Article by Athletes Acceleration

Football training for kids is a multifaceted process. As a coach, one has to ensure proper athletic performance, strength development, speed and agility, proper attitude, general health, and most importantly, the safety of the kids involved. Sometimes all of these factors, when added together, turn into an overwhelming task – one that seemingly cannot be achieved with mutual success in all areas simultaneously.

People enter their children into the sports realm early in today’s highly-competitive society. These prepubescent and adolescent youngsters look up to world-famous sports stars and their parents who idolize them as well. It is easy for them to forget that a very small percentage of sports participants will ever make it to any level of stardom or financial success.

As a coach, you need to ensure that the young men on your football team understand that their primary responsibility is to the efforts of their scholarly endeavors and social adaption. Their learning matters and their health matters first. If you are fortunate enough – and good enough – to train a kid in football that actually becomes an NFL star, it will certainly not be the norm. Remember that first.

We engage our children in sports activities to teach them about healthy levels of competition, develop their physicality and to socialize them so that they are able to “fit in” to society in general – not because they are bound for glory and riches. OK, enough said; let’s get down to football training techniques for kids.

It has been scientifically proven over and again that kids who participate in football regularly experience the following benefits: Increased bone mineral content (BMC) Increased bone mineral density (BMD) Stable body fat percentage as compared to significantly higher levels in sedentary peers Increased lean muscle mass Increased circulatory efficiency Decreased respiratory effort Increased flexibility Increased agility Increased endurance

These are all excellent reasons for kids to engage in football. However, there are several different areas of concentration to be addressed in the development of the total athletic package. Let’s examine them one at a time and discover how they are all inter-related. Here we go:

 Conditioning needs to be an area of focus in all football training for kids, especially newcomers to the realm. You can’t send in a newbie football participant to start training like a seasoned pro; you need to first ensure that their muscles and bodily systems have ample to time to readjust to what may very well be an entirely new lifestyle.

o Start out slow with the kids. Let their bodies adapt. These are not hardened professional athletes. They are children. Concentrate on general movements of large muscles groups. Increase the exercise level gradually. Sudden jumps in intensity can lead to sudden injury. Regardless of your specific training motions (exercises), you must always have the wellbeing and safety of the kids in mind first.

 Injury prevention is of vital importance. An injury can put an aspiring player into a very early “retirement”.

o The primary focus for any exercise should be proper form. Running, jumping, push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, weightlifting and hitting can all lead to injury. Don’t let it happen to your kids! Protect them by teaching them to always think about proper form during exercise. Proper form means moving the body in ways to accentuate positive strength development while avoiding improper positions that place unnecessary strain on any bodily area.

 When a human body increases its amount of physical activity, it increases its nutritional needs. In your football training for kids, you must embrace this truth. Teach your players to eat with health in mind. They are growing. They are hungry! That is true, but it not healthy to encourage them to eat like pigs. Healthy eating is healthy eating, period. When the body is taxed, it needs solid nutritional elements more than ever. Fried foods, bleached foods and processed foods should not be consumed by anyone – let alone budding athletes. Encourage your kids to eat with health in mind. Better foods give the body what it needs to metabolize fat, build lean muscle mass, heal and repair torn tissues, sustain energy levels and (most importantly) do well in their studies. Of course, you must press hydration (water) as well.

 Flexibility is another hugely important factor that is often overlooked in football training for kids. Watch the NFL players. You will see them stretching their muscles, tendons, ligaments and joints before engaging in the strenuous activities of the game itself. More and more frequently, NFL organizations are hiring coaches that specifically train the players in the arts of yoga and other dynamic flexibility routines. Cold, tight muscles end up as torn, useless muscles. Injured players cannot bring victory. Dynamic flexibility before exercise and static stretching after games or practice are a must to improving the mobility, flexibility and range of motion in your athletes.

 Every kid wants to hit the weights – and they should. The problem is that they do not place their attention enough on the more subtle aspects of athletic development like those mentioned above. That is your job as their coach. In the eyes of the kids, they see themselves bloating up with big, strong muscles, going out and smashing their opponents into dust on the field and receiving all of the glory that comes along with that. The eyes of the coach should see things a lot differently. You, as the coach, need to remember that the overall development of the health of your players is what matters most. Big muscles are great assets for football players.

However, strong muscles with well-developed connective tissues, nutrient filled bodies, clear-thinking minds and proper respect for opponents and the game itself are by far more important. Start with lighter weights and focus on their weight lifting form first before trying to pile on heavy weight.

If you are a coach charged with the important responsibility of providing football training for kids, then you need to step up like a champion. You need to embrace the concept of training these kids with their overall health in mind. Their wellbeing should be at the forefront of your every thought when you are training them for football. Football is much more than just a game that people play; football is a way of developing our children and adolescents into responsible, intelligent, healthy and well-adjusted adults.

Don’t just be football coaches: Be positive mentors for overall athletic development!

About the Author

Patrick is the owner of AthletesAcceleration.com, your final resource for developing the fastest athletes. Find great speed training information and learn to run a faster 40 yard dash at CompleteSpeedTraining.com