Open field tactics: covering ground with angle tackles

The reason for angle tackles is simple, cover the shortest area to get to the tackle, but there is still a great need to practice this technique. Set up a simple drill with two players, on as the offense with the ball running in a straight line, the other as the defender running towards him at some angle. As the opponent comes toward the defender he will need to adjust his body position and shorten the angle, put his foot in front of the opponent, and make sure that he put his head in front of the opponent. The tackle is completed as the defender wraps his hands tightly around the opponent, straightens his hips and pushes the opponent to the ground or off sides.

Running Drills: A Way of Life

Endurance is the name of the game when it comes to football, and running will help you endurance grow. Running drills will help you gain stamina so that you will be able to play to your full extent throughout the game. Even with all of these benefits you will notice that most of the complaints in practice come from running drills. Because in the end, the team or players that are the fastest are the ones that win the championships. Another benefit that you will not see at first, is the ability to push yourself past your limits.

Practicing the Hand off

Running backs should constantly practice the hand off. This drill requires more than one player; it starts off with two lines, line A and line B, the front of each line facing each other a couple of yards apart. At the coaches signal player A leaves line A running with the football towards line B. In sync with that first player, a second player leaves line B, when they meet player A passes to player B. Now player B has the ball and will hand off the ball to the next person in Line A who will hand off to the next player in Line B. This drill should perform in a seamless motion. 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. In this drill players will be constantly moving or passing the ball from one hand to the other. The drill starts by having players hold the football above their head and start to pass it around their head, moving to the chest, under the arms, around the waist, knees, and completing with passing it through the legs.

Coaches can mix up the drill by shouting out body parts that the players will have to start circling with the football; they can also reverse the direction that the ball is traveling by calling, reverse. Changing the direction of the football ensures that they dont form a habit, and that they remained focused on the ball and controlling the movement.

We recommend that you end this drill by doing several football drops. This means that the player will drop the football and retrieve it again quickly. They also should rotate which hand they are using to pick it up so that you can increase ball handling with both.