|
|
|
 Coaching Articles: More Reasons to Keep It Simple |
|
More Reasons to Keep It Simple
A youth football coach has to realize that there are so many reasons to follow the K.I.S.S system -- Keep It Simple Stupid.
#1 -- Limited practice time
Most youth team practice six to eight hours a week. Most High schools practice eleven to 13 hours a week, plus 5 hours in PE (football) taught by a coach. Most college teams practice 12 to 14 hours a week, plus 5 hours in class (football) taught by a coach. And the Pros -- it's their job -- I've read that teams spend over 40 hours a week reviewing, studying, practicing and playing the game of football. Still think you can run a pro system?
#2 -- Not Enough Players to Platoon
In higher levels of football, you have enough men to platoon. That is a player plays either on offense or defense -- rarely on both sides of the ball. The two separate teams allow you to have more practice time with a team Since, you don't have to give a player time to learn a position on both sides of the ball. Consequently, a youth player gets only about 30 to 40 minutes of offense practice a night and about the same amount of time on defense. verse 1:45 a night they would have on a high school team. So you have to keep it simple, because it's much harder for a youth coach to teach a system that seems simple, but is really on a junior or senior high team level or higher.
#3 -- Minimum Play Rule
Imagine if you were a college coach and you HAD to play every player for a set number of plays, even those you had on the scout team. If you were that college coach do you think you'd have to simplify your system in order for all of your players to be able to grasp it and perform it? You bet you would! Now why wouldn't you do so at the youth level?
Still think you can run a pro system, with shorter routes?
|
|
