What can you learn from a dummy? Well, the only person I've yet corresponded with that thinks "Dum" Coach lives up to his nickname is him. When it comes to turning third stringers into starters, I suggest you carefully pay attention to what he has to say.

Here, Dum Coach talks about building team speed. If you've got that, then you've got a good chance to be successful in youth football.

I think you can learn a lot from a dummy. I know I have.

Coach Wilkins runs the Wing-T offense, and a special version of the "50" defense. His email address is private, but if you wish to contact him, he may be reached at his forum, www.dumcoach.com.

This article is reprinted by permission of Coach Wilkins. The copyright on this article is held by Coach Wade in Coach Wilkins' name. You may only make copies of this article for personal or team use without express written permission of the original author.

~D.

Developing speed requires strengthening the proper muscle groups and using proper motion. I set a series of races for the team to run (Everybody goes at once - It gets pretty wild). The races are 27 yards up, stop, and race 27 yards back.

The first race is the frog race. The kids have to hop like frogs across the line. This is actually the most important of the races and you'll see why the first time you run it. Kids have no "explosion" strength at all. Zero. Zip. Nada. If you develop it, you get a quick start plus good drives out of your offensive line. The one thing you have to watch for is that it is possible to strain a knee in a frog race. So you have to tell kids to drop out if they feel anything in their knees. Those that stick it out (Which is about 95%) you ride hard. After all, it is a race.

The next race is knee highs. The kids high step their 27 yards. In this race, the kid who finishes last is the winner. You want those knees high and small steps. Ride 'em hard.

The next race is "Leaping Gnomes". Here the kids take the longest steps possiible in their stride. Get those feet W-A-Y out in front of them! They should look like they're trying out for ballet.

The next race is backwards. Once they've done that it's time for the real thing - SPRINT! Emphasize pumping of arms and forward lean and run 'em that 27 yards full speed. The first time you run it, the winner will cross the line 7 yards ahead of the loser. After five weeks though, the entire pack will be coming across the line within two yards of each other, and you will be SMOKING other teams on defense. I consistently start with the slowest team in the league and finish with the fastest.

Here's an optional exercise I've seen other coaches use - "buttkickers". As the kids do their 27 yards they have to bring their heels to their buttocks. Hence, the name.

You can use 30 yards. The reason I use 27 yards is that the soccer field we practice on is divided up into 9 yard increments. So my incremental choices were basically 18, 27, or 36 yards (or whatever other 9 yard interval you want to use). I chose 27 over 18 and 36 because 27 yards approximates one half the width of a youth football field. Thus, starting from the middle of the field and chasing a sweep to the outside, my guys have to cover approximately 27 yards and do it fast. So I get them in the habit of running that distance with good control and at top speed all the way. This is why the little 7-8's also have to run 27 yards on everything except frog race. The pros feel that 40 yards of speed is what is necessary in a full grown man. When you reduce that figure to kiddie proportions though, you're again hitting 18-27 yards for the ideal distance range for speed. When we clock our kids for position tryouts, we also use 27 yards to measure their speed (And for the same reason the pros use 40).