Conditioning Drill: Up Downs

Out of all of the football conditioning drills up downs is one of the most popular. This drill starts by having the players run in place as fast as they can encourage them to get their knees up as high as they can. Then at random a coach will yell, down or blow a whistle at which the players must dive to the ground do a push up and then jump back into running in place. Because this drill can be very taxing, it is important to increase the time spent at this slowly over time as the players strength increases.

Drive Block

Driving and blocking are the bases for a good lineman. The drive block is the most fundamental and should be practiced often. This drive block means that you are going to push the opponent in the direction that they are aligned. It starts with the lineup, when you are facing your opponent notice which way they are aligned, if they are off to the right then you will drive them to the right if the play is occurring on the left side of the field. When driving start with your play side foot. Connect hard against your opponent, bring your other foot into play and continue to drive in the aligned direction.

Basics to football hand offs

Learning the basics in a handoff is essential to a strong offense. We will explain this in a common scenario between a quarterback and a running back. A running back at the start of a hand off should give the quarterback a target by opening up his arms that are in front of his chest enough to allow about one and a half footballs in. When the quarterback slides the ball into the arms, or the pocket as it is called, the running back closes his arms around the ball to protect it. As the running back runs off with the football it is important to stay low to increase agility and speed.

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 with the head moving the ball in a circular motion from hand to hand, then proceeds to go under the arms, around the waist, then the knees, and finally through and in between the players legs.

Coaches can mix up the drill by shouting out body parts that the players will have to start circling with the football; they can also reverse the direction that the ball is traveling by calling, reverse. Changing the direction of the football ensures that they dont form a habit, and that they remained focused on the ball and controlling the movement.

We recommend that you end this drill by doing several football drops. For example, the player drops the ball and retrieves it 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.