2010 July 21 | ocean dog

Type Wishbone

Type Wishbone

Coaching a 12/13 year old football team?

I have been asked to coach the offense of a 12/13 peewee football team for a city in september. I was wondering what type of plays to run with them. My dream is to run the pistol offense or spread...BUT ... there only 12/13 and i need a good gunslinger for that...and plus i dont even know if they can grasp that, i am only 16 so this is a pretty big task.

I am very knowledgeable on offense, so in the comments if you put actual formations like "shotgun" or "wishbone" etc. i will know what it means

If you could list a few plays, formations and even link a few videos that would be great.

Also i am very aware of the west coast scheme so you can use that terminology too.

i would just like to here from you guys on what has worked with you personally or your kids etc.

Thank You

First, remember the youth league sports KISS rule -- Keep it Smiles and Simple...

In youth sports, even though they keep score, wins don't particularly matter. They are the third goal of the team, not the first. The first goal is to ensure that everyone has fun. At the youth league level, the players shouldn't have to face the pressure of having to win or perform to perfect standards. Let them have fun and enjoy the game so that they want to play football. Don't make them feel like dirt just because they were out of position on a 90-yard touchdown run or missed a block/tackle or something else. Make sure your players have fun.

Secondly, keep it simple. The core role of youth coaches is teaching fundamentals: stances, how to block, how to tackle, etc. and etc. You can get youth players seriously injured very quickly if you don't teach them the proper way to do things in football. Don't worry about the pistol, shotgun or spread. Concern yourself with being in the proper position at the snap and the first step after the snap. Concern yourself with how to tackle the ball carrier and how to block. If you teach the fundamentals correctly, then you will be a very good youth coach regardless of your record. And if you don't know the fundamentals, you need to call the local high school coach and get a few minutes of his time to get some pointers.

Also, on keep it simple -- your players are just learning football. They aren't computer images driven by complex near AI. In youth football played with human players, complicated plays tend to break down from the second the ball is snapped. Dive plays, off tackle plays, simple sweeps -- those are the things that are easiest learned plays and best executed plays. If you desire, and I would even recommend it, you can have two or three trick plays that are fun to practice and run, but most of your offensive and defensive plays need to be very, very simple.

Finally on offense I would run a double tight straight I with a wingback on first down and short second downs and a flanker on long second downs and third down. You need more than a quarterback to run a passing offense. You also need receivers. If you have a bunch of folks who can catch the ball, but no one who can throw it, you need to run the football. If you have a good throwing quarterback or two but a receiving corps of iron hands, you need to run the football. In PeeWee football, you usually lack both the quarterback and receivers. You will be lucky if you have one guy who can throw it and at least one guy who can catch it. On the other hand, you will have at least one guy who can run the ball and you will probably have several. From the I you can run the fullback lead through the guard/tackle slot behind straight blocking from the line and you can run sweeps to the outside of your flanker or weakside tightend.

If you have more than one player who can actually catch the ball in a game -- and that is different from players who can catch the ball while no one is about to hit them -- you can split one or two of the tight ends to wide receiver and, with two good receivers, you can even run crossing routes. On short yardage situations, you can move the flanker/wingback to fullback and run the Power I and run power plays (both fullbacks leading a bruising I back into the hole) to gain tough yards. For passing, I would recommend limiting yourself to flanker and tightend slants (the wide receiver at the sidelines may be too far away for your youth quarterbacks to reach) and flairs to your runningbacks. You are basically looking for short throws to your receivers -- throws your quarterback can easily make -- and have them make yards after catch.

On defense I would run a straight 5-2. Most leagues will limit your blitzing, but you can do things like slants along the defensive front, particularly if you identify that a team likes to run in the direction of a certain blocker. Most of your teams are going to be running teams and it is rare that you will face a team with a credible passing game -- although many coaches might try to pass. Therefore play your safeties and corners up to stop the run. Identify the other team's feature back and make sure you have at least one safety shadowing him. For pass defense, I would play a simple zone so that my defensive backs and linebackers can play and not have to worry about formations, etc.