As much as we hate to see it come, summer is coming to an end. The silver lining is football season is rapidly approaching! There’s no better time than now to prepare for the upcoming football season with these football tips for youth and parents..
So parents, grab your drinks and snacks! Youth athletes, grab your helmets and cleats–it’s time for football.
Parents might wonder what they can do to support their children's progress on the football field. After all, you’re their role model, advocate, and support system. So you must ensure you are passionate but patient with your children as they practice and prepare for their football season.
Football Tips For Parents
Positivity Is Essential
Sports are one of the most competitive endeavors on the planet. But youth sports typically take things to a whole new level, especially for parents. It makes sense because your kids are everything to you, and you want nothing more for them but to succeed and flourish. However, your on and off-field demeanor is integral to your children’s performance and progress. So, do everything you can to support and nourish their development.
- Show them love and appreciation, even when they win or lose. Every practice or game is an opportunity to learn.
- Watch their games or practices and cheer them on as often as possible.
- Understand the game. Football is a little more complex than, say, ping-pong. However, it doesn’t take too much time to learn the ins and outs of football.
- Practice and training at home. Your child will appreciate you are supporting and learning the game. You can also offer another perspective.
- Be a positive role model and mentor. Exercise and eat healthily, and encourage your child to do the same.
- Practice good sportsmanship and keep it fun.
- You may want to consider the benefits of
Remember, your son or daughter is a reflection on you. So do everything you can to instill positive energy in them and don’t forget to do the same for yourself.
Spring & Summer Training Makes A Difference
Most successful youth athletes prepare for their given sport in the spring and summer. So getting your kids training and practicing for the upcoming season is vital for their physical and athletic development.
If there are local football camps available, we highly recommend them; this is especially the case if your kids are not already practicing with the team. Otherwise, your son or daughter should train in the gym and practice on the field as often as possible.
Over the years, we’ve seen parents buy VertiMax Platforms and Raptors for their kids to train and practice. Both pieces of equipment provide consistent resistance for superior athletic and sports training for youth athletes. They are safe and highly effective in developing functional strength, speed, passing, running, and vertical jump abilities. So, if you’re not 100% sure what your child should do, using a VertiMax or Raptor is a great place to start.
The VertiMax App also has many football drills and workouts for year round training.
Youth Football Tips
Get To Work
If you’ve gotten this far, you know that your parents want you to succeed. Their involvement in your athletic career is essential, but the real winning and competition are done on the field. So, let’s ensure you’re prepared to sprint, tackle, pass, catch, kick, or all of the above.
Passing
Are you the next Tom Brady? We sure hope so. The quarterback is easily the most pivotal position in all of football. It requires tenacity, agility, quick thinking, and laser-like precision when passing. So, if you’re playing QB this year, ensure you have the footwork and agility to dodge tackles and still unleash touchdown passes.
Check out this youth athlete using VertiMax Raptor to practice passing reaction time (i.e., dodging oncoming defenders) combined with passing.
And this youth athlete practicing footwork with resistance from a VertiMax during practice passing/fakes.
Whether you’re working on throwing mechanics or dodging tackles, VertiMax can add another layer of resistance and progression to your quarterback game. So give it a shot and let us know what you think!
Sprinting
Are you wondering how impactful VertiMax can be for improving your sprinting speed? The faster a player can dominate that space, the more dangerous they will be. Hitting explosive speeds from the start, as well as maintaining those speeds throughout the game, can be the difference between a great player and an exceptional player. Check out some of these articles to learn more.
- Five VertiMax Sprint Workouts For Athletes
- How To Run Faster
- How To Run Faster In Football with 7 Speed Training Drills
Here’s a video of sprint training live in action. Check out that acceleration and deceleration!
Receiving
Catching the ball is equal parts catching and moving (e.g., running, lateral moving). If you watch any professional football receiver practice, you’ll see they spend time on both. The cool thing about VertiMax is that you can use it to improve both catching performance and hand-eye coordination or lateral/forward movement.
Here’s an excellent video of a receiver practicing lateral shuffles while hooked up to a VertiMax. Look how fast he is!
And here’s a receiver video practicing with a VertiMax hooked up to his hands, catching footballs during practice.
The possibilities are truly endless with the VertiMax and Raptor. How creative do you think you could be?
Kicking
Are you a field goal kicker or punter? We didn’t forget about you, and neither did VertiMax. Check out this YouTube video on how you can use VertiMax to improve your kicking and punting mechanics.
Pretty neat, huh?
VertiMax Has All Your Bases Covered
It’s no wonder most professional sports teams across the globe use VertiMax to bring their athletes to the next level. It’s versatile, easy to use, and has endless variations to improve your football game. So, if you’re a parent looking to help their son or daughter excel on the field or a youth ready to hook themselves up to a VertiMax, we have you covered.
Reach out to our team if we can help answer any questions. Otherwise, get to practicing.
If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Parents Info page.
