You can win games with Special Teams in Pee Wee football. Do not forget
special teams otherwise you will regret that decision. I spend at least 45
minutes out of 6 hours of total practice time per week on special teams.
And it pays off. We score at least one TD on special teams every other
game. You can do the same, but you must practice all aspects of special
teams; Kick Off, Kick Return, PAT, Punt and Punt Return.
For more on Coaching Youth Football , please go to Coach Parker's Youth Football Zone.
We normally kick just over the first line and never past the 2nd line. We play Kick Offs very conservative. Do not kick to their main return man or any starting back. Kick to the minimum play player. Make sure everyone runs lanes and stays in them. Also, your contain men must be disciplined.
You need to decide what you are going to do if you have to kick after a safety.
We stagger 4 starting running backs throughout our kick return lines. This way it makes it harder for the kick off team to kick away. We have our front line assigned to block certain kids. Our second line shadows the defenders to cut their directional paths. We normally do not set a wall or a directional return. We have a great return man that has natural instincts and we try not to over coach him.
I hate to punt. Find a good long snapper and punter. The punt is very dangerous in youth football. I will not punt unless we are in trouble. Find a punter who can kick under pressure. This is key. The punter should also be a back, just in case you muff the snap.
The long snapper on the punt is also critical. Tell the long snapper you would rather have the ball low than high. I just read to tell the long snapper to keep his legs bent this helps with height.
Our punt return team is a punt block team. We tell everyone but the return man not to touch the ball once the punt is off. We try to block the punt. If the return man is unobstructed we let the returner do his thing.
In our league the PAT kick is 2 points. We found a PAT kicker last year and did pretty good. We should have started kicking PATs last year, just to get the practice. We have open challenges for PAT kickers. Its an art and if someone figures it out during the season, well they get a shot at the PAT kicker position.
See http://CoachParker.org for more info on youth football coaching and Special Teams.
