Youth Football - How to win every game you play!
Posted: Monday, July 20, 2009
by Erik Saunders
Union County Sports Academy
Teaching discipline to youth football players Football is a game that cannot succeed without discipline! An undisciplined victory is a loss if you are passionate about coaching youth football and teaching children. Discipline is the key to coaches putting the hours of preparation necessary to succeed. Discipline is the key to players following instructions even when they do not want to. Discipline is the key to parents supporting the program as opposed to chipping away at it with malcontent. In the purest sense of the word Discipline means - "training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character" . Think how this applies to football coaching. If you look back on an evenly contested game with two teams with similar talent and try to place your finger on where the game was won or lost, you will usually find one of two things that turned the tide in the final moments of the game.
2. A team's player made a great heads up play, broke a tackle or had more will power and strength to overcome their opponent in the final moments of the game.
Discipline is the key to success not in blowout wins or lopsided defeats, it is the key to success in the closest of calls. It will determine what we do when times are tough, decisions are not clear, when we do not want to do the right thing. Discipline is the message of youth football that must delivered, it must be accepted and there is no other acceptable avenue that can be taken if you want to succeed as a football coach at any level. The truth is that if you measure your success in win and losses then discipline is not nearly as important, but what will you have given a group of young boys if you have a loosing season and you have predicated your success on winning? You will have shown them one of the fundamental struggles of mankind. "I must achieve a specific result to feel as though I have accomplished something". That the act of learning, working together and developing ourselves for future endeavors is not first and foremost. So many people in life are trying for a result and feeling unfulfilled, that it is a terrible shame to think how many will die and never understand that that they could have been charting their growth and enjoying the process of life and learning along the way. In football there is also a commitment to your team as well and thus each player' s commitment is to improve during the season. To be accountable for their small piece of responsibility and to withstand the physical and mental pain that puts the voice in their head to quit. This responsibility takes will power and determination, something very few children posses in this day and age. Who will be their mentor in this process, who will be a role model so that they can look back on to have a point of reference. It is our responsibility as football coaches to be this person and if you have accepted the position you would like to feel the joy of victory and the emotions of gratitude from your teams, you will need to be a leader that embraces discipline and focuses on the development of each player on your team.
To learn more about coaching youth football or read this author's book "The Youth Football Coaches Handbook" you can visit youthfootballhandbook (dotcom) . Signing up for the newsletter will reward you daily with invaluable resources from the coaches personal archives to include playbooks, planners and training videos.
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