Friday, 16 October 2009

Swimming Is Fun

Andrew Cunnington.
http://havearicherlife.net

Whether a competitive swimmer or you just swim for fitness, you may have been advised to do exercises designed for your sport. Sports specific training is currently very popular. You may have seen movements that claim to be a swimming exercise. But if it is not an exercise you do in the water, beware! You may be wasting your time. Bicep curls, bench presses and reverse fly's may appear to work the muscles you use for swimming, but not in the same way you will use them in the water. Even some movements in the water may not be helping your sport. Muscles developed for performing one activity, such as the bench press, will not necessarily perform any better when in the water. This is the phenomenon know as state-dependent learning which dictates that in which the retrieval of newly acquired information is possible only if the subject is in the same environment and physical state as during the learning phase.

By far the most effective way to improve you swimming is to ..swim! Attention to how well and efficiently you move in the water is more beneficial than spending time doing a swimming exercise. You need to work on your swimming fitness and this is best done in the water. Your muscles and coordination will develop and condition themselves during the act of swimming without the need for a separate swimming exercise. However, it is important that your action is efficient. It is common for swimmers to try too hard when training for speed resulting in inappropriate actions - ultimately wasted effort. Let's see what Aleksandr Popov, Russian Olympic Swimmer has to say

The water is your friend.....you don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move.

If you think this sounds a little too touchy feely for your swimming style have a look at what Pieter van den Hoogenband said after winning the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics

I was so surprised. Then again, I was so relaxed
in the water, it felt amazing.

When you can learn to move efficiently in the water and use it to work with, amazing things can happen. You don't need a swimming exercise to improve you front-crawl if you can swim in The Zone like van den Hoogenband. How you perform a technique and how much effort you use depends on how you have done it before. The process of repeating a technique many times lays down the pattern at a subconscious level until it can be executed with minimal thought. You may be developing poor movement habits by doing your swimming exercise.

But can you be sure that what you have learnt is the most efficient? Once it's a habit not only is it difficult to change, it's almost impossible to see it for yourself. Time spent on a swimming exercise program with weights can re-enforce the habit of trying too hard. I believe The Zone is a place where you can discard such habits and participating in your sport becomes almost effortless and enjoyable again.

Ian Thorpe Australian Olympic gold medallist said,
People ask me "what was going through your mind in the race?" and I don't know. I try and ...let my body do what it knows
Ian Thorpe Australian Olympic gold medalist.

Thorpe has shown again and again that his body does know what its doing. We can assume, due to his phenomenal success, his learnt movement patterns at a subconscious level are efficient so he can let [his] body do what it knows. Of course this does not prevent him from continuing to learn and develop his skill.

In common with most sports, the top swimmers often attribute some of their best performances to being in a relaxed state. Pieter van den Hoogenband's experience of winning the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medal perhaps shows us how best to perform. When the body is relaxed in the water, or put another way, absent of inappropriate muscular tension, the reflexes that control coordination of the limbs are able to function unimpeded. We share many reflexes with water-bound creatures, in fact one is called the 'amphibian reflex' which aids movements such as swimming, crawling, walking and running.

If you are 'fighting the water' it is possible you will be adding unnecessary tension to your neck and shoulders. The muscles at the base of the skull (sub-occipitals) are the most sensitive in the body and carry messages to the central nervous system to help coordinate movement. If the head is pulled back by excessive tension, caused by your attempt to push harder, it prevents the muscle spindles in the deeper sub-occipital muscles giving feedback on the changing position of the head.

Why should the position of the head be important? Dr David Garlick, the late medical scientist and Alexander teacher explains

The effect of neck muscle inputs [on movement] are comparable in importance to the inputs from the organs of balance in the inner ear (semi-circular or vestibular canals). The head contains the important special sensory organs of sight, hearing, smell and taste. As stimuli act on these senses, the head is turned to detect better a particular stimulus. Any movement of the head is detected with exquisite sensitivity by the neck muscle receptors. The strong inputs from the neck muscles then affect the muscles of the trunk and limbs to prepare the person to respond to the stimulus.

When you next swim or do a swimming exercise see what you want to do with your neck and shoulders. Do you build up tension in anticipation of swimming?

Work on your coordination and develop you fitness in a way directly beneficial to your sport without compromising your health. When you are in the water see if you can maintain an awareness of where your head moves on your spine. Ask yourself, whilst swimming, am I allowing my skull to move from that point (obviously the movement will depend on your stroke) or am I stiffening the neck and twisting unnecessarily. Try to remove some of the effort you are applying and see if you can imagine moving through the water without fighting it. Maintain an awareness of the location of the shoulder and elbow joints; the hip, knee and ankle joints and see if you can keep them free to move.

If you were going to 'cheat' to make it feel easier, what could you do? Experiment and don't be afraid to slow down or do less whilst learning in the water. If you can focus on the efficiency and economy of your movements the speed will come. All this can help to improve your body awareness and ultimately improve your performance with the need to do a swimming exercise

I'll leave the last word to USA swimmer and Olympic medalist, Scott Goldblatt who wrote

Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called 'The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise' and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about his unique approach to training can be found at http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roy_Palmer

Recreational Running

Andrew Cunnington
http://havearicherlife.net
Recreational running as the name suggests is leisure or fun running. Though running has been around for as long as the humans have existed, recreational running has become more common in today's world. Where as some people have made recreational running part of their lifestyles most of them have still yet to get started. Knowing the benefits of recreational running is a vital part in making the decision whether to pursue it or not. Before we look at how to get started with fitness or leisure running, here are some of the main benefits:

• Promotes healthy lifestyle, helps in losing extra body weight

• Reduces life related stresses and brain fatigue

• Refreshes and relaxes the mind hence the whole body

• Improves the general body strength, endurance, power and stamina by building muscle

• Can lead to competitive running sometimes

• Boosts the immunity of the body (most people who engage in recreational running rarely get sick)

• Great form of entertainment

These are just a few of the benefits, but the next question is how can someone with no prior experience start recreational running? Here are some of the helpful tips to help you get started and continue to make it part of your lifestyle:

1. Do your physicals: - Seek medical advice from your physician to make sure that your health status can allow you to pursue recreational running. It is especially important for people who are overweight to consult with their physician to ensure that they are physically able to run or jog without over-stressing their body systems.

2. Find a trainer or coach: - Once you have been cleared by your physician, you need to sit down with your trainer or personal instructor who will advise you accordingly. With the help of your trainer or coach, set some realistic goals. Your trainer can help you decide on the right training shoe and tracksuit. Remember to start slow, it is really tempting to put too much on your plate the first time and not be able to get started. Most people get discouraged early in the process as a result of taking too many steps at one time. One step at a time is all you need and before you know, one step becomes a mile and a mile eventually becomes a couple of miles each day. Your goals should not become an obsession; but rather they should just be motivating factors. Remember recreational running should be fun and entertaining not a job.

3. Join recreational runner friends, groups or clubs: Unlike other recreational sports such as indoor games, fitness running is more challenging physically and mentally. Having other people with similar or same interests around is significant for progress. This is especially important for support when the going becomes more challenging. It is also easier to achieve your goals if you treat recreational running as a social activity, after all you are having fun with friends. If for some reason you can't find others to run or jog with, you can always take your dog for company, he/she will really enjoy doing that and it is great for his/her health too.

4. Participate in fun competitive races: One good goal to include in recreational running is to compete on fun road running. This is a great motivator for both beginners and experienced recreational runners alike. Running or jogging and finishing a 5 K, 10K, half marathon fun race is a wonderful experience that only the competitor is able to explain. There is something special about running with hundreds or thousands of other runners. By this point, recreational running will have become part of your live.

5. Take breaks to recover: I am sure you trainer or coach is knowledgeable enough to include breaks in your training program. The body needs to recover in order for it to make any progress. The principle behind improving your performance in any sport whether recreational or professional is "recovery and adaptation". The simple explanation of this principle is, training stresses the body, but recovery enables it to recover and adapt to the new level of stress. So the more you train the better you become as long as you recover and do everything else right. Ideally, you can rest 1 - 3 days every week depending on your level of training and your goals. It is also significant to take a complete rest once every few months and do something else like swimming, playing tennis or anything else you enjoy doing other than running for fun.

Other key points to take into account for successful recreational running include:

• Eating healthy: always stay on top of healthy balance diet. It will only help your progress if you eat right, you don't have to worry about counting calories.

• Hydrate always: Remember almost 75 percent of our bodies are made up of fluids. It is always healthy to drink as much water as possible. This can be supplemented with sports drinks or 100 percent juices. Avoid drinking carbonated drinks if you can, they only help to dehydrate your body.

• Supplements are vital: Mineral and vitamin supplements are crucial for your body's well being especially when you are involved in recreational sport of any kind.

This is not an exhaustive guide to recreational running but it is a good starting place. There are numerous resources to find more information online. Start recreational running today and enjoy a new fulfilling healthy lifestyle.

Author: Philip Rotich

The author has masters in sports and leisure management. He is a former professional track and field athlete. He is currently pursuing Ph. D program as well coaching and counseling athletes and recreational sports individuals of all ages. For information visit http://www.running-fitness-tips.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Philip_Rotich

Boxing For Beginners

Andrew Cunnington
http://havearicherlife.net

Boxing is a fun sport to get involved in, no matter your age or individual level of fitness. It is a discipline that stays with you long after you've learned it.

The misconception about boxing is that it is all about aggression, but that just isn't true. Boxing, like other martial arts, is about self control and being disciplined more than anything else, and while a certain amount of aggression can potentially be useful at any level of boxing, it is not necessary.

Proper boxing equipment is paramount in any boxing program. Compared to most other sports however, boxing equipment is relatively inexpensive, and can be very rewarding both mentally and physically. Rubber mouthpieces are an essential piece of boxing equipment for all boxers. They are a good investment and they're inexpensive. Furthermore, it will save you the hassle of the dental work which may be required when no mouthpiece is used. Wearing a mouthpiece will eliminate practically all teeth injuries and mouth lacerations which are caused by the lip coming in contact with an irregular tooth. Many boxers find it beneficial to secure a mouthpiece made from an actual impression even though it's a bit more expensive.

If you plan on entering into competition, headgear is a wise investment. "Competitive headgear" is lighter weight than the headgear used in training, but affords the same amount of protection to the eyes and ears. It includes extra padding at the base of the skull as protection against occasions when the boxer hits their head on the canvas as they fall. The minimum boxing equipment used in sparring is headgear, mouthpieces, and protective cups. If a mouthpiece slips out, or headgear becomes improperly adjusted, time should be taken to replace the mouthpiece or to properly adjust the headgear. Pay proper attention to all boxing equipment to help reduce the number of accidents

Boxers need stamina. By consistently heightening the intensity of training, as fitness allows, the body become accommodated with harder fitness routines which leads to increased stamina. Once the fitness routine is developed, time can be taken to improve specific techniques and skills. Physical and more importantly mental tolerances play a role in all boxers. If an individual has low motivation and low tolerance for physical exercise they won't get far. Therefore it makes sense to do some mental conditioning as well as physical. Training with more experienced boxers is a great way to learn from example and keep your goal right in front of you. Keep in mind though they are much more experienced so go at your own pace, not theirs.

During practice and training there are 3 general things to keep in mind:

1. Take Your Time:Your mind and body need time to adjust to the extra physical and mental stress its enduring. Instead of pushing an extra minute or going for ten more reps try half a minute and five more reps. This way you're intensifying the workout but not burning yourself out. One of the best lessons boxing can teach is patience.

2. Physical Training is a Must: There's no way around it you have to train. If you don't have the stamina to go the extra championship rounds you won't have the energy to focus on taking the guy across the ring down. It's important not only to build skills during training, but to use these skills during rounds. If you aren't focused on being winded in the last rounds then you can allow the techniques developed during training to shine.

3. Technique before Power: Don't focus purely on developing power. Power will come with the execution of proper technique. Before you learn to land a one-punch knock out, you have to perfect movement, timing, distance, balance and most importantly momentum of movement when punching. If you focus only on the one-hit KO, you will lose the match before it has even begun. Remember-Technique Before Power.

Psychological endurance coupled with physical stamina and technique are the components of a well rounded boxer. Once you have found out what training routine works for you, you can play with it and specialize it to your specific needs. This will help build endurance and land those punches when it counts.

For more useful boxing info visit http://jsboxingcorner.blogspot.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dante_LaDell

Histoy Of Boxing

Andrew Cunnington.
http://havearicherlife.net

The specific origins boxing are not known, but evidence can be found dating back to 1500 BC on the Greek island of Crete, Homer mentions a type of boxing in one of his many poems about a two-person fight in the Iliad around 1800 BC, and Plato describes boxing in two articles " The Republic " and " The Dialogue Gorgias".

In ancient Greece and Rome, it was quite normal for boxing, wrestling and weaponry to make up part of a young man's education. The Romans turned boxing into a more brutal sport by making the event into a gladiatorial competition. During this era, boxers covered their arms and hands with leather thongs called "cestus". The forerunner of today's' boxing gloves.

Modern day boxing can be traced back to the 1904 St Louis USA Olympics, when the USA won 7 gold medals, before 1904 boxing was considered to dangerous, the 1908 Olympics was the first time for the sport in the UK with England winning 5 gold medals.

UK Boxing History: First Heavyweight Champ First Boxing Gloves First Rules

Boxing events declined and finally disappeared during the fall of the Roman Empire around 5th century AD and was not revived until 1660 by English monarchy. The first printed record of a staged boxing match appeared in a newspaper in 1681. The most notable icon of boxing history during this era is James Figg - who become the first British heavyweight champion of 1719. He was also the pioneer of "sparring exhibitions" and founded numerous amphitheaters for boxing.

James Figg died around 1740 but left behind his favorite pupil named George Taylor who later became the successor of Figg's title. However, it was in 1734 that a man named Jack Broughton completely revolutionized the sport by formulating the first codes of the game known as the "London Prize Ring Rules of 1743" and inventing the first boxing gloves.

Jack Broughton is known in boxing history as the "Father of Boxing Rules". He formulated the rule that no fighter can hit below the waist or while his opponent is down, which ensured that no more fatalities during bouts would occur. These first rules of boxing remained the standard regulations until it was revised in 1838.

Revised Rules And Boxing History Worldwide

Jack Broughton London Prize Ring Rules of 1743 had an update in 1838 to include additional rules to protect boxers, these included rules for bordering of ropes to 24-foot-square rings. And rules covering knocked downs, a boxer has to rise without anyone's help within 30 seconds for the fight to continue. The new rules also forbid head butting, biting and "hitting below the belt" which would now be classed as fouls.

During the early 19th century, the influence of religious movements and reforms as well as the rise of the middle class gave a negative effect on how people approved of boxing. As a result, various laws against boxing were passed and law enforcements began stopping bouts. The judge prosecutes all people who were involved with prizefights.

Due to the restrictions enforced over boxers in the United Kingdom, many British boxers immigrated to the United States to find a new place to defend their titles. From the immigrants' influence, boxing history in the United States dramatically became popular when an English boxer was set to fight an American boxer.

The first heavyweight world championships took place on April 17 of 1860 at the Farnborough, England. The match was between the British champion Tom Sayers and a popular American boxer known as John Camel Heenan. The fight lasted for 120 minutes of continuous action, but paused in the 37th round when the crowd rushed forward into the ring. After another five rounds of bashing, the world championship ended with a draw - each fighter receiving a championship belt for world title.

As the first international championship gave the audiences an exhilarating experience, many boxers from UK, USA and other parts of the world continued to make front-page news accumulating more and more boxing fans. Today, boxing history includes more than 100 title-holders and record breakers that will remain legends for the generations to come. many if not all learned the basic skills as amateur boxers.

For the latest boxing news, events from the UK four nations amateur boxing clubs plus a free newsletter visit the Amateur Boxing Forum's website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Hogan

Improve Your Golf Swing

I'm sure by now you've heard most of the professional players; both men and women actively participate in golf workouts. It's no secret. But why then do most amateur golfers ignore this? Is it because it seems like work? Or, does the thought of actually breaking a sweat get you tired already?

Vijay Singh Does Golf Workouts

Either way...the proof is in the bag. The number one player in the world, Vijay Singh, does his golf workouts all the way through Sunday of each tournament. Does it look like it's hurting his game? I don't think so. Back in 1997, a young, very athletic golfer came on the professional scene and blew everyone away. I think you know who I'm talking about.

Tiger Woods Golf Workout Routine

Tiger took golf to another level. A real eye-opener for the veteran players who were hitting the 19th hole after every round...and the last thought on their mind was "exercise". What a wake-up call to be totally dominated by a player who was only 20 years old at the time.

Annika Sorenstam Credits Her Golf Exercises

How about the year Annika Sorenstam shot a 59 and totally dominated the LPGA? Do you know what she attributes it to? Golf workouts! She hired a trainer and got serious about her fitness. And look what happened? She hasn't looked back since. She just recently came out with an instruction book and devoted a chapter to golf workouts.

To my recollection, that's the first women's instruction book to include golf workouts. Working out to playing better golf isn't just for the guys; Annika has proved that. Now more LPGA players are working out to try and catch her, just like the guys did with Tiger.

Senior Golfers Now Do Golf Fitness Programs

How about the senior tour? Now players are realizing they can still make good money, even after they've turned 50 and can't really compete with the young guys anymore. With the money at stake, they too are all working out. This group of players both amateur and pro is the biggest demographic that needs it the most.

With age comes a decline in both flexibility and strength. When the body declines, the swing goes right along with it. The result is a big loss in yardage, more mishits, and ballooning scores. The end result...frustration! I can't tell you how many times I've played with and received phone calls from older golfers who are just about ready to quit the game.

They are SO frustrated at this rapid decline, that golf's not fun anymore. But there is hope. The answer? Get your body moving just a little better. How? By participating in workouts for golf program that focuses on golf-specific strength AND flexibility. It's amazing to see golfers in this age bracket dramatically improve their driving distance, accuracy and scores.

You don't have to accept that with age, your body declines. No way! You've got to fight it all the way! I'm dead serious. The ones who do, are the ones who are enjoying the game again and taking all the money in their foursome.

What Is A Golf Workout

What is a golf workout anyways? Is there such a thing? You bet there is. The golf swing is an awkward movement that puts a tremendous amount of stress on the body. To prevent injury and improve swing speed and distance requires your body to be both strong and flexible specific to the swing.

I could spend dozens of pages describing what this entails, but for the sake of this concise article, let's keep it simple.

Golf Is Rotational

The golf swing is a rotational movement, with your body in golf posture. Slight flex of the knees and a bending forward at the hips. Since the golf swing is primarily rotational, wouldn't it make sense to focus on rotational strength and flexibility? That is improving your turning ability related to range of motion and speed.

So anything involving twisting with resistance such as a medicine ball, a dumbbell, or even a weighted club would work. You need to have a resistance to take your body beyond where it normally goes.

For instance, if you took a club and placed it behind your neck, got in your golf posture and rotated back and forth; do you think that by itself would improve your range of motion or power?

Use A Weighted Golf Club

No, you need to add resistance to accomplish this. Take a weighted club and make golf swings. Now you'll be making a bigger turn AND improving your power. Same thing with a medicine ball. Make turns back and through holding a 4 to 6 pound ball and you'll see a BIG improvement.

In fact, most of your abdominal work should be rotational. Doing straight crunches won't improve your driving distance. Doing rotational movements with added weight will. This is where I could go on and on, but I won't overload you.

Golf Workouts Will Transform Your Golf Swing

I hope I've convinced you to take a real serious look at what all the other successful professional players are doing to stay at the top of their game. Doing golf workouts can and will dramatically change your game forever. Now get out there and get it started. No procrastinating. Do it right now!

Do you want to discover the secret to creating more power and consistency in your golf swing... and eliminating ALL your swing faults?

Download this: performbettergolf.com/free-golf-ebook.html

Mike Pedersen helps golfers' improve their golf swing power, consistency and golf swing faults by addressing the physical limitations in their golf swing.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mike_Pedersen

Improve Your Youth Football Team

Playing “Up” to Improve Your Youth Football Team:

Do you have a “bully” team in your youth football league or a year end playoff?

Playing “Up” an age level or classification in a controlled scrimmage may be what your youth football team needs to gain an edge in these games.In 2002 I had an age 8-10 “B” team that was running the Single Wing Offense for the first time. We had the youngest and smallest team in our division, but slowly and surely we developed into a very dominant team. By mid season surprisingly, we were naming the score in about every game. Our kids got pretty confident as did our parents and coaches. Unfortunately the schedule for our youth football league had us playing the two weakest teams in our last 2 games. In the last game to wrap up a League Title and undefeated season, we had a 5 TD lead at the half.

During the 2 weeks leading up to our last games our football team made little progress. It was evident that based on comparative scores it was going to take a miracle for us not to win the league title. In the football practices leading up to this game, our players were not running out our football plays well, our fakes weren’t going 20 yards downfield, our wedge plays weren’t as tight as usual, even our warmups and breaks weren’t as crisp as normal. The only thing the kids seemed to be fired up about was trophies, the pizza party immediately following our last game and the new trick football plays we put in.

At seasons end, we were able to locate another team of similar abilities to play in an extra “Bowl” game. This other team had played a few of the same teams we had played in the regular season and our comparative scores were about the same. Our kids came into the game very confident and were a bit surprised when our first drive got stopped on the opponent’s 6 yard line, as we had scored on every opening drive that season. To make a long story short, we lost 46-6. Our kids never gave up, they played hard, but not crisp or well. In our teams defense, as coaches we had yet to devise the various adjustments we use that are detailed in chapter 13 of the book. But what our youth football team suffered from had little to do with adjustments to a few youth football plays.

Our team needed a challenge, a goal, a close game and adversity. Coaching youth football well means you have to supply some of these on your own, if these things are not being readily supplied by your schedule and the opposition.

In 2003 I coached a different team, a “Select” team that was very talented. Much different than the 2002 team, this group of 9-10 year olds ( 90% 10s) saw us with 5 players over 180 pounds and all but one could move very well. I got to choose from about 150 kids to put together this team. We had it all, size, speed and a good pass/catch combination. This was my most difficult coaching job ever, as many of the kids could get by on natural ability rather than using proper technique. It was a real chore holding them accountable to perfect technique when their own way often yielded positive results. As the season unfolded we were naming the score in every game and just dominating the games. We could have won every league game by 50 points and our first team defense had just 1 TDs scored on it all season. I was not going to let what happened in 2002 happen to this team.

To make sure the problem from 2002 didn’t rear its ugly head on this team, I scheduled several controlled scrimmages against age 11-12 youth football teams in mid season to keep our kids focused. Our football team learned that they had to be perfect with their technique and with our schemes in order to compete with these older teams. We even went so far as to schedule extra games verses age 11-12 teams that had byes in an Iowa league across the river from us. At the end of our regular season, we played the league champion of this league under the lights at a big college stadium, the big time. They lead early on us, but we fought back and ended up dominating the game, but won by just 2 touchdowns.

The net result is we continued to improve all season because we knew we had very tough scrimmages and exrtra games schedueld along the way. We knew we had a real tough game at seasons end to look forward to. Rather than just blowing out every similar aged team in our league, the challenge of playing older teams made this team much better. Our kids were on a mission to do what no one but them and us coaches thought they could do. It made them better players and gave them a great sense of accomplishment. As to our regular league rivals, the games against them were a cake walk compared to the games and scrimmages against the 11-12 year old teams we played. We won our league championship game 46-12 after leading 46-0 in the third quarter. We all agreed it was better to play an older tough team and lose than have an undefeated season with few challenges. We really are believers in, even with my rural team of playing anyone, anytime, any place (within reasonable traveling distance).

I would suggest you temper it a bit depending on the makeup of your team. If you decide to scrimmage older teams there may be smaller and weaker kids from your team that might just work on their own during the scrimmage, getting some much needed remedial coaching. If you are a “B” or rookie team, scrimmage up a classification. Another way to get some of this accomplished is to just borrow a dominant player or two from an older team for a portion of your practice. If you have an older “sister” team, borrow a stud player or two and put them on a scout team defensive line, This will give your offensive linemen a test that even if they have modest success, will show them they can compete against much better competition than they will ever face. Be reasonable and sound in determining the level of play your kids can handle and march the kids right up to the edge of that. If you do this and play that "Beast" team, you will have prepared your kids to meet the challenge and that's being a good youth football coach.

In 2005 my rural age 8-10 kids (24 kids, no cuts or selects) played an extra game the second week of the season against a huge and fast inner city “Select” team from Omaha that chose from over 120 kids and had won 3 consecutive league titles in their “Select” league. They had 5 kids over 150 pounds while we had just 1 and from there we may have had maybe one more kid over 100 lbs.

We surprised everyone by winning big, with a 4 touchdown lead at the half. The rest of the season was really a breeze after playing up like that. Our kids had an incredible amount of confidence after that game, beating the "Monsters of the Midway." Even if we had lost that game and played well, I would have expected the same end result. I thought because of our system and tactics we had a chance to win, but competing would have served the same end purpose.

That surprising win really launched our rural program and got us some respect and much needed confidence. Now we have a new problem, we can’t get anyone to play us in non-league games. Getting soundly trounced by a bunch of scrawny farm boys with a throwback offense I guess is too much for some guys to handle, go figure.

In 2006 my rural age 8-10 teams suffered the same fate as my 2002 Omaha squad. My 2006 team won big in our league games, scoring 3 touchdowns in the first quarter of 9 games. Unfortunately we had the two worst teams in the division as our last 2 opponents and they didn't give our team much of a game. I had set up a scrimmage against a very big and fast "Select" team from Lincoln in August that we did very well in. I guess we played too well, in fact (4 TDs to none) they ended up not following through with the promised real game we were supposed to have later in the year.

I guess those are problems most youth football teams would like to have, but it makes it difficult just the same. We lost in OT in the playoffs in 2006 to the eventual Super Bowl champs in a well played youth football game with excellent opposing coaches. Playing and scrimmaging better teams may have helped us avoid that loss and in the future we will have to figure out creative ways to artificially create situations were our kids have to compete. Hats off to our opponnent, they played great and deserved the win, but we will try not to make those same mistakes again.
That's what coaching youth football is all about.

For more youth football coaching tips please sign up for the free newsletter at Youth Football Plays

Dave Cisar-With over 15 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach, Dave has developed a detailed systematic approach to developing youth players and teams that has enabled his personal teams to win 97% of their games in 5 Different Leagues.

Dave is a trainer of youth football coaches nationwide. He has a passion for developing youth coaches so they can in turn develop teams that are competitive and well organized, while having fun and retaining players. His book “Winning Youth Football a Step by Step Plan” was endorsed by Tom Osborne and Dave Rimington. His DVDs and book have been used by teams nationwide to run integrity based programs that win championships. His web site is Football Coaching

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Cisar

Meet Andrew Cunnington

Hello World.
This will be my first post on this blog.
It will give you an incite to Andrew Cunnington, What i do, My family life, Some pictures of my family & What my interests are. I hope you enjoy keeping in touch with me. I will always post things i find of interest on here. Some you may like, some you may not. But that's why this world is so great. People have different views. It will have some business content, hobby content and other content i feel appropriate to this blog.
So About me.
I live in Birmingham England. I love the UK. Traveled all over the world , and i find.. Theirs no place like home.
I have been married for 12 years now to Lucie. We have two wonderful children,
Joshua (8) & Emily (5).

I love all types of sport. I am a keen internet marketer. I only have one main business within the industry. I spent a lot of time researching the right one for me, and guess what - I found it. You will see links to my page so if you'd like to know more about what i do, feel free to check it out. I thank you so much for looking at this blog. I realise your time is precious and i really appreciate it. Look forward to getting to know more about you guys/gals too.

Andrew Cunnington
http://havearicherlife.net