OT- Youth football using a hurry-up offense?
Well my DTs have subsided with the start of my son's youth football conditioning this week, so that is good. The thing that I'm torn about is that they are going to run a hurry-up spread on offense. I understand that this is the offense the local H.S. is currently using and they want to try and get the kids learning it so by the time they get to H.S. they'll have a good foundation to work with, but they're 11-13 years old. I'm thinking they should work on the basics. The huddle gives them time to make sure they know the assignments. I don't know, I guess I'll see how it pans out. The coaches are well regarded so for now I won't panic, but do you MGoPeople think a no huddle spread is they way to go at this age? Discuss, I'm in a grind at work so I'll check back later, thanks.
I smell a Hurry-up fumble!
I can see both sides of this. While I think that this will cause a large portion of the kids to blow assignments or just quit because they arent having fun anymore, the ones that do "get it" will be set for very solid HS careers. It really boils down to whether you think 11-13 year olds should be playing just for the sake of having fun or whether they should be preparing for the serious competition in HS.
FWIW, I'm of the former opinion, but I never had enough talent to get anywhere with football so fun was the only aspect of it that mattered to me. If some of the 11-13 year old kids have just enough talent that preparing them early for the spread helped them earn a college scholarship then I'm sure they'll be thanking the coaches for starting them early.
Considering that kids at that age can barely remember the snap count, I'd have some concerns about adding in the no-huddle concepts. Perhaps you could implement some of the concepts in baby-steps. I would think that replacing the long count with a no-huddle component might work well - you're really only using the long count in an attempt to garner penalty yardage in short-yardage situations (at least that's how we used it at that age). At any rate, I would hesitate to implement a full-blown no huddle spread concept; the fundamentals are more important at this age. Kids who can't properly line up and get out of their stance won't be worth a crap, regardless of how well they know the offense.
They got their playbook in April. 45 plays out of 7 different formations. Also running a spread out of the shotgun. He knew all of his plays by the middle of June. This is with alot of board work and setting up cones to run plays. The problem with this age is that coaches can not do it alone. There is not enough time for board work
Now he is learning how to read defenses, and how they line up. He also need to know what the rest of his teams job is on any play so he can tell if a play is breaking down or not. The important thing is making it fun. Make it fun and they learn fast.
Our receivers coach in high school also coached a rocket team of ten/eleven year-olds. I don't know if they did no-huddle or whatnot, but they used the spread formation with 4-5 WR every play and they killed it. And they loved it. So, I think even at that age, if they win, then they're having fun.
But, I kind of do agree with Not a Blue Fan. The O-lineman could barely remember what the snapcount was; unless these kids are more advanced or more serious about the game, a no huddle would seem advanced for that age group.
Just like in higher levels of play, it starts with the qb. If you have a smart kid there you'll probably be ok. Our high school coaches also prefer to have a similar scheme in place for the kids coming through the sandlot program. If this is done and good coaches are involved at that level, the high school coaches can work on more things without having to spend too much time on the basics.
Sounds to me like a practice time violation waiting to happen.
The no huddle shouldn't be much of an issue. I would make sure that your QB knows what is going on so that he can tell the backs and receivers where to line up. The no huddle might actually work out better since the kids will have more time at the line of scrimage to get in the right positions. At that age being able line up early and then adjust to where they need to be could be huge, especially with receivers that may struggle with who needs to be on the line and who needs to be off.
my double post cherry.
The question is, do they have some dilithium under center?
There is only one Dilithium, or Space Emperor.....but we don't even have slot ninjas, or dreadlocks. Thanks for the comments.