The High Toss Football Catch

High passes happen, and as a receiver you need to be ready for something unexpected. As such you need to practice the high passes so that you know to react, here are some basics: The first and most important is that you extend your arms and keep your hands together in a diamond type shape to catch that football. Never catch or try to catch a ball with your body, especially a high ball. Important Tip: never, ever, under any circumstances, for any reason, take your eyes off the ball; even after you have caught it watch the ball until you know that it is safely in your grips. If you are taking your eyes off for any reason you will lose focus and have a greater chance to miss the pass, or worse, fumble the football.

Angle tackling

It is a great idea to practice angle tackles with your defense because not all tackles are made with the opponent right in front of you. Accomplish this drill in pairs, having one teammate act as the offense, or ball carrier, running in a straight line and the other as the defender coming in at any angle. It is great to take this in slow steps to show the defender in a fluid motion how to the quickest angle to take towards the ball carrier, plant his cleats squarely in the middle of the ball carrier, and to always remember safety and effectiveness by placing the head in front of the offensive player. A good tackle is now executed as the defender lunges at the opponent wrapping his arms around his opponent grabbing cloth and completing the tackle by pulling him down or pushing him off sides.

Conditioning: Five dot jump

Strength and reaction time is what makes a great football athlete. The intent of this drill is to increase accuracy, timing, and speed. In order to execute the drill you will need a place with five dots, either marked on the grass or on a mat, forming an x shape much like the dots for the number five side of dice.

This drill begins with the player starting on two of the outer dots and jumps feet together to the middle dot and then out again to the edge dots separating their feet. Next the player will jump touching each dot with on leg only, and then switch using the other leg. The next step is jumping on all five dots with both feet together. The last step is the same as the first hop scotch method but this time when the player reaches the other side they will turn around on the two dots. Because this drill is intended for accuracy and speed, it is recommended that players start out slow and deliberate and then speed up to their maximum time.

Basics to football hand offs
Whether you are a quarterback, running back, or a player that at anytime will receive a hand off you need to realize the basics of a great hand off. Lets look at a simple hand off between a quarterback and a running back to point out the fundamentals of this skill. The running back starts the hand off running towards the quarterback with his arms open creating a pocket for the quarterback to slide the football right into the running backs chest. When the running back receives the football he clamps down both arms hard on the football to protect it. Now that the running back has the ball when he leaves the quarterback he should remain low to the ground in order to react quickly on the field.