After working in football for over 14 years at the NFL and as a consultant to the Arena Football League I’ve seen many seasons go by in youth football where conditioning is misinterpreted as a stamina and strength test. Laps around a field, wind sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, and leg raises make up the majority of what most consider a good session of conditioning. What most fail to realize is stamina and/or strength workouts for kids, that don’t apply to the execution of fundamental skills, is counter productive and simply a waste of time.
What I’ve witness with a majority of kids that play football is that most cannot get in or come out of a stance properly, don’t move their feet with the agility necessary to be effective blockers or tacklers, not to mention how to avoid being blocked or tackled. Youth basketball players struggle to get into a basic athletic position to effectively play defense, missing the skills necessary to move laterally, backpedal, and change direction. Are those athletic elements not the foundation of most sports? But a majority of all youth sport programs either spend very little time training kids to become somewhat proficient in these basic areas of athletic movement or they ignore it all together. As a result the development of athletes, quality of play, and safety have declined significantly.
Millions of parents place their kids into Leagues, to play organized games every season of the year. They spend millions of dollars on registration fees, equipment, uniforms, travel, etc. yet they spend little or no time invested in preparing their kids. It’s similar to buying a Baby Grand Piano then immediately signing up your child to play a recital, without ever taking a lesson. Yes they may be able to play “chopsticks” – but chopsticks version of sport won’t translate or work on a field of real athletic competition.
Last football season I was highly criticized by parents when I incorporated agility, balance & coordination training into a pre-season of football practices for 9 year olds. The problem was that they were uncomfortable that were not conducting in their minds “traditional practices”, after witnessing other teams do sit-ups, push-ups, laps around a field, and wind sprints. I don’t ever recall a football player having to conduct those on game day. As a matter of fact, you rarely witness a football player running in a straight line unless it’s to get off the field.
You cannot build a house on sand without some type of foundation that supports the future structure. The following drills are simple yet vital movement skills that directly relate to basketball. The drill involve cones, an agility ladder (substitute with chalk) hurdles (substitute with shoe boxes), and basketballs.
The movement skills executed throughout this obstacle course involve agility (fast feet) keeping the body square, coordination of the lower body over hurdles, hand/eye coordination in conjunction with footwork, lateral movement, & lateral movement in conjunction with lower & upper body combined coordination. Notice that the correct movement throughout the course is a smooth lifting of the knees with quick feet. The incorrect movement is hopping or jumping over the hurdles.
The movement skills executed throughout this obstacle course involve agility (fast feet) keeping the body square, coordination of the lower body over hurdles, hand/eye coordination in conjunction with footwork, lateral movement, & lateral movement in conjunction with lower & upper body combined coordination. Notice that the correct movement throughout the course is a smooth lifting of the knees with quick feet. The incorrect movement is hopping or jumping over the hurdles.
