How to Tackle in Pop Warner Football

As a Pop Warner football coach, you need to understand that skills like tackling translate into other parts of a child's life. The discipline and attention to detail that is needed to tackle effectively can be used in school and other extracurricular activities. The key to teaching Pop Warner football players how to tackle is repetition of each step in the process.

Things You'll Need

  • Tackling dummies
  • Whistle
  • Orange cones
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Instructions

  1. Learn Sound Tackling Technique in Pop Warner Football

    • 1

      Avoid injuries and physical fatigue by utilizing tackling dummies in your early practices. Retailers like Football America sell inexpensive dummies that provide a good tackling target for your players.

    • 2

      Prepare your players for good tackling by teaching them the proper body position. A tackler should keep his feet lined up underneath his shoulders to avoid over-pursuit. Your players should also focus on keeping their feet parallel to the line of scrimmage until their assigned player gets the ball.

    • 3

      Give defenders on your team more power with each tackle by encouraging them to keep their legs flexed. A tackler who is straight-legged and flat-footed does not get the burst he needs to drive through a ball carrier.

    • 4

      Focus your players' attention on a ball carrier's jersey number to give them a target for their shoulders. Tacklers need to keep their eye on the center of an opponent's uniform so that their body gets the lead it needs to finish off a tackle.

    • 5

      Promote safety among every player on your team by teaching them to slide their helmet across an opponent's chest, not through it. Many players have received concussions or spinal injuries by leading with their heads instead of their shoulders. A good indicator of a safe tackle is contact between the side of a ball carrier and the shoulder of a tackler.

    • 6

      Push your players to wrap their arms on every tackle during practice to prepare for game action. Young tacklers are not strong enough to knock down a ball carrier with the force of their shoulders. A solid tackle is indicated by locked wrists and arms wrapped around a player's waist to stop momentum.