Had our first voluntary practice last night. 10 kids showed up. I introduced X-man blocking to them and I like it very much. Kids seem to like it too. Here are some challenges that I faced, the root cause and how I plan to fix it:
1) making the "X" too soon and running into the dummy leading with the elbows.
Root cause: While I started with the fit and freeze, I backed them off and had them approach and fit too soon. I should have gone from fit, to "load and fit" without moving feet first. Next week, I will break the progression down into smaller chunks.
2) fit to high
Same thing as #1
3) fit is lateral or even downward (especially taller players)
Same thing as #1
Had a great call with Kyle last night and he was raving about fight club. This will be something we do every day immediately after our form tackling warm up. Can't think of a better way to teach my team how to use their elbows as weapons while getting tougher and meaner. New team motto: "It hurts to play the Outlaws!!!"
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Kyle and I spoke the other day for about an hour re: X-Men Blocking. He seems very interested in the approach and asked some good questions regarding our implementation of it.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
Kyle and I spoke the other day for about an hour re: X-Men Blocking. He seems very interested in the approach and asked some good questions regarding our implementation of it.
--Dave
Yes. He mentioned that and is how the subject of Fight Club came up.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
Because we teach tackling as our first contact drill, when we move on to X-Men our teach re: shooting the arms at contact is very similar. That may well be why we've never experienced the problem (running into the dummy leading with the elbows) you experienced.
In our tackling progression, once we've gained 3 and then 5 yards of separation, we are using form running to attack the opponent. This means we will load the arms (x-men) at contact much like we shoot the arms up under the opponent's arm pits when we tackle.
And because our focus before contact is form-running, our transition into tackling and then blocking is a simple transition. We've already taught our players how to run, and we would never run with our arms out in front of us.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
You might put the players on their knees with a dummy/shield in front of them and from a gunslinger stance, have them initiate contact raising the arms and crossing into the x-men position. This gets them used to elevating their arms into the opponent at contact.
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
Yes. He mentioned that and is how the subject of Fight Club came up.
On the same day that Kyle called, a coach from Louisiana contacted me about Fight Club. He said he'd seen a discussion on here about it. I went and searched through the archives and it was from 2015. lol
--Dave
"The Greater the Teacher, the More Powerful the Player."
The Mission Statement: "I want to show any young man that he is far tougher than he thinks, that he can accomplish more than what he dreamed and that his work ethic will take him wherever he wants to go."
#BattleReady newhope
You've given me a lot of ideas to re-tool my tackle and blocking progression. Seems obvious now, but on the other hand, it seemed obvious last night. Something I've really improved on the last few years is being efficient in my coaching:
- Say it with as few words as possible
- Say it in a way that leaves no doubt in what you want
- Say it right the first time so there's very little to fix
- Learn from past miscommunications and fix them
- Construct your drills and progressions accordingly
Exploding the arms is something that was missing from our tackling progression. It was good last season. It can be better.
When in doot . . . glass and oot.
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