Game Management Archives:

What Can You Do Prior to the Snap on Youth Football Plays? Many youth football coaches don’t really know the leeway their centers are allowed before the snap. Unfortunately sometimes the referees don’t seem to know either. I will never forget a Division Championship game we had a few years back. Before the game started [...]

Reacting to Blown Calls When Coaching Youth Football On June 3rd Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Gallarraga was one out from throwing a perfect game when a ground ball hit by Jason Donald went for a single on the 27th out. The problem was Donald was mistakenly called safe at first base by umpire Jim Joyce, replays showed [...]

You Get What You’re Coaching in Youth Football When I attend coaches clinics where college coaches speak, I often come away with little I can apply to my youth teams. I don’t have world class athletes and the ability to practice nearly year round. But I was able to take away several things I could [...]

Many youth football coaches going into the playoffs consider making s few changes to try and confuse or out-scheme the great teams they will face late in the season. It’s a quandary many of us fall into, should we stick with what got us this far or surprise our opponent with something new that maybe [...]

Pop Warner Junior Midget Division II National Title Game More film and comment from my trip to Orlando to watch the Pop Warner and AYF National Championships. This is Junior Midget level which is age 10-12 from 85-135 lbs and 13 year olds 85-115 lbs. The yellow team is Port St Lucie Florida, the Aqua [...]

Minimum Play Strategies in the Pop Warner National Championships: I saw a number of different minimum play strategies with varying degrees of success. The whole minimum play thing requires plenty of planning and execution in order to maximize the effectiveness of your team. The head coach of the Richmond, FL Giants team that won the [...]

Clock Management in Youth Football Many youth football coaches fail to understand the importance of managing the clock in youth football. When you have average or weak teams, you have to use every little advantage you can squeeze out. That was the case with my 7th-8th grade team this year, we were by far the [...]

Don’t Let Inclement Weather Affect Your Youth Football Team What do you do to lessen the effects of bad weather on your youth football team? Why do some youth football teams play well in bad weather, while others don’t? First of all know that you as a youth football coach, no matter how important or [...]