How to Coach Youth Football

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name's Otis St. Clair, and I'm here today to talk to you about how to coach youth football. First and foremost is, use a smaller ball. And keep it simple. Teach the basic fundamentals. Make it safe. Make it enjoyable. Teach the basic skills and fundamentals, and most importantly, be positive. Kids normally react to more positive feedback than they do to negative feedback. So make sure that if they drop a pass or miss a block, remember they're only seven, eight years old. They're not high school players or college players. So be positive. Tell them they'll get it next time. Make it fun for them. Any of the drills that you do, make it a competition for them. If they're doing a blocking drill, keep score. You know, just make sure that they're enjoying themselves, that they're having fun. If you're doing conditioning at the end of practice, make them race each other so that they know that they're not really working, but they're out they're playing. They're having fun. That's mainly what you have to do with kids is make sure that they are having fun while they're working. Because if they're not having fun, they're not going to enjoy it, they're not going to be as successful as they should be in the sport. So again, how should you coach football for kids? Make it fun, make it safe, make it enjoyable. Be positive, and just teach the basics skills and fundamentals. My name is Otis St. Clair, and that's how you coach youth football."