Football Running Back Practice Plan for 9 and 10 Year Olds

The two tools that decide youth games: a violent little sideways hop, and eyes that go where the blocker's body isn't.

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Two laps of the yard at a bouncy jog with the ball high and tight, switching arms every ten steps: ball rolls across the chest, never dips below it. Then ten yards of exaggerated high knees with the ball in each arm. You trail behind occasionally swiping; a survived swipe is worth a point, a clean switch under a swipe is worth two.

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Three cones in a line, five yards apart. Runner attacks each cone at three-quarter speed and jump cuts past it: both feet leave, both feet land together one full lane sideways, then immediately north. The landing should be LOUD (both feet together sound like one thump), knees bent, shoulders level. Six runs alternating cut direction. The common fake version is a lean with crossed feet; the loud two-foot landing is the test.

A five-yard-wide lane, you standing in the middle as the tackler. As the runner approaches, you lean or step to one side at the last moment; they jump cut to the other side and burst through. You are allowed a slow-motion reach after the cut (two-hand touch rules). Eight reps. The timing lesson is everything: cut LATE, off the defender's commitment, not at a pre-planned spot.

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You play the blocker, walking backward from the runner into an imaginary defender's spot, and at the last second you turn your body to wall off LEFT or RIGHT (shoulders and hips clearly to one side). The runner presses close behind, reads your body, and bursts off the open hip: always off your backside, never around your face. Ten reps, your direction hidden until late. This is exactly how real backs read pulling linemen and lead blocks, minus the collision.

Cones make a "hole" that you then shade closed as they approach: runner presses straight at the hole at speed (which in a game freezes the defense), then bends off your shade at the last step, one cut, north. Six reps. Pressing before cutting is what separates backs from dodgeball players: the threat of straight-ahead is what makes the cut work.

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A fifteen-yard lane with you (and any recruitable family member) stationed along it, swiping at the ball, two-hand-touch tackling allowed at walking pace. Runner takes a belly handoff, reads your first shade, jump cuts once, switches the ball away from traffic, and FINISHES leaning forward through the last two yards past the end cone. Four runs. A fumble anywhere restarts the count at zero, which is exactly as unfair as football.

Three narrated plays as a drive (you on play-by-play): a read run, a jump-cut run, and a goal-line finish. End on a touchdown and a terrible dance. Joy is a training tool; backs who love the ball hold onto it.

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What to watch today: cutting early. Kids pre-decide the cut and make it three yards before the defender, which works in the yard and dies in games. Every drill here delays the decision until the defender commits; if today produces three genuinely LATE cuts, the session did its job.