2021 offers some incredible opportunities to expand your football knowledge at virtual clinics and a couple of in person. Here’s what’s in store for the next two months. 1/14-1/17 The clinic season kicks off with the best clinic line-up ever assembled in Lauren’s First & Goal Clinic. With over 150 speakers from the FBS and FCS level, there’s…

Next up for Coach Hatcher on his Video blog was an evening with Coach Russ Hewitt talking about Linebackers, some scheme, some fundamentals, and some flow reads. Coach Simon Hatcher talking Defence with Coach James 'Wilf' Wilford

Coach Hatcher’s second instalment of his Video Blog with GB Men’s Head Coach Jason Scott. Coach Simon Hatcher talking Defence with Coach James 'Wilf' Wilford

Inspired by recent BAFCA online clinic. Coach Simon Hatcher had a Q&A/conversation with Coach Wilford James Wilf specifically on defence. This will hopefully be the first of a series of conversations Coach Hatcher will have on defence with a variety of coaches. Coach Simon Hatcher talking Defence with Coach James 'Wilf' Wilford

With any scheme or elements of it you need to know why you run it and understand what you’re trying to achieve.  Like many teams around the world we run multiple RPOs to stress the defense leverage in particular the perimeter defenders whether they have contain or force responsibilities.  To me the RPO is a…

The most important part of an install schedule is that it needs to be developed in partnership between the Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, Defensive Coordinator and Special Team Coordinator.  Without these conversations and collective vision, the practices through this period will be pointless and coaches will end up having to slow practice down with explanations,…

Defensive Structure – some basics by Neil O’Hare I think the first thing you need to do is have a clear idea of what your base defence will look like. Who do you have on your team? What will your philosophy be in relation to how and where on the field you play aggressively? Under…

TECHNIQUE OVER SCHEME Teaching athletes the principles of contact and tackling properly at a high level is a skill every coach must master. It’s extremely technical and requires a lot of work. There’s no secret it’s physical, but there’s a lot more to it. Use these resources to help create the top-level blockers and defenders…

Pete Laird, July 2020, Edinburgh Napier University This was a longitudinal study from a population of UK based American Football Head Coaches (n=49) who had who had left their posts over three off-seasons covering two competitive seasons. Each coach received a questionnaire based upon a previous methodology developed by Lyle, Allison & Taylor (1997). Head…

We would like to Thank Coach Simon Hatcher for this Great article on Force, Spill and Leverage I hope I can help new coaches in understanding the basic concepts in defending the running game. “If you can’t explain it to a six-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself.” Albert Einstein Terminology I will use is common…