Enhancing High School American Football Team Habits

Running Drills: A Way of Life

If you have more energy at the fourth quarter then your opponent then you have won, and the best way to get endurance are running drills. Though dull and sometimes boring, these running drills will help you play your hardest until the end of the game. Teams, or individuals, that do not complain throughout the running drills will be better off and better prepared for a game. Whether you are tired, exhausted, and ready to throw up, if you keep running your added strength will help you win games. Another benefit that you will not see at first, is the ability to push yourself past your limits.

Learning the Basics of Catching a Low Football Pass

Good receivers and even running backs know how to make the great plays. 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. One situation that happens a lot in a game is catching the low passes. Here are some secrets to making this catch. First, keep your hands down low in a scooping or shovel position; you can even cross your pinkies. First, keep your hands low and lock your pinkies. Locking your pinkies prevents the football from falling through your hands. Third, once the ball touches your hands scoop it up into your chest and tuck it away into a secure position. Use your hands and not your body. Keep your eyes right on the ball. Last, concentrate on catching it first and then worry about the defense, and scoring some more yards.

Conditioning: The five dot drill

Conditioning is meant to increase speed, endurance, and reaction time on the football field. For this reason, coaches like this drill for its focus on speed and accuracy. The drill set up is a mat or place on the field with 5 dots about a foot away from each other forming an X shape, exactly in the same shape as you would see diamonds arranged on a number five card in a poker deck.

The player will start by placing a foot on the back two dots and then jumps together to the middle dot and then out separating his legs to the outer dots, much like you would see in hop scotch. 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.

Making a great hand off

Whether you are a quarterback, running back, or a player that at anytime will receive a hand off you need to realize the basics of a great hand off. We will explain this in a common scenario between a quarterback and a running back. The running back starts the hand off running towards the quarterback with his arms open creating a pocket for the quarterback to slide the football right into the running backs chest. Once the quarterback has placed the ball in the pocket, or opening, the running back immediately clamps down on the ball protecting it and holding on to it. As the running back runs off with the football it is important to stay low to increase agility and speed.