The day before the game presents an opportunity for players to recover physically from grueling daily workouts while keeping them engaged and enhancing their game preparation. During week long preparation in-season we are always pressed for time and often overlook so many small, but important, items of information that our teams needs to know. For many years it was a hit and miss agenda contained in offense, defense, and special teams preparation. Things like when to take a safety; get the field goal team on the field quickly when time is running out and no time outs are left; 2-minute offense; kill the clock on offense and defense; and so on.
Then we borrowed, refined, and organized our own method of handling the teaching of these important details. On the day before a game our morning workout consists of a review of the special teams we call "Kick-the Field.” In the afternoon we use the same format but call it "Special Situations" and cover those special offense and defense items. In these two workouts we are able to review and enhance our week long teaching. We start at one goal line on the right hash mark and move the ball in segments to the other goal line and back again on the other hash mark in the other direction.
Chart #1 shows the ball placement, movement, and items covered for the "Kick-the-Field" position. Chart #2 shows the same for the "Special Situations" portion. "North to South" indicates the movement of the ball on each segment going down the field. One assistant coach is responsible for moving the ball when the head coach is satisfied with that segment. Lots of energy is displayed with a successful performance and players hustle on and off the field as their team is called.
Usually, we play our sub-varsity games on the day before our varsity games so our JV team can be the scout team for us during only the "Kick-The-Field" position. Our uniform for the "Kick-the-Field" portion is shorts, shoulder pads and helmets or "Shell" as we call it. During "Special Situations" we do not wear shoulder pads. During both workouts the head coach is the "ringmaster" who...
* Calls the teams on and off the field.
* Provides the urgency mood for the situation.
* Decides when to move to the next item.
The assistant coaches spot the ball, handle the sidelines, and keep all players involved. During the early season we take our time with each segment and explain the situations thoroughly. As the season progresses we expect a "perfect day" with few errors and repetitions of segments. "Kick-the-Field" starts as about an hour workout and is down to 30 minutes by mid-season. "Special Situations" takes about an hour each time.
Maximizing our teaching time with the players is our goal. "Kick-the-Field" and "Special Situations" have proven to be a great finish to our week's preparation.
PLAY TEAM VTF HASH
QUICK KICK OFFENSE -3 R
TIGHT PUNT PUNT -10 R
SPREAD PUNT PUNT -30 R
"POOCH" PUNT PUNT -45 R
FAKE PUNT PUNT +45 R
FIELD GOAL+COVER FIELD GOAL +35 L
10-SEC. FIELD GOAL FIELD GOAL +25 R
EXTRA POINT EXTRA POINT +3 M
FAKE EXTRA POINT EXTRA POINT +3 M
PLAY TEAM VTF HASH
TAKE A SAFETY OFFENSE -1 R
KICKOFF AFTER SAFETY KICKOFF -20 M
KICKOFF KICKOFF -40 M
ONSIDE KICK ONSIDE +45 R
KICKOFF RETURN K.O. RETURN TEAM -40 M
ONSIDE RETURN HANDS TEAM +45 M
PUNT RETURN DEFENSE +40 M
PUNT BLOCK DEFENSE+RUSHERS +30 R
FIELD GOAL BLOCK DEFENSE+RUSHERS +25 R
EXTRA POINT BLOCK GOAL LINE DEFENSE +3 M
KICKOFF RETURN KICKOFF RETURN -40 M
DEFENSE VTF HASH
GOAL LINE DEFENSE -7 R
RED ZONE DEFENSE -20 M
OPPONENT'S TRICK PLAYS -30 L
FUMBLE/INTERCEPTION RUNBACKS -40 M
FREE WHEELING ZONE PLAYS +40 R
STRIPPING TECHNIQUES REMINDER +35 M
PREVENT DEFENSE +20 L
HURRY-UP DEFENSE +15 M
KILL-THE-CLOCK DEFENSE +10 R
FORMATION ADJUSTMENT REVIEW +5 M
OFFENSE VTF HASH
COMING OUT OFFENSE -1 L
2-MINUTE OFFENSE -10 M
KILL-THE-CLOCK OFFENSE -20 R
STOP-THE-CLOCK-SPIKE -30 M
THE NO-PLAY PLAY -40 L
SPECIAL OR TRICK PLAYS +30 M
OVERTIME RULES/OBJECTIVES +25 R
TWO-POINT PLAYS +3 M
NEW PLAY REVIEW G M
SUBSTITUTION REVIEW G L