Transfer of Skills in Youth Football

As a youth football coach your job gets easier as the number of players participating in organized sports increases. Participation in any kind of organized sport teaches your players about listening to coaches, dealing with other teammates, competing, working towards a goal, attending practice, sportsmanship,time management and teamwork. There are always hurdles to overcome for the first time organized sports player that other players that have played do not have to deal with.

I'm a strong supporter of involving youth in a variety of sports at a young age and letting them figure out which one they like best. Specializing at a young age may exclude the player from a sport they may love or excel at in favor of one they may grow out of.

Certain sports seem to prepare the youth football player a bit better for football than others. Again, I'm not suggesting you favor these sports over others; this is just an observation over 15 years of coaching football as to which sports seem to have the best transfer of skills over to youth football.

From Best to Worst:

1) Wrestling; By Far #1, Wrestlers understand leverage and physical contact. They are involved in a sport that requires tremendous physical endurance, so the practices they attend are grueling. Wrestlers are usually very good tacklers and are easy to teach. They are usually "tough" and compared to a wrestling practice, our practices are a breeze.
2) Hockey
3) Lacrosse
4) Track
5) Martial Arts
6) Basketball
7) Baseball

So if you are out recruiting football players, you may want to start with your local youth wrestling program, then work your way down the list. It is very rare that you will find a wrestler, hockey or lacrosse player that will not excel in football.

This doesn't mean you can't find a skateboarder, swimmer, gymnast or BMX racer that could make a good football player, it's just we rarely see them try to play.

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