Football Catching Fundamentals

When a receiver catches the ball they need to immediately put it into a secure ball carrying position. There are three steps of a great catch: First, place your hands in front of you with your palms open and thumbs out forming an open triangle for the football. 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.

Tackling Fundamentals and Safety

Tackling is fundamental to football, and should receive proper attention at practices. Tackling can be fun and exhilarating, but done improperly and it can be dangerous. When you tackle your opponent remember three important steps:

First, plant yourself in front of your opponent. You can do this by placing your foot between your opponents feet. Also, and in coordination with your feet throw your arms back preparing to grab.

Second you want to bring your other foot into the mix, and at the same time throw your arms up and around your opponent. As your feet plants your head should be making its first contact. Never, ever, ever tackle with the top of your head down, keep it up and square against your opponent. Tell yourself, or your players to imagine that they are biting the football.

Third, at this point you have successfully grabbed your opponent and all thats left is to lunge your hips forward and bear all of your momentum against your opponent. The more momentum that you bring to the table on steps two and three the more effective your speed will be in this last step.

Ball security: The Gauntlet Drill

There is nothing more important for offense to learn great ball security. This is especially true for a running back or wide receiver as they will carry the ball more often than others on the field, but it is a good idea for all positions to practice a little ball security. That is why the gauntlet drill was created, to test and practice effective ball security. This drill is set up with one ball carrier, there objective is to run through a group of opponents that try to knock the ball out. Each of the defenders can line up in any way making the ball carrier run any sort of patterns with the ball, the point is to pose a challenge to hold onto the ball. Run each of the gauntlet drills slow and then speed them up as each player gets better at effective ball security.

Around the world: Improved Ball Handling

Without a solid foundation of ball handling players will be easy prey to a solid defensive team. This drill is meant to help players control and develop their ball handling skills. Players will move the football from one hand to another hand around differing parts of their body. The drill starts by having players hold the football above their head and start to pass it around their head, moving to the chest, under the arms, around the waist, knees, and completing with passing it through the legs.

In this drill the coaches responsibility is to observe the smoothness of the drill, and to also shout commands of body positions to move the ball around, and also to reverse the direction of the football. The reverse option is an important command as it will keep the players on their toes and focuses on concentration and ball handling.

At the very end of the drill the players will do several simple drops. This means that the player will drop the football and retrieve it again quickly. It will also help to change the hand that the players uses to pick up the ball to ensure both hands are learning this technique.