Sharpening Sports Practicing Drills

Low Ball Catching Techniques

Great plays are made through dedicated practice of the fundamentals. Execution on a football field starts with practice. One situation that most offensive players will face is the low catch. Here are some great techniques in coaching and learning the low 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. 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. And always see the ball through, meaning that you are watching it into the tuck.

A great Handoff Drill

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. 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. It should be a constant motion. It is an effective drill to teach handoff skills and help running backs achieve higher accuracy and consistency.

Drive Block

When talking about the fundamentals of a great offense or defense, you have to know what a good driving and blocking techniques are. The drive block is the most fundamental and should be practiced often. It is a simple yet effective way to move your opponent. It starts with the lineup, when you are facing your opponent notice which way they are aligned, if they are off to the right then you will drive them to the right if the play is occurring on the left side of the field. When driving start with your play side foot. Move quickly and in a speed bursting motion, make solid contact with your opponent to drive them off in the direction that you want.

Dehydration is an enemy to football success

Drinking plenty of water is all it takes to prevent dehydration, and thus should be an important part of football practices. Each athlete should bring or have a water bottle provided, and they need to use it often. Times have changed and coaches these days should be aware of hydration needs and not use water as a reward, or withhold it as a punishment. These safe practices will help keep players energized and healthy.