Football is a game enjoyed by people all around the nation. Whether paying in a little league, at school or with friends, it is an enjoyable hobby which, for some, even turns into a career. If you want to better your skills so you can show off on the field, read on.
If you aren’t tough, football is not the game for you. Honestly, if you can’t handle being tackled, you should play tennis or golf or some other non-contact sport. Don’t play the game because your Father wants you to if you really don’t want to get thrown to the ground.
Be sure to make plenty of time to practice your football playing skills. The more time you spend practicing the better your skills will become. As you have likely heard many times in your life, practice makes perfect. If you want to be the best you need to put in the time.
Learning to recognize the opposing team’s formation is an essential defensive tool. Where the receiver lines up can tell you a lot about the play before it is played. Watch other teams play and keep a logbook of their plays.
If you play a receiver position in football, work on the basic fundamentals to the position. Catch the ball with both of your hands, but secure it by holding it close to your body and covering it with your arms. Run towards the end zone, but also keep tacklers to your back. This helps you keep the ball and prevent a fumble.
Don’t be afraid to be intimidating as a football player, because this can really help your game. When opponents think you’re bad and know you’re going to hit them hard, it can change the way they play and cause them to make mistakes. Be known as somebody they really don’t want to face, and you have an advantage before you even show off your real playing ability.
Use interval sprint training to really boost your stamina. Sprint for 30 seconds, then rest for 1 minute. Sprint and rest again. Keep repeating this until you can not physically spring anymore that day. Record your total number of sprints for that day, and aim to beat it by one the next day. Most days you won’t, but you will slowly edge that number up.
If you are just getting started in football training, or are returning after a period of abstinence, stick with exercises that strengthen a wide variety of muscles at the same time. This will give you the overall body strength you need to later progress into isolation exercises for specific strengths.
If you and your team are not doing well during game time, you may need to go back to the basics during practice. Sometimes the simplest plays can seem difficult when you are losing. During practice, take the time to go over the basics and relearn how to do them perfectly.
Remember that your opponent is the enemy, but don’t overdo it. Don’t say hurtful or offensive things to him as a mad person will have a tendency to go overboard. They may end up injuring you on purpose, and you should never hurt them purposefully either, so stay calm.
Prepare your body for the game year round. Even during the off season, you should be paying close attention to your diet and exercise routine. Football is a very physical sport and if you are not in good physical condition, you increase the chance that you will get injured during play.
Many mistakes are made because the player is overheated. Heat causes you to have a mental fog, causing poor decisions to be made. Cooling packs within the helmet are a new innovation that can help this problem. They protect the player from heat, but also help pad your skull more to prevent injuries.
To run down the game clock, make sure that the receivers and running backs on the other team stay within bounds. If you can keep them on the field, the clock won’t be stopped and will instead run out. If your lead is large enough, you don’t have to do this.
If you are trying to run the clock down, keep running. When you’re tackled, the game doesn’t stop so you can waste time. It goes without saying that you need to have first down occur for this to work, but it can be an effective strategy when you do.
Some days, only train one leg during your football workout. You need to make sure that both your legs are strong. When you train both legs, one leg will tend to bear most of the weight, though. So think about doing ‘one leg workout’ days to make sure that both legs are in great shape.
With all of this great information available to you, you should have no problem turning your football skills around. Just practice all you can with these tips in mind and you should be ready for greatness. Whether you play for fun or as a career, you’ll be a better player thanks to reading this article.
