I'm a first year coach for 8-9 year olds. I'm looking for anyone that may have suggestions on drills for youth. Something fun and beneficial that will keep their interest. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

DRILL: BRAVE HEART

I have been coaching youth football for the past eight years. One of the best drills I have developed combines open field running, blocking and tackling while at the same time, achieves conditioning. Instead of sprints, we break our 35 man team into 3 groups (two coaches per group). We than designate offensive side and defensive side. We separate offense from defense 25 yards away. On the offensive side we designate 3 blockers laying on their back and one running back laying on his back behind the blockers. On the defensive side we designate three tacklers laying on their backs. On the whistle, all players jump up and run at each other. We stress full on sprint and contact otherwise we will run sprints instead. The kids love this and would rather have a contact drill than just sprints (great motivator). We tell our blockers to not try to block all three defensive men but rather pick one defensive player and make sure they block him even if it results in a double team. We instruct our running backs to run full speed stay low and read off the blocks. Defensive players are instructed to look past the blocker and focus on the running back (they are not to drop their head and fight with the blocker but get away as fast as possible and tackle the running back). This drill is not for the beginning of the season; however, you will find by the second game when missed tackles may have cost you a lost touchdown due to missed tackles (heads droped as a defensive player takes on a block) that this drill becomes important. We incorporate this drill weekly as soon as the we believe the boys are hitting hard enough and it produces great results. In three years of doing this drill at the youth level I have never had a serious serious injury. Good luck and have fun, Coach Mott