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AFM Magazine


7 - Keys to Kick Starting Your Special Teams

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While all coaches extol the value of the kicking game, the reality is, when faced with the time constraints that all coaches have, the kicking game gets pushed to the back burner and ends up being last on the time priority list. The test of time is a test that every football coach faces each and every year, especially when it comes to the kicking game.     The good thing about time is that it is the one thing, unlike talent, that all coaches have the same amount of. So it stands to reason that those coaches who best utilize their time will have a decided advantage. Since usage of time is one element in football that the coach can control, we have been motivated to write “Getting a Kick Out Of Practice: Time Sensitive Practice Planning for the Kicking Game.” Now every coach can achieve Special Teams Preparedness by simply spending more quality time in practice planning.  The following seven keys will help guarantee your Special Teams will be ready.

1. Evaluate, formulate, and activate the Special Teams. By evaluating your own team as well as your opponent you can identify strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies. This information will enable you to formulate game strategy anticipated by your opponent as well as allow you to incorporate this same information into your team’s overall objectives for practice planning. By tailoring the weekly practice template (checklist of practice objectives) to accomplish specific goals for your Special Teams you are able to activate an effective plan for the upcoming opponent.

    An example might be scouting the opponents’ punter: is he a well-executed punter, good field-position punter, and a ‘skier’ or is there a chance of blocking his punt some time during the game? Detailed scouting could make the difference.

2. Communicate clear objectives. Increase accountability for players and coaches through specific responsibilities. Coaches must make clear to every special teams player what is expected of them each and every play. By communicating concise individual and team goals you educate everyone to know “what to do” and “why” they are doing it! For example, make specific blocking responsibilities for each player on kickoffs so that every member of this special teams is held accountable.

3. Prioritize practice and improve the kicking game by spending more quality time through better practice planning. Remember the old adage: YOU PLAY LIKE YOU PRACTICE. We all know how giving less effort translates on the game field! The kicking game is the last thing we do at practice. It’s the last thing we do in the week. It’s even the last thing we install when we begin practice in the fall. If the kicking game is always the last thing we do as coaches it will remain LAST in the minds of the players.

    Most coaches are quick to acknowledge the vital importance of the kicking game yet when we don’t get the reps we need on offense or we are having a bad day on defense, we will cut back on the kicking game or not practice it all! How and WHEN you work on the kicking game in practice speaks volumes to you team about how important the kicking game is to you. So what’s the solution? It is simply this…practice the kicking game in regular intervals throughout the entire practice schedule.  After all, isn’t this the way it happens in a game? What a very important message you will send to your football team with this one tiny adjustment… especially concerning the importance of the kicking game!

    Many coaches wait until Thursday of game week to install their kicking game; by doing so, it clearly sends a message to the players that the kicking game is not that important and that will, ultimately, translate into a game. Psychologically, your players will put less effort into this phase of the game.

4. Simulate game conditions. You will be amazed at how much this simple point of emphasis will improve your entire kicking game. Vince Lombardi once said that “The best practice schedule is a schedule that best simulates game conditions and situations.” We know as coaches that the kicking game happens throughout the course of a football game, not just at the end as in the fourth quarter. If that’s the way it happens in a game then that’s the way it should be practiced. For example, if you really want to make a statement about the importance of the kicking game, begin every practice with a kick-off or return. It takes less than 3 minutes. After all, that’s the way every game begins. It doesn’t have to be “live” but it can be full speed. Go ahead and warm-up with cal’s and stretching and then go right into a kick-off or a return to start practice.

    We know how much of this game is purely psychological so you can see right away how this will work. Your players know that they start every football day with the kicking game. GAME AND PRACTICE. Right away they begin to realize just how important this phase of the game really is. You are not spending any more time kicking (this may even take less time once it becomes a habit), but the priority you are placing on it makes a world of difference! Do the same thing with your punting, extra points, and field goals. Another importnt part of practice is getting special teams on and off the field quickly and efficiently. This should be practiced as well. How often do we see a turnover and then confusion with players coming on and off the field that leads to an ill-advised time out.

   Mix special teams practices in at various times in your practice schedule. You will even want to begin every kicking period with a whistle that sends the entire team to the sideline for staging and launching. All staging and launching is done from the sideline during a game and this will even help keep things organized in practice.

5. Develop and instill passion by approaching every Special Teams play as if it was an offensive one. Instill this in your players. Create passion by developing the mentality that every special teams play is an opportunity to make something BIG happen. Whether returning a kick, attempting to block a field goal, or even punting the football…a dramatic change in field position can be immediate… every single play!

    Another very important component to creating passion for Special Teams play is implementing an aggressive and progressive motivational program geared specifically to your Special Teams. The Head Coach is always the key in placing priorities on the importance of any element of his football team. Special Teams will be only as “special” as the Head Coach makes it. Offense and Defense has its own built in rewards and motivation but the Special Teams often are the “fifth wheel” of the football program and need a boost to give it equality with the offense and defense.

    An immediate way to instill passion is by giving your Special Teams unit a “special’ name and by initiating RED-WHITE-BLUE Zones on the football field. Every one is already familiar with the RED ZONE being inside the 20 yard line. The WHITE ZONE is inside the 10 and the BLUE ZONE is inside the 5 yard line. Every time a coverage team, either kick off or punt, forces the opponent to start a drive inside any of the three zones the entire team receives recognition. For example: inside the 20 (one helmet sticker), inside the 10 (two stickers), and inside the 5 (three stickers). This simple approach greatly increases FIELD AWARENESS of the coverage team. And more awareness of any kind is extremely beneficial for your football team.

6. The Test of Time will tell the story of every Special Teams play. The clipboard and the whistle have long been accepted as the standard coaching equipment but the stopwatch has achieved equal status in the modern world of high tech football. Coaches have long been aware that one of the best ways to “spice up” practice and drills is to add a stopwatch and the element of competition against time. Special Teams Coaches who have to deal with concepts such as hang times and get-off times have learned the value of constant practice timing. A precision kicking game demands it.

    Most coaches don’t actually know what the optimum “get off” time is for punts and kicks. And those that do have an idea tend to think faster is always better. This mentality dramatically hurts the effectiveness of the kickers and punters as well as the coverage teams. Like everything else in the game, it becomes a matter of awareness through proper practice.

    Remember, you must have a stopwatch as your constant practice companion. Fractions of the kicking game times should be constantly and consistently charted until they become as familiar as your offensive and defensive terminology. Hang times, get off times, hand to foot times will become second nature to you and your kickers. Continued timing and charting during games will let you know right away the real reason why a kick is blocked (instead of always assuming it’s the kicker). The quicker the real problem can be identified the quicker coaching can begin and game changing mistakes can be eliminated!

7. Involve everyone in preparing the Special Teams for competition. From film breakdown to game-day adjustments, everyone on the team needs to contribute. Since the Special Teams are made up of both offensive and defensive players, it makes only sense that everyone is aware of the objectives every time there is a play involving the kicking game. Even the offensive and defensive coaches need to be intensely involved. The “extra sets of eyes” from the sideline and the press box should be assigned and trained to focus on the specific details of every play. This will insure that every assignment is carried out as well as enable someone on the team to identify and communicate any adjustment that needs to be made. By involving every player and coach you create a tremendous opportunity to develop team unity as well as the desire to be a part of the special teams unit! p
Coach Bill Tom Ross coached for nearly four decades on both the high school and college level. A head coach in Kentucky high school's for 33 years, Ross also coached at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Rick Sang coordinates www.prokicker.com, the only national ranking of high school punters, kickers, and long snappers.





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