Conditioning: Cross jumping
Football is all about action and reaction, and those that practice reacting quickly in a variety of directions will dominate the field. The point to this drill is having players practice quick directional changes on the field. The drill takes place in small four corner area that you can draw out or use the lines of the field. The drill starts by having a player stand in one area or box, and has them jump diagonally, laterally, frontwards, and backwards from one area to another. Coaches should encourage one foot jumping to increase further strength and reactions on the field.
Playbook Practicing
Practicing the plays is fun, and also very important. When you master your part of the play it will strengthen your team and yourself. Because football plays can be intricate, it is important that you understand and follow the coach's instructions. A lot of habits can form in the first couple of practice plays, for this sake it is a good idea to take them slow at the start. As always, when learning a new play don't hesitate to ask for individual help to master the techniques needed. After practice is over visualize the play in your mind. Go over it again and again, and you will find that your mind will help you learn the plays even when you sleep.
Practicing the Hand off
Drills practicing fundamentals like an effective hand offs can make the difference between a mediocre team and an excellent one. A simple drill for a hand off is to line up all of your running backs in two lines facing each other in what we will call line A and Line B. A player leaves line A with the football and runs at line B. At the same time a player leaves line B, and when they meet in the middle Player A hands off the ball to Player B. At the point of the hand off another player leaves line A and runs towards player B, who hands off the ball to the new player. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. It is an effective drill to teach handoff skills and help running backs achieve higher accuracy and consistency.
Up Downs Conditioning Drill
Out of all of the football conditioning drills up downs is one of the most popular. This drill consists of having players run in place as fast and as hard as they can. From time to time the coach will signal to the players, by whistle or a command, to get down – meaning that they drop down do a push up and get back up as quickly as possible to run again. Because this drill can be very taxing, it is important to increase the time spent at this slowly over time as the player’s strength increases.
