Monday, July 31, 2006

Mom of an 11 year old, never played one minute of any organized sport, Reciever drills

Hi - I'm a mom of an 11 year old (almost 12) who will be playing his 2nd season of football this year. He came to our home last year the week before school started (his is a foster child) having never played one minute of any organized sport in his entire life. He was on the 9-10 year old team and he played "2nd defense". I think he only actually got put in about a dozen plays or so the whole season (when the team was well ahead in the game).
ANYWAY, over the past year he has grown and matured quite a bit. He is pretty tall compared to the other kids on his team, and he is about average as far as speed and strength go. He does seem to excel a little bit in catching the ball and I am hoping to possibly help him be able to catch the ball better - and to possibly be a receiver on the team. Yes, we do have a QB who can throw the ball fairly well! I saw your site online and I was wondering if you could tell me any drills or things that we could do at home that could help him to catch the ball better. I can throw a decent spiral and we play catch a lot, but is there more I can be doing to help him? What does he need to learn most that will give him a chance of doing more than just standing on the sidelines this season?
Thanks for any advice you can give.
-------------------
He is young and just needs to be a youngster first.
He also would like to play and I know and that hurts some children. I would be
very worried about putting too much pressure on him, and worried about him not
having fun on the sidelines.
It is football season now and probably too late to do any catch up. If
anything I would have catch balls over his shoulder running down field full
speed. Catching balls thrown to him beofre he turns to one side or the other.
cathing ball with one hand. Teach him to tuck each ball after the catch. Teach
him to catch and tuck first, run second. Teach him to catch with his thumbs
and index fingers touching and to not use his body to catch the ball while
practicing. That should be enough for now. More than anything he needs to
learn he can hit without getting hurt. I have had experience with children
from broken homes and many shy away from conflict and hitting as protection.
It is ok for children to do this, but many times a coach can not risk a child
that is affraid as it may hurt them more than help them to make them hit. So
reciever sounds like a good position if your child is having this problem.
Rememeber success is 80% just showing up and thats ok. He will have to work
out his own battles and someday he may come around.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

some drills for quickness agillity and speed

Quoting REAL PERSON
Can you email me and my son some drills for quickness agillity and speed. He is 7th grade, he is a wide receiver ,but he runs like a tight end . I need some drills and some advice so I can help him get better at the sport. He really needs to work on his quickness.
---------------
I would jump rope 15 minute per day....
Do the 5 dot square drill...4 dots for corners and one in the middle..space
the outside corners about 3.5 feet apart...see how many he can do in a 60
second time frame......front outside corners to middle to back outside corners
and back...
Do some hop drills font and back and side to side...jumping over something
about 1.5 feet high and wide....