Understanding High School Football Preparation Drills

by

Wellington W

Forcing the Fumble

There is a golden rule in football defense, get the ball to the offensive team as quickly as possible. The fastest way to gain possession of the ball is to force an offensive player to fumble the football. Practice dislodging the football on the field in pairs of players. As the offender runs ahead of the defender, have the defender bring his clenched hands up quickly, and forcefully, as he aims his hand at offenders football. Start the drill slowly, and reward for a strong tackle that affectively tackles and makes an attack to dislodge the offensive players grip on the ball.

Constant motion drill to increase ball handling skills

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. The secret to this drill is having the ball constantly moving around and from hand to hand. 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.

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. 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. For example, the player drops the ball and retrieves it quickly. 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: Five dot jump

Conditioning drills are effective in training and helping athletes be strong and reactive. The intent of this drill is to increase accuracy, timing, and speed. Setting up this drill is very simple, you will need five markers placed about a foot apart in an x formation with one of the dots being in the center surrounded by four other dots in a square formation.

This drill begins with the player starting on two of the outer dots and jumps feet together to the middle dot and then out again to the edge dots separating their feet. 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 step is the same as the first hop scotch method but this time when the player reaches the other side they will turn around on the two dots. Because this drill is intended for accuracy and speed, it is recommended that players start out slow and deliberate and then speed up to their maximum time.

Catching the ball low

Great plays are made through dedicated practice of the fundamentals. This means that quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, etc have gone through the motions several times and know how to react to situations on the field. Perfect and not so perfect scenarios should constantly run at football practice. Here are some great techniques in coaching and learning the low catch. First keep the pinkies together down low to make a shovel. This technique stops the ball from bouncing away and also helps the player scoop up the ball quickly. Second, keep your knees bent low and in extreme cases you should be flat on the ground or diving. Second, bend your knees and get low. Third, once you have caught the ball, tuck it away as soon as possible. Always watch the ball through from the first time you see it in the air until it is in a secure ball carrying position. Catch it first and then worry about running it.

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Understanding High School Football Preparation Drills}