Football is one of America’s passions for good reason. Many people enjoy playing the game just for the sheer fun of it, while other strive to be the best player they can be. Ultimately there are people who become professional players. But no matter your reason for playing, here are some tips to help you improve your game.
Practice kicking, even if you are not the kicker. Although kicking might not seem that it is a big part of football, it still can play an important role during the game. Many players that step onto the football field don’t bother putting in enough time practicing their kicking. This causes issues.
Don’t concern yourself over your weight immediately. You may think that you need to gain a ton of weight to be a great football player, but really all you are doing is becoming fat and slow. More important is your conditioning. You want to be able to perform with the weight on you, so consider adding weight on slowly and with a good fitness plan.
Does your kicker know the proper placement of the plant foot? The plant foot must be placed alongside the football. It should not be ahead of it or behind it. When the ball is kicked, the show must be parallel to the field. Practice often to perfect kicking technique.
Get your roll down. Everyone on a football team has a role to perform. Don’t be the one person who doesn’t understand that. If you don’t follow through with your role, you’ll be letting your team down. As this is a team sport, it’ll also likely lead to a loss.
Use ladder drills to improve agility and coordination. Your training should include them. Draw a ladder on the ground with chalk, then step in and then out of the squares from the bottom to the top. Watch online videos to make sure you are using the technique correctly, and watch how the professions players use this method to train.
A great tip you can use if you’re a football player is to start practicing olympic lifts in your workout routine. Olympic lifts give you a lot of functional strength which will help you a lot in any position you play. Particularly useful lifts are the power clean and deadlift.
Have an indoor exercise regimen that you can do anytime. Include push-ups, sit-ups and anything else you do to work on stamina anytime. This will let you get some physical activity every morning and evening. It also makes for a good backup plan to workout when the weather outside is unfriendly or you do not have access to a field or weight room.
A good football tip is to make sure you have the appropriate gear on when playing. If you find yourself getting hit a lot, or hitting players often, it may be a good idea to invest in a mouth guard. A mouth guard will prevent you from messing up the inside of your mouth.
Turn your football lifestyle in a permanent fixture. You should eat right, work on your cardio and strength, and even work on speed and agility all year round. It shouldn’t stop when you stop playing football competitively as a healthy body will carry you through a long, happy life.
The best attribute a player can have is speed. That means that bigger players aren’t always better. If you are working on creating more muscle mass, also work hard to build your speed and agility. If you can be fast and large, you can really lead your team to wins.
Flexibility is just as important to a football player as body mass and speed. Don’t limit stretching to the few minutes prior to practice or games. Instead, make stretching an integral part of everyday activities. Focus on your back, hamstrings, glutes and hips. Even if you only have five minutes, take advantage of them.
Dedicate yourself to success. Dedicate yourself to your team. Dedicate yourself to your schedule and regimen, too. The more dedicated you are when it comes to football, the greater your success will be. Passion is nothing if you aren’t dedicated to doing all you can to better your game as well.
Football is a competitive sport that is often compared to fighting a battle in a war. Obviously you aren’t trying to kill your opponent, rather you are trying to devise a strategy and game plan to score more points than them. Coaches must come up with new tactics and devise a scheme that throws off the other team, all while you try to stop them, too.
It is important that you set goals when it comes to your game. Set daily goals such as working out every single day. Set weekly goals for your stamina or strength. Then set long-term goals for your game play and how great your strategies turn out on the field.
Hit the gym as much as you can. Building muscle will make you stronger, and in that way you can be a more powerful football player. You might even want to consult a personal trainer to find out which exercises are best to bulk you up for your football games.
Always keep the head up when tackling another player. This will keep you from smashing another player with your helmet. This is called spearing. Spearing is always against the rules, as it can cause concussion and neck injuries.
Overheating is to blame for a lot of mistakes that players make in important games. Heat exhaustion causes players to have reduced mental capacity and their ability to make good decisions is hurt. Gel-filled cooling packs placed in your helmet can keep your cool. They improve the issue of heat exposure and also limit head injury impact.
As you can see, there is much to learn about football and how to be a better player. The key to being a great player has as much to do with physical skills as it does with your attitude on and off the field. Use the tips from above to become a better all around player on the field.
