ChiefsCountry
09-22-2004, 03:33 PM
Its about High school football, but it what football comes down to: tackling and blocking.
http://sports.news-leader.com/preps_football/index/0917-Theheartof-181321.html
The Heart of Football
By Kyle Neddenriep
News-Leader Staff
The fundamental skill sometimes abandoned for the crushing hit.
In the PlayStation Age, you can push a button and Ray Lewis will fly toward a ball carrier, knock off his helmet and leave him stunned, writhing in pain on the ground.
Lewis flexes his muscles and points to his adoring home crowd. Sounds a lot like the real National Football League.
In the NFL, the "Big Hit" has replaced fundamental form tackling. In an article in The Sporting News last August it was reported that 22 of 32 teams felt that tackling had declined — or become a lost art — in recent years.
As it often does, the good and bad of the trend-setting NFL can trickle down to the high school level.
"It's probably more of a problem that you'd see in the secondary," said Camdenton coach Bob Shore. "From where they play, it's not uncommon to see them come up and want to make the big hit.
"But you can hardly blame those defensive backs in NFL when you see a guy like (Ahman) Green from Green Bay running at you. You've got to get down and hit him low because he'll run you over."
High school coaches say they stress the fundamentals of tackling from the beginning of two-a-days (contact isn't allowed during the first three days).
The key to teaching the correct way to tackle — especially for veteran coaches — is to assume their players have never suited up before.
"You have to go over the basics right from the beginning," Shore said. "Never assume that anyone knows anything.
"In our first contact practices we put our linebackers three apart and have them go full speed and work on hitting low."
At programs like Camdenton, most of the players in the high school program have been taught tackling fundamentals since they were in grade school.
When Skyline started its football program in 2001, it had just two athletes who had competed in Mighty Mites.
"We had one kid who put his pants on with the laces on his backside," said Skyline co-coach Kevin Shearer. "For almost all of our kids, it was the first time that they'd ever put the pads on.
"We made tackling fundamentals the No. 1 emphasis for our high school and junior high kids."
During the early portion of the season, Aurora sets aside a half-hour per practice for tackling drills.
Houn' Dawgs' senior inside linebacker Dustin Clevenger — who led the team with 99 tackles a year ago — said it's more than just hard hitting that makes a good linebacker.
"The first thing is the angle that you are coming at the runner," Clevenger said. "You want to get your head on the opposite side and drive through him.
"You need to keep your face mask up and act like you are running through him ... keep your feet moving."
Some people are born hitters. For others, becoming a sure tackler is a learned experience.
Kurt Thompson said he's had both in his 16 years as a head coach at Webb City and Kickapoo.
"A guy like Mark Smith (at Webb City from 1989-92) would just punish you when he made a tackle," Thompson said. "It was all instincts for him; we didn't have to tell him one thing.
"There's no doubt that you can make yourself into a good tackler. I'm a firm believer that 90 percent of tackling is making an effort to be in the right place."
The benefits of learning correct form go beyond allowing long touchdown runs.
According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the face or helmet to numbers tackling technique was a direct result in 36 football fatalities in 1968.
Since a rule change in 1976 that made it illegal to make contact with the head while blocking and tackling, the number of catastrophic injuries has dramatically decreased.
"We had parents here worried about the contact and the physical nature of football," Shearer said. "But I really believe that young people really enjoy the whole discipline of football.
"As long as everything is done under supervision and taught correctly, it's a safe sport. There's more of a chance of getting hurt driving home from practice than there is making a tackle at practice."
http://sports.news-leader.com/preps_football/index/0917-Theheartof-181321.html
The Heart of Football
By Kyle Neddenriep
News-Leader Staff
The fundamental skill sometimes abandoned for the crushing hit.
In the PlayStation Age, you can push a button and Ray Lewis will fly toward a ball carrier, knock off his helmet and leave him stunned, writhing in pain on the ground.
Lewis flexes his muscles and points to his adoring home crowd. Sounds a lot like the real National Football League.
In the NFL, the "Big Hit" has replaced fundamental form tackling. In an article in The Sporting News last August it was reported that 22 of 32 teams felt that tackling had declined — or become a lost art — in recent years.
As it often does, the good and bad of the trend-setting NFL can trickle down to the high school level.
"It's probably more of a problem that you'd see in the secondary," said Camdenton coach Bob Shore. "From where they play, it's not uncommon to see them come up and want to make the big hit.
"But you can hardly blame those defensive backs in NFL when you see a guy like (Ahman) Green from Green Bay running at you. You've got to get down and hit him low because he'll run you over."
High school coaches say they stress the fundamentals of tackling from the beginning of two-a-days (contact isn't allowed during the first three days).
The key to teaching the correct way to tackle — especially for veteran coaches — is to assume their players have never suited up before.
"You have to go over the basics right from the beginning," Shore said. "Never assume that anyone knows anything.
"In our first contact practices we put our linebackers three apart and have them go full speed and work on hitting low."
At programs like Camdenton, most of the players in the high school program have been taught tackling fundamentals since they were in grade school.
When Skyline started its football program in 2001, it had just two athletes who had competed in Mighty Mites.
"We had one kid who put his pants on with the laces on his backside," said Skyline co-coach Kevin Shearer. "For almost all of our kids, it was the first time that they'd ever put the pads on.
"We made tackling fundamentals the No. 1 emphasis for our high school and junior high kids."
During the early portion of the season, Aurora sets aside a half-hour per practice for tackling drills.
Houn' Dawgs' senior inside linebacker Dustin Clevenger — who led the team with 99 tackles a year ago — said it's more than just hard hitting that makes a good linebacker.
"The first thing is the angle that you are coming at the runner," Clevenger said. "You want to get your head on the opposite side and drive through him.
"You need to keep your face mask up and act like you are running through him ... keep your feet moving."
Some people are born hitters. For others, becoming a sure tackler is a learned experience.
Kurt Thompson said he's had both in his 16 years as a head coach at Webb City and Kickapoo.
"A guy like Mark Smith (at Webb City from 1989-92) would just punish you when he made a tackle," Thompson said. "It was all instincts for him; we didn't have to tell him one thing.
"There's no doubt that you can make yourself into a good tackler. I'm a firm believer that 90 percent of tackling is making an effort to be in the right place."
The benefits of learning correct form go beyond allowing long touchdown runs.
According to the National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research, the face or helmet to numbers tackling technique was a direct result in 36 football fatalities in 1968.
Since a rule change in 1976 that made it illegal to make contact with the head while blocking and tackling, the number of catastrophic injuries has dramatically decreased.
"We had parents here worried about the contact and the physical nature of football," Shearer said. "But I really believe that young people really enjoy the whole discipline of football.
"As long as everything is done under supervision and taught correctly, it's a safe sport. There's more of a chance of getting hurt driving home from practice than there is making a tackle at practice."