Winning the Football Championship

Winning the pop Warner playoff championship while coaching pop warner football is an amazing feat.

Many different things need to go your way if you are fortunate enough to win the title. The truth is the best team does not always win the title, but the squad playing the best in the title game does.

Luck can play a major roll on your title run, especially when it comes down to injuries and turnovers. There is nothing you can do as a coach to prevent a player from getting an injury during the game. If the bad injury happens to the best kids on your team, this will blow your chances at winning it all.

Sometimes the key injury happens before the game is played which does allow you, as the coach, an opportunity to make adjustments. While there is no replacing a key player, there is a chance you can modify your game plan and compensate for his missing the big game.

The other area of concern, while participating in the big game is turnovers. Turning the ball over will kill any hope your squad has of winning a title. I have been involved with a few great, mistake free squads during the basic season, only to watch them blow up during the title game. Most likely, the squad that has the fewest turnovers will win the title.

Of course, there is no substitution for hard work and pre-game preparations, but do not underestimate the roll luck plays when trying to secure a youth football championship.

When practicing for football playoffs try to keep the all of the practice schedules the same as you do all year. There is no need to make the kids get nervous by over emphasizing practices during the title week.

It is a good idea to review, in depth with all the coaches the game plan you are planning to use for the championship game. It is always wise to have a general plan of attack, but I would make sure to have at least one back up plan in case things do not go as you have them planned out.

In conclusion, it is a great accomplishment to win a championship at any sport, on any level, but to accomplish this feat while coaching a youth football team is especially special. A youth football season is a long, grinding and tiresome process that involves 5-7 events per week over a 3 and 1/2 month period.


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Jim Oddo has been coaching youth football, ages 4-14, for over 23 years. Find over 400 FREE tips and great articles on every aspect of youth football at http://footballplaybooks.info. In addition to coaching tips, there is a wealth of information regarding Youth Football Playbooks.