2007 Championship Season

About Me.....
My name is Dana Larson and I have been a youth football coach for two years. I coach the JV Pee Wee 1 team (11-12 year old players) for the Northeast Bandits in St. Petersburg, Florida. I have only coached two years but I have been to the championship game both years in a 20 team division. Last season the team was 9-1 and we scored the most points in the organization. We were also the only team out of eight in the organization to make it to the championship game. I only had two assistants and they were both 18 years old so it doesn't take 30 years of experience to be successful at the youth level.

Why I wrote the Coach's Guide.....
There were two JV Pee Wee teams in our organization last year. My team had a 9-1 record while the other JV Pee Wee team only managed a 2-8 record and they were shutout in all 8 losses. Our team scored 250 points while the other team only scored 18 points. It was the head coach's first year coaching and he was very passionate, knowledgeable about football but the team performed poorly. It was only my second year coaching, first as head coach, my two assistants never coached before, and the talent was distributed equally among the teams. I wondered why one team had performed so well and the other so poorly. I analyzed how I organized and ran my team compared with the other JV Pee Wee team. Comparing the two teams, I identified some critical factors that determine the success of your team. I captured these factors and wrote Youth Football: A Coach's Guide for Success to share with other youth football coaches.

Why I created T Formation Playbook.....
I run the T Formation offense and it is a great offense for the youth level. I could not find a good T Formation playbook so created my own T Formation playbook. When I reviewed various playbooks, the major deficiency I would see is lack of a good blocking scheme. Plays would be shown with no defense or when they had a defense, it was unclear who to block. I would also see complicated blocking schemes and think "you expect an 11 year old player to be able to do that". The playbook I created has very simple blocking rules geared for the youth level. It is easy to teach, players can remember their blocking assignments, and successfully execute the plays. I compiled 46 plays in the Tee Formation Youth Football Playbook which has additional plays and formations that complement the T Formation. More information about T Formation and the playbook is available by clicking on the "T Formation" tab at the top of the page.

My definition of success.....
Most people equate success with the win-loss record. I consider a season a success when my players have a positive experience with football and want to continue playing in the future. Too many youth players have bad experiences and never play football again. The biggest complement I get is players wanting to play with me the next year. If you can do this, the wins will follow.

I hope you have a successful season!