Enhancing Middle School American Football Workout Suggestions

Practice can help turnovers

In order to win football games you need to have possession of the football. The fastest way to gain possession of the ball is to force an offensive player to fumble the football. A great way to practice is have two players line up, one as the defense, the other with the football as the offense. The point is to have the defensive player throw the fist into the football causing the offensive player to fumble the football. This drill is most effective if you start it slow focusing on the motions needed to be effective, and then speed up over time.

Football Catching Fundamentals

Catching the football properly and effectively is fundamental to a strong offense. The points of a proper catch are: First, opening up your hands with an open triangle. Second, keep your eyes on the ball through the entire catch. Third, roll the ball into a secure ball position before you take your eyes off the ball. Many receivers can get into a bad habit of looking away from the ball before it is stored away properly. This error leads to incomplete passes or worse, a fumble. To prevent this, have two receivers throw to each other and as they catch it have them slow down the motion so that they pause at each catch, follow through and tuck.

How to overpower on the line of scrimmage

Football is all about strategy and fining, or making weak spots in your opponent. A great technique that will give you an advantage on the line is double team blocking. In essence you take two blockers or linemen and have them go after the same person. This technique is effective for punching a hole through the line and getting a running back through, or it also works great on a defensive blitz. To execute this properly have both linemen step together at the same time and lock their hips together. Next, form a wall, an impenetrable block that the opposing teams linemen cant break. Hit the shoulders hard and pin the opponent down as you drive them back. Also, this maneuver needs to happen quickly and efficiently.

Practicing the Hand off

Because hand offs are such a vital part of a running offense, running backs should practice hand off skills every day. A simple drill for a hand off is to line up all of your running backs in two lines facing each other in what we will call line A and Line B. The player from line A leaves the line with the football running towards line B. At the same time that the first player leaves player B leaves his line towards player A, as they pass each other in the middle player A hands off the football to player B. At this moment another player leaves line A and accepts a handoff from player B. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. Practice this drill every day to ensure that your running backs are effective on their hand offs.