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Coaching Youth Football Coaching youth football can be a challenging task. Good sportsmanship is essential. The game is rough, but often times the kids playing it are very young. Sometimes the children don’t have a real appreciation for the fact that serious permanent injury can by caused on the field, even if it is just a youth game. Football also, by design, has both leaders, like quarterback, running backs, and wide receivers and support staff like the linemen or the special teams. Coaching youth football involves fostering respect between the two types of players and making sure that the children understand sportsmanship and the consequences of their behavior on and off the field are two of the biggest challenges that those who are coaching youth football face.
Fostering good sportsmanship is important in all youth sports but especially in coaching youth football. There are several ways to foster good sportsmanship and healthy competition among your charges. Like teaching any other behavior, positive behavior should be rewarded and poor behavior punished. One idea is to create a point system whereby those who exhibit good sportsmanship build up points and get a prize or treat of some sort if they build up enough points. Negative conditioning should be reserved for instances when the young player showed flagrant bad sportsmanship. |
Coaching youth football involves creating a sense of team, especially between those in leadership positions and those in support positions is very important. One way to help the kids realize that every member of the team is valuable is by running scrimmages without certain players. Run a demonstration play without an offensive line, or try a return with no special team. These demonstrations may help everyone realize that all of the positions are important to the team.
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