What to Expect If It's Your First Time Playing Pop Warner Football

If this is your first year playing Pop Warner Football, here is what you can expect. It will not be running around playing catch or playing pick up games during practice. To start you will be doing a lot of running. You have to be in good condition to play football. You will also be doing a lot of agility drills like Back Pedal, High Knees, Carioca, and Calisthenics like Jumping Jacks and Push Ups. Every team does different drills this is just an example of a few basic ones. This will be done before every practice.

Just about all teams do the same things in practice just not in the same order. Each team will run team drills. This will be going over Offense and Defense. You will practice the plays that you will run during games. You will run these plays over and over in order to learn what to do. The Defense will do the same thing.

You also be doing position drills. Depending on what position you will be playing QB, RB, etc. you will be doing drills that will help you get better at playing that position. Again you will be doing those drills over and over again.

There will be times when the coach will do different things from time to time but for the most part practice will be the same each time.

Another thing you need to be prepared for is playing with equipment like Shoulder Pads and a Helmet. You will have to get used to catching with the pads and seeing with your helmet on because it will feel different.

One of the most important things you will have to get used to is the contact. Football is a sport that is played with aggression. Especially when you play at the B (12-14y/o) & A (14-15y/o) level. There are kids on these levels who may have been playing Pop Warner since they were 8 and most are very physical once they get older.

In my 5 years of coaching Pop Warner 1 yr B 4 yrs A, I have seen many 1st year players come in and do very well despite having never play organized football before. A good thing to do is find a camp that is run for kids planning on playing Pop Warner. This way you will get a good idea of organized football