Erik Saunders

How to Help Your Child Excel in Football



Posted: Thursday, January 22, 2009

by Erik Saunders
Union County Sports Academy

There is no greater feeling than seeing your child succeed! That is especially true in football where the emotion of a parent are on full alert. Parents of new players wonder will my son hit or be hit? But many parent quickly become concerned when their child does not rise to the top of the class or demonstrates timid behavior amoung their peers. This article discusses several things you can do as a parent to prepare your child to excel in football.

The most important thing to do in order to have your child excel in football is teach them the game in great detail. Why is it that sons of football coaches usually succeed in football? Could it be true that every coach has a gifted athlete for a son? The answer is that the coach's son has been sitting on his fathers lap watching game film since he was three. In football there are literally thousands of things to learn and when you combine violent contact to the mix it becomes very difficult for a player to focus. Most young players with no knowledge of the game are at a complete disadvantage to those that understand the mechanics and objectives of the game. As silly as it may sound, playing video games like John Madden football with your son will greatly improve their grasp of the rules and allows for opportunities to explain the "why" part of the game. I would also recommend using the internet to watch videos and review websites geared towards young players. If you want your child to be the hitter instead of the hittee, teach them as much of the game possible before they ever set foot on the field. That will free up their mind to focus on the physical part and give a greater chance to excel.

Now that we have discussed the mental part of the game, lets talk about the difference between the average players and the best players. Most every coach is going to begin their season by lining up all of the players and timing them in some distance of sprint. The fastest players will be sent to work at running back, quarterback, linebacker and other notable positions while the slower group will begin their training as offensive and defensive lineman. While every position is important in football, there is no denying that the children have their heart set on certain positions on the team. If you are serious about giving your child a chance to earn one of those spots, they will need to be one of the faster players on the team. Speed and agility training has become more of a focus over the past several years and players are beginning to learn proper running mechanics at the youth levels more and more. The best part about speed and agility training is that it is not football specific and will promote good fundamental running skills as well as improved footwork, change of direction and overall quickness. There is a ton of free material on the internet and I have even included a link to our own free video library in the resource section below. If you don't take it upon yourself to get specific training for your child they will not learn to run properly until they get into a track and field program in high school. By that time other players may have been practicing those techniques for several years and it will be nearly impossible for the average athlete to make up the difference. Get speed training now and improve your child's chance to be the best.

Improved coordination and balance are fundamental staples of great athletes and children are displaying less and less talent in these areas as we move forward with technology. Kids used to climb trees, ride bikes and use their bodies in a variety of ways but now they are prone to play video games and watch cartoons for the whole day. Most youth athletes have little balance and coordination and they struggle in football because it calls upon those skills to execute the proper techniques. Blocking and tackling both call upon the player to do their assignment while being bent in three separate Ares of the body and most players lack the ability to physically execute the tasks. Programs that focus on balance and coordination such as Karate, Aerobics and Pilates give athletes an extreme advantage over other players. Each of these programs calls for focus and discipline as well, which is one of the true traits of top football players. The children of our generation have a greater sense of entitlement and they struggle with understanding that little things will not simply happen for them. They must be introduced to this philosophy at an early age so they can learn to focus on the detail that makes good athletes great.

Our last recommendation is that you encourage your child to be around older players. I am not saying that they should play contact football with older players but I would recommend that they engage in programs that put them around older players. There are several dynamics that will occur that can greatly benefit an athlete. First and foremost they will realize that bigger does not always mean better. That is to say that just because the guy across from you is older, you still have a chance to out-perform him. All great athletes tend to have an inner drive or confidence that regardless of who they are playing, they can beat them. In over twenty years of coaching I have seen countless younger brothers that quietly went about their business on the football field with a chip on their shoulder. They knew that the kids they were playing against couldn't do half of the things that their brothers did to them in the back yard and so they had no fear. The next advantage of players interacting with older children as that they will learn to play hard even when they are being defeated and have no chance of winning. In this age of everyone wins, our children are becoming intolerant of defeat. Many quit trying at the first sign of struggle and sulk their way to the end of the game. Players that take on older kids even though they cannot beat them learn to set goals other than winning and they become task orientated athletes, simply trying to succeed at the next part of the game. These are the players that become unflappable in big moments, these are the players that will make a difference and regardless of whether they succeed in football, these children will hold a great advantage in life because of these characteristics.

There is no denying that talent is required to be a great athlete but in youth football a player can excel if they have some of the advantages discussed in this article. Every parent has hopes and dreams for their children, hopefully you will able to use some of this information to improve the chances that your young player will have the time of his life on the football field.

About the author:

Erik Saunders has 17 years of coaching experience and is currently operating "The Football Academy" football training program in Charlotte North Carolina. Erik professionally coaches more than 100 athletes each year in football, speed and agility and physical conditioning. Erik also coaches Pop Warner football at the Junior Pee Wee level and has a record of 54-16 over the past 7 seasons including three league championships and two undefeated seasons. To contact Erik or see more articles and training videos from his company please visit www.unioncountysports.com

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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)
» left by bernard grolin
from Chicago 3 years 106 days ago.
Good article for parents that want to get their children started on the right track
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