lane.
  • Second and third players line up on the elbows as shooters.
  • Coach is on the wing with the basketball.
  • Rotation is rebounder to end of the line, shooter to rebounder, shooter to shooter, next player in line to shooter.

Youth Basketball Drills - 2on1 Rebounding

Youth Basketball Drills – 2on1 Rebounding

Drill Execution

  1. Coach passes to one of the shooters who then takes a shot.
  2. Rebounder blocks out the opposite shooter who is trying to get the offensive rebound.  Note: If the shot is made, just treat it as a miss.  
  3. If the shooter/offensive player gets the rebound, the rebounder must do 5 push-ups on the side of the court prior to rotating to the end of the line.
  4. To make the drill more challenging require the rebounder to let the ball hit the floor before securing the rebound.  This will put an emphasis on the rebounder moving their feet.

 

Coaching Points

  • Rebounder should find the player first, block out, and then go get the ball.
  • Emphasize proper spacing from the basket.  If the rebounder is too close to the basket, the offensive players has the advantage.
  • Teach the rebounder that if they get pushed under the basket to spin putting their rear-end on the offensive player’s rear-end pinning them under the basket.

If you need more drill ideas, please take a look at our YouTube library of youth basketball drills.

Basketball, Coaching, Drill, Offense

Youth Basketball Drills – 10 Shot Circuit

Youth Basketball Drills

(10 Shot Circuit Shooting Drill)

 

In our previous Youth Basketball Drills blog post we shared a simple drill to help your players develop their weak hand.   In this post we are going share our tweak to the 6 shot circuit drill outlined in the YouTube video below:

 

 

Youth Basketball Drills - 10 Shot Circuit

Youth Basketball Drills – 10 Shot Circuit

Drill Setup and Execution

  1. We add 4 cones to the 3 used in in the 6-shot circuit above.  2 in the short corner and 2 on the wing.
  2. Execute the 6 shot circuit as normal.
  3. After the 6th shot, the player sprints to the short corner for shot 7.
  4. After shot 7, the player sprints to the opposite corner for shot 8.
  5. After shot 8, the player sprints to the wing position on the opposite side of the floor for shot 9.
  6. After shot 9, the player sprints to the opposite wing for shot 10.

We like this drill for a number of reasons:

  • The variety of shots being practiced.
  • Weak hand development with both the drop step layup and hook shot.
  • Works on shooting on the move.
  • Practicing shots when fatigued.

Coaching Points

  • Have a player or coach rebounding each shot and passing it back to the coach on the foul line.
  • Make sure players are going around the cones and not short cutting the paths.
  • Emphasize using the weak hand on both the drop step and hook shots.
  • On jump shots players should be catching the ball and squaring up prior to taking the shot.  By squaring up we mean get their shoulders and feet pointing to the basket.

If you need more drill ideas, please take a look at our YouTube library of youth basketball drills.

Basketball, Coaching, Drill, Offense

Youth Basketball Drills – Weak Hand

Youth Basketball Drills

(Weak Hand Development)

 

To be a good basketball player it is critical that a player learn to shoot and dribble with both hands.  A simple youth basketball drill for Weak Hand Development is what we call the Weak Hand Layup Drill.  The purpose of this drill is to work on dribbling and shooting layups with our weak or non-dominant hand.

Youth Basketball Drills - Weak Hand Layup

Youth Basketball Drills – Weak Hand Layup

Drill Setup

  • Place a cone on the wing 4 feet outside of the 3 point arc.  Note:  For very young players you can move the cone closer and for older players you can move it out a little more.
  • Players line up behind the cone with a basketball.  Note:  You can split your team up onto multiple baskets and turn this into a competition to see which team/group makes the most layups in a given time period.

 

Drill Execution

  1. On Go the first player in line dribbles to the basket with their non-dominant hand and executes a layup with the same hand.  They then get their own rebound and dribble with their non-dominant hand back to the end of the line.
  2. As soon as the player in front shoots their layup the next person in line goes.
  3. This drill should be done for a set period of time like 2 minutes with the coaches counting each made layup.  If you choose to make this a competition, losers can do 5 pushups or sit ups.

Coaching Points

  • Head up when dribbling.
  • Try and get to the basket with as few dribbles as possible.
  • Go above the block to get a good angle to the basket.
  • Make sure the player is going off the correct foot when shooting the layup.  Left hand layups should be off the right foot and right hand layups should be off the left foot.
  • Aim for the top corner of the square on the backboard.
  • Dribble all the way back to the line.

If you need more drill ideas, please take a look at our YouTube library of youth basketball drills.

Basketball, Coaching, Drill, Offense

Youth Football Drills – Linebackers

Youth Football Drills

(Linebackers)

 

In our previous Youth Football Drills blog post we shared a Defensive Line Swim Move Progression Drill that we have used in past seasons to help our Defensive Lineman.  In this post we are going to share a Drill we call Fill the Alley that we use with our Linebackers to help them execute their run fits.

Youth Football Drills - Linebackers

Youth Football Drills – Fill the Alley Setup

Drill Setup

  • Plenty of Cones to define Alleys.
  • Blocking Dummies to define Line of Scrimmage and “A” and “B” Gaps.
  • 1 Football
  • 1 Line for Runners
  • 1 Line for Linebackers

 

 

 

Youth Football Drills - Linebackers

Youth Football Drills – Fill the Alley Execution

Drill Execution

  1. Linebacker aligns at his proper depth to the line of scrimmage and alignment relative to the “A” and “B” gaps.
  2. Coach designates Alley 1, 2, or 3 for the Runner.
  3. On “Go”, the Runner will run through his designated Alley.
  4. The Linebacker should take his read step and attempt to tackle the Runner.

Note:  To make the drill more difficult you can add a Blocker on the line of scrimmage so that the Linebacker must shed a block and then attempt to make the tackle.

For additional drill ideas for your team, we encourage you to download the CLYFL Youth Football Drill Book, as well as visit our YouTube library of football drills.  Our library includes drills for Offense, Defense, and Special Teams.  We have even included some Flag Football drills.

Coaching, Defense, Drill, Football
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