football lockdown rules

Soccer blocking rules vary from coach to coach. Basically, the type of offense he runs and the football players he has on his roster will generally determine the blocking rules he uses. My experience with youth soccer lockout is to keep it simple as the sky is the limit when it comes to soccer lockdown rules.

At the younger youth soccer levels, I like to train what I call “Direct Block.” In the direct block system, your players will be taught a shoulder block technique. Basically, they learn to step toward the defender with their near foot, keep their heads on the defender’s playing side, and move the defender away from the running hole, using their shoulder as a point of contact to get their man out of the running lane. . . Now some coaches at the youth soccer level don’t like the shoulder lock for whatever reason, but I have found it to be a simple and effective technique to teach our youth soccer players. Once they get the hang of blocking in practice, the next step would be to teach them how to double teams using the same shoulder blocking technique.

Once they are fundamentally good at the shoulder block technique, we teach them the basic rules of football blocking. Now, the rules are pretty simple to follow and let’s now remember that at the youth soccer level, the simpler the better! Our blocking rules are three words: Inside Gap, On, Over, or for simplicity we call it “Goo” blocking. Now, in Goo blocking, it’s important first and foremost that your offensive linemen know where the ball is going. In other words, which hole are you passing the ball through? Once established, offensive linemen will apply their blocking rules by first knowing where the ball is going and then checking the lineup of the defensive front and applying the football blocking rules relative to where the defense lines up. The offensive lineman is trained in the “goo” blocking scheme to make sure his head is always in the hole. Then, once the huddle play is called, the offensive linemen line up at the line of scrimmage and begin applying the basic blocking rules. First, it checks if a defender is aligned in the “inner space” of it. If there’s a defender in this gap, then that’s your man to block. If there is no defender in that space, then mark the second part of the football blocking rules as “on”. Now, if there’s a defender lined up right above him, in a scrimmage position, then he knows this is his man to block, again keeping in mind to keep his head on the defender’s playing side. If there is no defender “over” him, then it refers to his final rule and is “Over”. Now in “over” the defender would probably be the linebacker. This would be your man to block!

Again, soccer blocking rules are just like any soccer system. That is, they are the personal philosophy of the coach who is implementing them. We all have our own preferences for what the football lockout rules should be and this is just one example.

Health!