(04) Gritty Gridiron Football Coloring Sheets!

Youth Football Speed Drills - Sprinting Exercises
By Jo Denn

Even the slowest kid on the field can increase quickness with a little conditioning.

Incorporating speed training for football into your practices, you will increase your teams overall quickness and dominate the competition from the first snap of the game.

Players must first have the desire to improve their speed. As a coach you must pair them up with players that are just a little bit faster than they are. This gives them attainable goals! So many times the fastest kid goes against the slowest just to show-off. This is bad coaching. You're in charge. Pair the kids up so this doesn't happen.

Players need to be paired as equally as possible to level the playing field (or running field in our case). The players should feel that they can beat their opponent and have the motivation to do so...

...Finding cheap ways to run through sprinting exercises for your players is as easy as rummaging through your house to find a few items. No need to buy expensive vests and equipment.

• Pack on the pounds: Fill backpacks with sand bags a third or half full. Fill the rest of the empty space with a towel to keep it from bouncing around.

• Get an old tire, tie a rope around it about 7 feet long. Fasten to your players with a belt. Have them run with the tire behind them flat on the ground (longer grass works better).

• Pair up players of equal size. Have them stand face-to-face. One player is running the other is pushing on their shoulders for resistance and moving backwards.

Please note: These simple drills are meant to be done in short running bursts of less than 30 yards at a time with a short rest period in between.

Speed training your youth football team is essential for a successful season. Increasing your players' quickness can mean the difference between first and goal and fourth and long.

The End.