The NFL High School Player Development Program addresses many of the issues facing high school football programs in under-serviced communities. The following issues have been identified by a number of professionals, including, urban-based high school coaches, college football recruiters in Divisions I – III, collegiate coaches in Divisions I – III, NFL General Managers and Player Personnel Directors:

• A lack of feeder systems and introduction to the game results in decreased interest in playing high school football.
• Today’s players are deficient in game fundamentals.
• Academics disqualify many football players.

The Player Development Program is a youth tackle football instructional and developmental playing method for high school boys and girls between the ages of 16 and 18. Basic fundamentals such as tackling and blocking are taught and reviewed at every practice. They are best introduced progressively, offering participants to grow and learn at a pace that solidifies their knowledge and understanding of the philosophies taught. For example, fundamentals of form tackling and the six-point progression of blocking are first introduced six inches apart and then slowly separated by distance. This structured and controlled environment enables all players to learn at their comfort level.

All practices are broken into instructional segments. The particular assigned position of the day is taught in an upbeat tempo that holds a player’s interest throughout the entire practice. Every practice ends with a review of skills. To further emphasize skills learned that day, there is a weight-based competition between two adjacent teams that have learned complimentary positions through one-on-one individual competition. The objective of competitive play focuses on the execution of basic skills learned. Participants compete for points awarded by a referee for proper set up and stance, as well as proper execution of a particular skill.

This highly effective method of teaching is broken into twelve stages (practices) with every participant graduating from stages one through twelve over four consecutive days. A full experience and understanding of the game comes as every participant receives a wide range of training in a number of positions coupled with ample time and practice to develop a comfort level at each position.