One of the most frustrating things about coaching in a game is making sure the correct people are out on the field. During offense and defense this is normally a pretty easy task to accomplish, but during Special Teams, especially early in the season, this can be a very difficult task. The 10 Second Drill for special teams is a quick drill that gets the whole team prepared and involved in making sure the correct people are on the field.
10 Second Drill for Special Teams
The setup of the drill is very simple. The whole team should be on the sideline with the field in front of them. The coach who is running the drill will yell out a Special Teams unit and that group has 10 seconds to get on the field in the correct position. For example the coach may start out by yelling for the Kickoff Return team. That team then has 10 seconds to get in alignment for the kickoff return.
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Once the team is able to get the starters onto the field quickly the coach can start to increase the difficulty. During a game the first unit for Special Teams is rarely an issue. The majority of times they are on the field and prepared to go. The most likely time for a problem is when a player is injured or otherwise can’t go out onto the field and his sub has to be notified to go in. The best way to prepare for this is to pull players out of the 10 second drill. So instead of just yelling out Kickoff team the coach will now yell Kickoff team and Johnny is injured. It is now on the Kickoff team to make sure that Johnny’s replacement is on the field and in the correct spot.
There are multiple ways to get the whole team involved in the drill. One of the best ways to give players an incentive to make sure the right personnel is on the field is to give a quick punishment exercise for the team. After a round or two the whole team starts to get involved in calling for the players to get onto the field which is what you need during a game.
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The 10 Second Drill is one of the most simple drills in football but by doing it before the game you can help to ensure that your players will be prepared for any phase of the game that comes their way.