How to Keep Track of Youth Football Plays

Creating a system for identifying formations

• 1

  Create a shorthand system to describe the play just executed. In football, alignments and plays are run rather quickly, and relying on someone to capture every nuance of the play while writing it out longhand is nearly impossible.

  The system must be simple, perhaps using numbers for identifying pre-snap formations and shifts. For example, the play run was I-formation halfback slam. To break this down shorthand, you'll want to have a number for each alignment, such as 01 for I-formation.

• 2

  Next, you'll want to identify each individual type of play. This is separate from assigning numbers to formations. To avoid confusion, use letters for the plays. Starting with "A," you'll want to letter each run and pass individually ("A" for a HB dive, "B" for an HB slam, etc). If something isn't covered by your system while on the field transcribing it, make a note so it can inserted it into your system at the earliest opportunity.

• 3

  Teach the chart to your assistants. Once you've come up with a shorthand system for each formation and play, you'll want to teach it to an offensive and defensive assistant so they can transcribe each play as it happens. Then review plays with the assistants later and make offensive and defensive improvements.