So I have a question after talking to a friend about practice days leading up to game day. I’m curious if practicing in less than full pads at less than full speed is the norm now days? I ask because it blew my mind when we were talking football and he told me that the team where he lives never has practice in full pads. He said they do shorts, helmets and shoulder pads Monday-Wednesday. He also said they don’t run full speed drills, no full speed tackling/hitting, and really just no “game style” contact. I’m not sure if that is due to new rules to try to limit concussions that have been enacted since I played (I am 49 so it’s been awhile lol) or if that’s just how that specific team chooses practice. I know WAY WAY back then our practices were as hard hitting as game day, sometime worse. Monday-Wednesday were always full speed & full contact. Personally, I would think to get the most out of a team getting ready for a game you would want to simulate game speed/play as closely as possible during practice, but are those days long gone? Genuinely curious.
Practice question
- Thread starter Texas6Man
- Start date
Agree. I couldn’t believe it either. The more I thought about it I started to wonder if it was due to some kind of uil rule or something so thought I’d ask here just to see if that’s common place now or as strange as I felt it is.
CoachSanders@ACS
Six-man pro
From my perspective, it's most likely due to low numbers vs. risk of injury. Is the juice worth the squeeze? For us, it is, but we try and find a balance. We have 13 kids, and one of those will be out for 4-6 weeks. With that said, we go full pads, full speed, full blocking Monday & Tuesday. We go shells (Helmet, Shoulder Pads, Shorts) and stay off the ground on Wednesday and Thursday. We lift weights every morning. It seems to work for us.
jcarter
Six-man fan
From the UIL manual:
During the pre-season, regular season and post season, football players are not allowed to participate in more than ninety (90) minutes of full contact practice per week. See the Football Manual for explanations of full contact.*Full Contact – Any football drill or live game simulation where players are at a “competitive” full-speed pace, and players are taken to the ground.
During the pre-season, regular season and post season, football players are not allowed to participate in more than ninety (90) minutes of full contact practice per week. See the Football Manual for explanations of full contact.*Full Contact – Any football drill or live game simulation where players are at a “competitive” full-speed pace, and players are taken to the ground.
one thing to think about with "full pads" is that alot teams use "girdles" which have all of the pads that used to be in the pants in them, excluding the knee pads usually. So throw on pair of knee pads and they are in full pads with wearing the pants essentially.
as far as the full speed stuff, I can't speak on that
Jones26
Six-man pro
We look like we're in shoulder pads and shorts, but we have girdles and volleyball knee pads. We consider that full pads, just more comfortable. We are also full speed, but very rarely do we tackle all the way to the ground. If it becomes a blaring problem on Friday nights, we may do something different, but until then we make contact and wrap but stay off the ground. The JV appreciates that also, lol.
Working on execution, offensively and defensively, we drill "game" speed. We have short segments in most practices Mon-Wed (usually a 10 minute segment) where we will go live. Even then, it's a quick whistle if the runner doesn't go down quick and clean. All other contact is just thud.
Thank you for that. It’s my understanding there is none of that, which is why I brought up the question. Glad to know there is a UIL rule addressing it though
Man Coach it would have been nice to play JV for you, we were the tackling dummies for varsity way back then!
Thanks for all of the input/insight. Obviously there are different “ways to skin a cat” but this is something that just seemed extremely odd to me. I didn’t know about the “girdles” so it sounds like they could be using those with shorts but the whole thing just had me scratching my head. at the end of the day it’s a coaches call and I get that.
Edward Golden
Six-man fan
New style of coaching and thinking!!! Water is supplied at any time during practice also.
I guess so! I know we had A scheduled water break (1) and it never failed someone would over do it and be puking about 10-15 mins later!
It doesn’t seem like all that long ago till you start counting the years and damn, I’m getting old faster than I wanted to!louiskelley2522
11-man fan
Can Anyone Share A practice Script Of there Weekly Practices ,Getting Ideas for the next Season .
DOWNBOX
Six-man pro
Class of 1973.I guess so! I know we had A scheduled water break (1) and it never failed someone would over do it and be puking about 10-15 mins later!
CoachMatlock
Six-man fan
We don’t tackle to the ground ever in practice. We wrap up and have quick whistles. We don’t punish our scout team and we don’t take shots on our quarterbacks. We go full speed but wrap up and not finish. It has worked for us and our younger kids enjoy practice too.
I agree with Coach Jones, if we aren’t aggressive and physical on game days then we may have to add some more contact in. So far that hasn’t been the case. For me it’s a risk vs reward decision.
Old school thinking has started going away. Water is available at anytime. Who wants to explain why a kid went down with a heat stroke to his parents. I was trying to make him mentally tough isn’t going to cut it. Again to me it’s risk vs reward.
Oklahoma drills and drills like that are a thing of the past too. Oddly enough I only see videos of little kids doing those now. It’s usually a dad running practice and talking about what they did when he played.
This is how our practices are and I like how my kids stay fresh and not beat up. I’m definitely not speaking down to anyone doing it differently. This is what we have been doing for the last five years.
I agree with Coach Jones, if we aren’t aggressive and physical on game days then we may have to add some more contact in. So far that hasn’t been the case. For me it’s a risk vs reward decision.
Old school thinking has started going away. Water is available at anytime. Who wants to explain why a kid went down with a heat stroke to his parents. I was trying to make him mentally tough isn’t going to cut it. Again to me it’s risk vs reward.
Oklahoma drills and drills like that are a thing of the past too. Oddly enough I only see videos of little kids doing those now. It’s usually a dad running practice and talking about what they did when he played.
This is how our practices are and I like how my kids stay fresh and not beat up. I’m definitely not speaking down to anyone doing it differently. This is what we have been doing for the last five years.
I’ve seen your teams live the last 3 years, and I would say however you’re doing it, it’s working well! Good luck starting another run at it this year! Thank you for the input, I guess the old days are just that…old. I’m sure it’s better for the long term that coaches have found ways to get the same results with less contact during practices. Can’t say I would complain about some of those violent drills being long gone!
CoachSanders@ACS
Six-man pro
Pretty educational to look back and reflect on this. We went from 13 players down to 9 by district. Obviously, we had to modify our practices quite a bit to try to keep a team on the field. With that said, I coached over on the dark side (11-man) for 13 years, and this season will be my 3rd in 6-man. Football is football, but you just can't work a team of 13 like you can a team of 30. Or maybe you can, but in a different way? I have no problem with admitting I have so much to learn and am willing to for those who would like to share.
This is the first week having all 13 players healthy since the first game when we lost one to a broken collarbone. I'm definitely interested in reaching out to some well-seasoned 6-man coaches who have had to find that balance between creating physicality with hammering down fundamentals while maintaining a less risky way to practice achieving those goals. Thanks!
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sberry2023
Six-man fan
Holy reviving the dead...but, rather than start a new one:
I have never been a head coach where we have had a serviceable JV (or even 2nd string). Meaning, the disparity between the 1s and 2s is so significant that NO ONE gets anything out of watching the Varsity tee off on the Scout team. Waste of time.
Recently I have had coaches more involved in holding shields and coaching on the fly -- only have myself and an assistant now. Going to have to figure this out for the fall.
One thing I DO have figured out -- EVERYTHING is done with intensity (with full recovery) and brevity once it is taught. FULL speed. I absolutely hate doing things slow, wears me all the way out.
We script and count reps of drills and plays rather than time periods -- always striving to be moving and working to the point we are thinking with our feet and can't do it wrong. Goal is 2.5 reps for both 1s and 2s per minute during drills and team time.
Equal reps for all players -- one never knows when you have to rely on a backup at a vital moment. (1s and 2s)
We never go to the ground during our infrequent "live" periods. It is just not worth the risk of losing players.
An early example from when I was developing this approach with an 11 man team is attached. Still has periods (4 min segments) and was prior to going to the counting of reps.
I have never been a head coach where we have had a serviceable JV (or even 2nd string). Meaning, the disparity between the 1s and 2s is so significant that NO ONE gets anything out of watching the Varsity tee off on the Scout team. Waste of time.
Recently I have had coaches more involved in holding shields and coaching on the fly -- only have myself and an assistant now. Going to have to figure this out for the fall.
One thing I DO have figured out -- EVERYTHING is done with intensity (with full recovery) and brevity once it is taught. FULL speed. I absolutely hate doing things slow, wears me all the way out.
We script and count reps of drills and plays rather than time periods -- always striving to be moving and working to the point we are thinking with our feet and can't do it wrong. Goal is 2.5 reps for both 1s and 2s per minute during drills and team time.
Equal reps for all players -- one never knows when you have to rely on a backup at a vital moment. (1s and 2s)
We never go to the ground during our infrequent "live" periods. It is just not worth the risk of losing players.
An early example from when I was developing this approach with an 11 man team is attached. Still has periods (4 min segments) and was prior to going to the counting of reps.
