Synchronization exercises and many coaches - how to prepare American football players

If you ask most non-Americans what sport they associate the United States with, the answer in most cases would probably be “American football.”

Фото: Depositphotos

The secret of the popularity of American football is its prestige

If you look at the facts and figures, by many measures college football is not the "number 1 sport." Professional players earn less on average than basketball or baseball players. Most children play European football, basketball and baseball more often than American football, both in sports sections and just in the yard or in the park. And children who sign up for the football section devote less time to it than those who play, say, tennis or wrestling - only 3 months a year, because the child's body cannot withstand such an amount of heavy contact. At the same time, European football or basketball can be played all year round with short breaks in the summer due to the heat and in the winter during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

But when it comes to the social and commercial aspect, American football suddenly becomes the number 1 sport.

US Football Championship - Super Bowl - the most rated program of the year. The cost of a commercial video at this championship is $5 million for 30 seconds, and the average price of a ticket to the stadium is $2-3 thousand.

I think the main reason is a matter of prestige. Being on a football team at school is a really cool thing. In small towns, school football is part of the cultural and sports life of the entire city, and school football games attract more spectators than all other sports combined, with the exception of basketball. At our school, an American football game sometimes attracts more than two thousand spectators from our side alone, and the game itself is often broadcast in the school Twitter.

From my own experience as an assistant coach of our children's football team and from conversations with other coaches and parents, I got the impression that most of the former players and coaches are confident that all other sports were not close to football. They divide athletes into those who played football and all the rest.

Фото: Depositphotos

The load on players in American football more from a very young age

I was lucky to be involved in both American and European children's football in the United States. Therefore, based on my own experience, I can make a comparison of the training of children involved in these sports in the same age group and in the same sports club.

Children are accepted into the full contact football section from the age of 7. If in European football (which is called soccer here) children are divided by year of birth, then there they are divided by weight and age.

The group in which the youngest (7-9 years) play is called "anklebiters"(this is what small children are called in English; the idea is that they are so small that they can only bite at the ankle - ed.). Training for a-football begins at the beginning of August, for soccer - from the end of August - beginning of September. In August, before school starts, training takes place 5 days a week from Monday to Friday for 2 hours. After school starts - 3 times a week.

Children go to European football classes only 2 once a week and do an hour. Since training in American football does not need a lot of space, all groups train together in the same field. In soccer, the 2-3 teams are trained at full field. If you wish, you can squeeze 5-6 children's American football teams into the same field.

The training begins with a run, and everyone runs together - the coaches constantly remind them not to break away from each other. Then - stretching, push-ups, short distance running, passing. Most running exercises are explosive. Children learn how to properly knock down and block “enemy” players and do it in such a way as not to injure themselves. Then they break into groups and do exercises specifically for their position. At the end of the workout, be sure to run short distances.

The first training sessions are only in a helmet, by the end of the first week everyone is already training in full protection (helmet, chest, legs). Add to this the Washington August heat - and you can imagine the appearance in which a child returns home from training. So, a car in which you can raise the roof is not a luxury, but a means to breathe air that has not yet been saturated with the smell of sweat and testosterone.

In the first week, the coach is trying to determine which of the players will be able to be a quarterback, and who will be able to intercept enemy runners.

A football team is divided into two parts - defense and attack. If there are fewer than 22 players (team size), some children will play both offense and defense. If more, then only the role that the coach determines. Unlike European football, where all children mostly do the same drills, American football players have their own training program, depending on their position.

Not all positions are equally popular among children and adult players. One of the most popular is the lineman who protects the quarterback, giving him the opportunity to throw a pass. That's why coaches always put them at the start of the team's formation and remind the quarterbacks and running backs that all their goals are thanks to the linemen.

Different positions require different skills and talents. In American football there is a place for everyone - fast, heavy, strong and not so strong. Again, the requirements for European football players are more unified.

Фото: Depositphotos

The coach plays a crucial role not only during the preparation, but also in the game itself.

When school starts and practice time shortens, less time is spent on warming up. The focus is on training blocking techniques, breaking blocks and grappling techniques. At first glance, the moves are very simple, but there are enough details that make these moves successful or unsuccessful. About half the time, children learn to intercept and correctly “knock down” players with the ball. And players with the ball learn to avoid them. The rest of the time the team practices game combinations. Moreover, they give these combinations names so that the enemy does not guess what exactly they are planning.

Unlike a huge number of sports, including European football, the coach continues to play a decisive role during the game itself. It is he who decides which combination should be used, tries to analyze the play of the other team and “adjust” to it as the game progresses.

A lot of emphasis during training and games is placed on team play and the feeling of being a “team”. There are special “synchrony” exercises when children have to clap or shout something together. At first it seemed to me just an exercise to raise morale, but then I realized that this is very important for synchronized play of the combination, so that all players can move to the desired point together on command.

Throughout the season, coaches are trying to figure out which children are suitable for which positions and which children are not afraid of contact. Even inside the season, they begin to think which of the children will return next year, how much it will weigh and what position they will be able to play next season. This is different from European football, where the team is replenished annually with new players, but this does not affect the tactics of the game.

Coaches in American football need a lot. If in European children's football one trainer with an assistant can more or less train the whole team, then in American football you need at least 3-4 main trainers (main, forward, defensive and special) and also 2-3 assistants to help with exercises and Ensure that children are not injured in training. The training of volunteer coaches is also more serious than in ordinary football. To get a certificate of a volunteer coach, we definitely had to take an online course and pass the test. Most of this course is dedicated to safety, first aid, brain concussion and heart attacks.

The original column is published on the website. Ukrainian service “Voice of America”.

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