USA Football presents...
2-Minute Drill
with me, Andy Ryland.
We'll talk technique, share practice plans and show drills designed to help your players with the fundamentals this season
Hi, I'm Andy Ryland, Manager of Football Development at USA Football and former Penn State linebacker.
Welcome to today's 2-Minute Drill. The topic we'll be talking about today is USA
Football's Levels of Contact and how to work these into your
practice plan.
First let's review the five levels of contact.
Confidence comes from positive repetitions
and safety comes from players using skills they know they can do.
The key to using levels of contact is putting both these things to work.
Using intensities these players are not ready for can lead to improper technique
and increase the risk of injury. The most important part about using the levels of contact
is the opposite of this.
You'll lead to greater confidence in the new skills and decrease the
fear in young players
entering contact situations for the first time.
This gives players a chance to be enthusiastic about contact because they
know they have the skills and lead to greater execution in game speed drills.
When we say a drill or activity should be limited to air, we mean player should run unopposed
without any opposition.
When we talk about bags, we mean the drill is executed against the bag or shield.
Younger players should work against a bag as a stand alone item.
Older, more experienced players, can work against the shield held by a teammate.
The key is a soft contact surface.
Drills run at Wrap go at speed until contact, when one of the predetermined
sides wins.
Coaches are encouraged to use a quick whistle and keep all players on their feet.
When you go ,Thud, the tempo is competitive with no predetermined winner.
All contact is above the waist and players stay on their feet.
Coaches should use a quick whistle once one of the sides has won.
When teams go live, contact is full-speed, this should mimic a game
and is the only level when it is okay for players to be tackled to the ground.
Now that we're all familiar with the Levels of Contact, let's talk about
how to use them within your drill work and your practice plan.
When teaching new skills it's always best to start at lower levels of contact.
Level zero and level one are the best levels to use when teaching.
Once players have mastered the skills and are confident in their abilities you can move
onto higher levels two and three.
Level four ,live work, should only be used in team situations. We encourage coaches
to use sparingly and only as needed throughout the course of the season.
Thanks for watching coach. We hope this gives you some new tools in your tool box
to plan your practices. If you have specific questions, or would like to see us review
a topic
hit us up on twitter @USAFootball for specific questions #AskAndy
Thanks guys enjoy the day!
