What a Rookie Coach Learned Putting in the Single Wing to 7, 8, and 9 Year Olds

1. What a Rookie Coach Learned Putting in the Single Wing to 7, 8, and 9 Year Olds Jerry Nivison Head Coach TORNADOS Gilbert Pop Warner, Arizona

2. I think the most important point in our organization has been to stress the items that directly affect winning. – Ara Parseghian, 1967 [COA67:5] COROLLARY: Players win football games. COROLLARY #2: Make things happen (i.e., coach) through the players. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

3. DISCLAIMER • A good portion of successful football stems from defense and special teams. • Since this talk is on the Single Wing, defense or special teams is not mentioned. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

4. Acknowledgements • Jon Benjamin, ROPERS • Keith James and staff, AVENGERS • Gary Canez and staff, LONESTARS • Mike Thompson, MONSOON • Last, but not least, my own staff • Eric Rohde • Paul & Suzy Phoenix • Hernan Rueda • Others … West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

5. And of course the PLAYERS! West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

6. Overview • Focus • Properly Functioning Staff • Planned, Organized Practice • Basics First • Dependable Snapper, x2 • Select Offensive Line • Daily, Pure Hitting Drills • Simple Playbook West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

7. 1. Focus West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

8. Focus • You must be clear in your heart and mind why you’re coaching; you must believe in it. • I struggled – with myself – early in the season. Basically the question needing answered: • “Are boys 7-9 too young to play full pad football?” • SCORES & SEASON RECORD • Season Total: 113-127 (5-4) • First two games: 6-50 (0-2) • Third - sixth games: 46-51 (2-2) • Last three games: 61-26 (3-0) West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

9. 2. Properly Functioning Staff West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

10. Properly Functioning Staff • As stated in most military theory texts: “Without an excellent officer corps, it’s difficult to have a successful military.” [CLA32, JOM38] • Similar with football coaching staff. • If the coaches and staff are ignorant, immoral, mean - spirited, or contentious, a successful football season is less likely. • RESULT: Boys suffer. • Football coaching is TEACHING first and everything else second. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

11. Knowledgeable Football Staff Fools learn by experience. I prefer to profit from others experience. – Bismarck[HAR67:3] From knowledge to competence is a great step – from ignorance to competence an even greater still. – Hans von Seekt[CRE00:frontpaper] • Obviously, first-hand experience is a vivid way to learn competence. • However, book knowledge is a fast way to an intermediate state between ignorance and first-hand, experiential competence. • We’re not professional coaches so our experience is less by definition of amateur; help yourself and offset this by study. • Ex: Col. Joshua Chamberlain 20th Maine at The Battle of Gettysburg. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

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14. 3. Planned, Organized Practice West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

15. Planned, Organized Practice • Several smaller groups of 3-10 boys with 1-2 coaches per group is best way. • One coach “coaches” • At this age group, often need other coach to “supervise” the boys in line. • 3 to 5 groups, each with 1 or 2 coaches. • Alternate Offense and Defense daily emphasis throughout season. • See next page for example practice. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

16. Example Practice Schedule West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

17. 4. Basics First West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

18. Basics First “The most important offense team fundamental is proper execution of the starting count.” -- Bud Wilkinson [WIL87:125] Means, be able to EVERY TIME PERFECTLY … • form huddle. • Including ALL offense replacements and MPPs. • move from huddle into formation right. • move from huddle into formation left. • change from split end left to right. • move at proper cadence time (always 1 count). • “Down -- Set -- Hit!” • How to accomplish? Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, … West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

19. “HUDDLE!” The most important thing in the huddle is to remain quiet and attentive. -- Bud Wilkinson[WIL:87] West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

20. 5. Dependable Snapper, x2 West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

21. Dependable Snapper, x2 • First few games we had around 6 bad snaps each game! • Painful way to learn. • Stops drive cold. • Backs need to be partially responsible for good snap. • Changed snappers during second game. • Helped remainder of season immeasurably. • 50 to 100 snaps EVERY practice, ALL SEASON. • Do while other linemen in blocking drills • Snap first; block second. • Needs to be mentally tough; not necessarily a great blocker. • I tell them: “The guards will seal your gap.” • NEED TWO. (Good chance starter will miss.) West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

22. Early Morning Pregame West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

23. Mechanics of Snapping "A dependable snapper is the key to any single wing offense.  You will not have an effective attack if this boy cannot learn to pass the ball.“ -- Ken Keuffel[KEU04:23] Photos from Kueffel’s book. [KEU04:23-24] West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

24. 6. Select Offensive Line West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

25. Select Offensive Line If there’s a secret to successful coaching, it must be the coach’s ability, possibly innate, to place the right boy in the right position a great majority of time. -- Joe Blount[BLO65:27] • Most coachable area IN SPORTS (IMHO) is American football offense • offensive line most coachable position • Assignment of players high on coach’s TBD list • Select O Line from pool very carefully • 7 select boys; includes backup & TE, but not SE (FB?) • FB (ie, Blocking Back) at times practices with O-Line • INTELLIGIENCE A MUST; usually 9 or mature 8 yr olds • Usually top ~33% of weight class West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

26. Offensive Line (con’t) • Four classifications of players • MPP (SE = 3; Defensive Line ~ 5 to 12 players) • Replacement (1 to 2 at each position group) • One-way Starter (Backs/DE/LB and all 6 starters of O-line here) • Two-way Starter (only 4 at MM Level: usu. Backs/DE/S) • Coached and well-trained in only these basic block techniques • Interference (ie, Downfield or stalk; DO NOT CLIP or BLOCK IN BACK!) • Drive • Double-team • Wedge • Pull (IT and WG only; usually faster) • Outside Tackle is “King of Offensive Line Pecking Order” • To know, in addition to drills watch behavior at water breaks. • Inside Tackle usually next • Also needs speed and agility to pull; good basketball/baseball player • Tight End usually next • Need a good player here for double teams with OT • Funny thing: OL usually very gregarious, temperate boys West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

27. Head Coach Has O-Line • At least a great deal of focus should be directed in that area by the Head Coach. • If O Line controls LOS, your team will control the tempo of the game. • By that I mean you can run and know you’ll get sufficient yards to continue a long drive, eating time AT THE PACE YOU WANT. • This means your team keeps initiative. • Warfare • Chess West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

28. TORNADOS Momentum West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

29. 7. Daily Hitting Drills West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

30. Daily Hitting Drills • For many Mitey Mite boys, it’s their first experience with contact football. • They need to learn what “hit” means. • Best way: Do EVERY DAY until becomes second nature – payoff HUGE on game day. • Learned this late in season: after 6th (of 9) games • When the players know how to hit safely, it’s more likely they will hit harder. • Either hit or be hit. (Newton’s Third Law) • Don’t fight “Dead Cockroach Syndrome” • Goes away when boy is ready to hit. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

31. Hitting: Pair Boys Equally • Pair boys having roughly equal “momentum” with each other. • Tangibles (F = dp/dt): Weight, Quickness/Speed, Strength • Intangibles: Desire, Coachability, Skill/Knowledge • Learned doing otherwise is ridiculous. • What is the small boy learning? • What is the large boy learning? • I erred early in season; took advice of another coach to NOT do equal pairing. • Some teams use this to “thin” their ranks. • I’m disgusted by it, and don’t believe in it. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

32. Why Disgusted? Research has shown that children physically mature at different rates and that two players of the same chronological age can have great physical differences. It is important that “late maturers” receive the same skill instruction* from coaches as their more physically mature counterparts, as these late-bloomers will often outgrow the “early maturers” in high school. -- NFL Coaching Academy [NFL04:281] * Note this does not say nor mean game time. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

33. 8. Simple Playbook West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

34. Simple Playbook Everything starts with the end-run force. -- Gene Stallings • At this level, only need “six” PERFECTLY EXECUTED plays (number is order “put in”): 1. Sweep [Beast Sweep] (TB End Run) 2. Blast (TB Off Tackle) 3. Wedge [Beast] (HB Dive) 4. Counter (TB Inner Cutback) 5. Reverse [Fake] (WB Outer Rev.) 6. Play Action Pass (Sweep, TE pass) West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

35. Offense Keys • Blocking is more important than ball carrier. • To approach it oppositely puts your destiny in fate. • Therefore, walk-throughs are more important than running the play in scrimmage full-speed with hitting. • If defense shuts down all of your 6 basic plays, then others probably won’t work either. • Offense aims to put strength vs weakness. • Defense wants strength vs strength. • Take what the defense gives you. • Rarely can a defense take away everything. • Most important thing during game for offensive coordinator is an open pair of eyes, and … • adjust, adjust, adjust, adjust, adjust. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

36. Formation Right SE Left West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

37. Formation Right SE Right West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

38. Blocking Scheme • Blocking is most complicated part of football. • Many blocking schemes. Which to use? • We use assignment. Why? • It’s simplest when only have a few plays/defenses. • Every defense we faced (except one) was a 5-3! • Easier to teach to young linemen. • Disadvantages • If face many different defenses, and/or have many plays, then assignment blocking is a lot to remember. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

39. Power Sweep Every football team eventually arrives at a lead play. It becomes the team’s bread-and-butter play, the top-priority-play. It is the play that the team knows it must make go, and the one the opponent knows they must stop. Continued success with the play, of course, makes for a No. 1 play, because from that success stems your confidence, and behind that is the basic truth that it expresses the coach as a coach and the players as a team and they feel complete satisfaction when they execute it and it’s completely right. My No. 1 play has been the power sweep, sometimes called the Lombardi Sweep. It began to be part of me during my days at Fordham. I was impressed playing against the single-wing sweep the way those Pittsburgh teams of Jock Sutherland ran it. And I was impressed afterward when I attended coaching clinics and the single wing was discussed. … But maybe it’s my No. 1 play because it requires all eleven men to play as one to make it succeed, and that’s what “team” means. -- Vince Lombardi [LOM73:191] West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

40. “You need speed … • … to successfully run the sweep.” • HORSE HOOEY! Lombardi’s Green Bay Packer’s were known to be slower. • However, they BLOCKED the play correctly and it worked without great speed. • It was a HB option run outside or off-tackle depending on the DE’s slant. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

41. The Lombardi Sweep West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

42. Power Sweep OUR No. 1 play. We teach it first. We teach no other until it runs perfect. If DE stays inside, then Power Sweep is VERY attractive. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

43. Off-tackle Blast If DE moves outside, then off-tackle play is attractive. West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

44. Off-tackle Drive If defense does not shift, then off-tackle play is VERY attractive! West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

45. Summary • Focused Heart and Mind • Properly Functioning Staff • Planned, Organized Practice • Dependable Snapper, x2 • Basics First • Select Offensive Line • Daily, Pure Hitting Drills • Simple Playbook West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006

46. REFERENCES Also see http://football.phxsim.com/references.html for a comprehensive list of football literature. This presentation file available at http://football.phxsim.com/2006/presentations/sw2006.ppt [BLO65] Joe Blount, The Smorgasbord Offense for Winning High School Football, Prentice-Hall, 1965, LCCCN 65-17814. [CLA32] Carl von Clauswitz, On War, Everyman’s Library, 1832, ISBN 1-4191-1211-2. [COA67] The Coaching Clinic, Best of Football, Parker, 1967, LCCCN 67-16406. [CRE00] Martin van Creveld, The Art of War – War and Military Thought, Casell & Co., 2000, ISBN 0-304-35264-0. [GIL02] Joe W. Gilliam, Defensive Football: Fundamentals and Techniques, Coaches Choice, 2002, ISBN 1-58518-596-5 . [HAR67] B. H. Liddell Hart, Strategy, Meridian, 1967, ISBN 0-452-01071-3. [KEU04] Ken Keuffel, Winning Single Wing Football, Swift Press, 2004, ISBN 0-9744022-4-9. [JOM38] Baron Jomini, The Art of War, Military Publising Co., 1838, ISBN 0-85367-249-1. [LOM73] Vince Lombardi, Vince Lombardi on Football, ed. George L. Flynn, Galahad Press, 1973, ISBN 0-88365-303-6 . West Coast Single Wing Clinic May 2006