Getting Our Feet Wet

   With our evaluation "camp" over, and teams selected, the past week we have been able to practice as a team.  We have 12 kids on the team, all but 2 playing football for the first time.  We started slowly, going over proper technique for blocking and tackling.  The drills were very basic, just straight forward block or tackle out of a 3 point stance.  Once they had that down, we added an extra element to each.  For tackling, we had the players 'shed' a blocker, and then move into the tackle.  For blocking, and had them first fire out of their stance, low, under a shield, for three strides.
   We started working on offensive plays.  I have them running out of an I-Formation, doing dives, blasts, and sweeps.  The first time we ran these drills, I had players line up at each offensive position.  I felt like the kids lined up as O-Linemen were standing around too much though.  I didn't want them getting too restless, so we did this in smaller groups.  I used cones to show where the linemen would be, just so the backs could learn the running lanes for each play.  This went much smoother.
    Next up, we are going to concentrate on the Center/QB exchange, as well as the handoffs.  We will still do our blocking, tackling and running drills, but they will be a little shorter in duration. 
   We have about another week with no pads, then hopefully we can get their helmets on them, so they can get the feel.  A couple of days like that, then we will go full equipment.  I hope to get about 2 1/2 weeks of full equipment in before our first game.