I'm very proud of my guys again this year. We moved up to the 9/10 age group. 10 out of 11 starters on offense were 9 year olds. It took us a little time to adjust to the next age group, but the boys battled all year and consistently got better. We won 6 out of our last 7 games and made it to the semifinals of our playoffs. The ubsw, without a doubt, was a major reason why. We were able to run some spinner, jet, buck, and T series. The boys take pride in being physical and executing for each other. I could not be any prouder of them. Also, this site has definitely helped me become a better coach. I am very thankful for all of you who are willing to share your thoughts and experiences. Check out my guys in the link below.

br>

I love it!  You have got it all going on there: Spin, Buck Lateral, Tee Series, Jet.  Gotta love the nickname Termites!

Kids are smart. It gets you really excited when they come back to the huddle with suggestions based on what the defense is doing.

My title is misleading. Termites is what our league calls the 9/10 age group. We are the Bulldogs. Termites would be a great nickname!

Kinston, eh?  North Carolina?  Love the block made by #15 at the 1 minute mark.  Really nice.

"We moved up to the 9/10 age group. 10 out of 11 starters on offense were 9 year olds."

So glad to see you saying that.  I hate the constant complaining of, "I had really young kids, this year" refrain.  What happened in the regular season loss, as well as the semi-final game?  Good video of a good team.

--Dave

Thanks, Coach. Kinston, AL. If we were in NC, I'd have to see about talking some football with you over some of that BBQ you mention. The 6 out last 7 games included the semifinal loss. A lot of the boys on our team had won two straight championships in the younger age group (8u). We actually started off the season by playing the 3 top teams in the league and went 0 - 3. Simply put, we faced some very good football players in the games we lost. We were the only team to score on one of them in the regular season (lost in overtime). I hate losing, but was happy to see the fight of the boys when adversity hit. They never quit working. Sometimes, you could tell they were getting beat up pretty bad when they came back to the huddle. However, they never quit, laid down on the field, or asked for a break. As the season progressed, we did face some weaker teams (still older than us), but also started clicking on all cylinders. By the way, we implemented your COD drill about midseason. The boys begged for it. In our semifinal loss to the eventual champion, we opened up the game with a scoring drive on which we ran power all the way down the field. We just couldn't tackle their stud RB. We are going to keep getting better and be ready for next year.

That block by #15 at the 1 minute mark made that boy's daddy  😉 excited too. I really enjoy watching them get excited for each other after a big play. Truly, a great group of boys.

That's good stuff, Coach!

--Dave

very impressive, loved the fanatical faking the best

when you taught the plays, did you change anything? what i mean is, i will be HCing 8 year olds and im thinking of doing a 3 digit play call like 116 power.. did you guys change anything?

Posted by: @emartinez

when you taught the plays, did you change anything? what i mean is, i will be HCing 8 year olds and im thinking of doing a 3 digit play call like 116 power.. did you guys change anything?

Coach Martinez, it doesn't matter what approach you use for terminology.  What matters is two things: 1) You understand and are comfortable with your own terminology, and 2) You know how to explain your terminology simply and effectively to your players.  

I've seen coaches screw up the simplest terminology because they couldn't explain it and I've seen coaches teach incredibly obtuse terminology that players quickly grasped because it was explained to them so well.  I've never had age be a factor in our play-calling terminology and I've taught 7 to 17-year-olds.  Whether you're using colors, numbers, wristbands or "Billy Sweep Right," they all work.

--Dave

Addendum:

When I coached 7-9s, we had 11 formations that we ran from our offensive set.  And my terminology was long and I didn't help my players by using wristbands.  So my play-call could be:  "Split Right / Lee Jet / 45-Counter / Roger Kick."  What helped my players was that they didn't have to learn the entire "language;" only their part of it.  So "Split Right" only affected the Right End, "Lee Jet" only affected the Left Wing, "45-Counter" only affected the ball-carrier, and "Roger Kick" only affected the linemen.  So while it was wordy, players listened only for their part of the play.  Also keep in mind that at that age group, having a lot of plays doesn't really help you.  (We didn't have many plays.  We had many formations. Actually, I had too many formations and really didn't need them.)  But I'm sure you know that 5-6 well-executed plays is all you need in an 8-10 minute quarter game, where both offenses spending most of their time running the ball will result in a relatively quick game.

--Dave

Posted by: @jtschem

I'm very proud of my guys again this year. We moved up to the 9/10 age group. 10 out of 11 starters on offense were 9 year olds. It took us a little time to adjust to the next age group, but the boys battled all year and consistently got better. We won 6 out of our last 7 games and made it to the semifinals of our playoffs. The ubsw, without a doubt, was a major reason why. We were able to run some spinner, jet, buck, and T series. The boys take pride in being physical and executing for each other. I could not be any prouder of them. Also, this site has definitely helped me become a better coach. I am very thankful for all of you who are willing to share your thoughts and experiences. Check out my guys in the link below.

/p>

This was fun to watch... a lot of great execution!

Posted by: @jtschem

I'm very proud of my guys again this year. We moved up to the 9/10 age group. 10 out of 11 starters on offense were 9 year olds. It took us a little time to adjust to the next age group, but the boys battled all year and consistently got better. We won 6 out of our last 7 games and made it to the semifinals of our playoffs. The ubsw, without a doubt, was a major reason why. We were able to run some spinner, jet, buck, and T series. The boys take pride in being physical and executing for each other. I could not be any prouder of them. Also, this site has definitely helped me become a better coach. I am very thankful for all of you who are willing to share your thoughts and experiences. Check out my guys in the link below.

/p>

I noticed you did not pull. Is this based out of the Dave Cisar offense?

Nice Job Coach!  That was fun to watch!

Posted by: @emartinez

when you taught the plays, did you change anything? what i mean is, i will be HCing 8 year olds and im thinking of doing a 3 digit play call like 116 power.. did you guys change anything?

Sorry for the delay, Coach. We started implementing this offense when most of the boys were 7. We don't use any numbers. Our backs are actually named after the ninja turtles. They loved that! Most of our formation adjustments are done with specific tags to the play who sets up differently. They will surprise you. They are very smart at this age.

Here's how I broke our backs down to them: 

Leo - To the "left" of the center (1 - back)

Rafey - To the "right" of the center (2 - back)

Mikey - In the "middle" of the formation (3 back/BB)

Donny - "Down" at the end of the formation (4-back/wing)

Here are a couple of play calls:

Leo Power Right (First name mentioned tells center who to snap ball to)

Leo to Donny Counter Left

Spinner Mikey Middle Wedge (Backs know to use spinner motion. Center snaps to Mikey. Line Wedge blocks).

Posted by: @jcarbon2

Posted by: @jtschem

I'm very proud of my guys again this year. We moved up to the 9/10 age group. 10 out of 11 starters on offense were 9 year olds. It took us a little time to adjust to the next age group, but the boys battled all year and consistently got better. We won 6 out of our last 7 games and made it to the semifinals of our playoffs. The ubsw, without a doubt, was a major reason why. We were able to run some spinner, jet, buck, and T series. The boys take pride in being physical and executing for each other. I could not be any prouder of them. Also, this site has definitely helped me become a better coach. I am very thankful for all of you who are willing to share your thoughts and experiences. Check out my guys in the link below.

/p>

I noticed you did not pull. Is this based out of the Dave Cisar offense?

This is based off of Dave's offense. We started pulling later in the season. I should have started working on it from day 1. The kids can do it. We will pull more this year for sure.