Its Not the Drill

As coaches we're looking for the magic drill that will insure our team's success on the field. It doesn't exist. There is almost limitless sources for drills and all of them I'm sure are good, maybe even great and the temptation is to use every good one we find. We end up with a "next best thing" mentality, where we're just picking and choosing without regard to how it fits in with what we want to accomplish. I have been guilty of this approach and continue to struggle maintaining balance between the "next best thing" and the "tried and true."
Drills certainly can help us be efficient with our teaching, do a good job of breaking down a game skill so that it transfers to the game, or develop good fundamental habits. However, it's not the drill. It is how its used, who uses it, and who is executing it. The drill doesn't teach, the coach does.
How is the drill used? Ask yourself the question "does what I'm having the kids do directly relate to what they will do on the field?" Now I'm sure everybody is saying of course all my drills directly relate to the field. Let me give you an example. How often in a game does a running back have to get up off the ground (from laying on his back, facing the opposite direction he wants to run), turn around, and then avoid a tackle. Some will know the drill of which I speak. Or how about "Bull in the Ring." Don't tell me about teaching toughness either. Better, in my opinion, for teaching tackling, running back techniques, and, yes, even toughness is a rather simple drill. Line up a ball carrier and a tackler one yard apart. On the whistle it's basically play football. There's no restrictions on the running back. Now, do we see these skills in a game: a running back must avoid a tackler or run low into a tackler and keep his feet moving; a tackler must make the tackle in the open field; and both need toughness to achieve their objective. I know its not the "next big thing," but it efficiently teaches and allows coaches to evaluate football related skills.
Who uses it. Basically, I'm talking about the teaching skill of the coach. The best drill taught poorly produces poor results. Conversely, a poor drill ran by a great teacher will produce better than poor results - I won't go so far as to say great results and why would a great teacher use a poor drill? But you get the idea. My point, hone your teaching skills. My main reason for writing here is to reflect on what I do and, hopefully one day, get feedback to improve.
As coaches we can control the drills we use, how we use them, and how well we teach them. I don't like to think about this one, but we can't always control the talent level of the kids executing the drills. I want to think my coaching has some impact on the game, but deep down I know talent level does have an impact on the scoreboard. I don't think it has much to do with how successful a practice, game, or season was. And I REALLY struggle with this one. We all have ego and pride, and that scoreboard is big and it is lit up for all to see. Try to measure success by how much the kids got out of the experience. Did they get the absolute most out of their ability? (This is as much for me as anyone else and if anyone has a really good handle on it PLEASE let me know how you did it)
Don't look for the "next big thing." Stay true to what you want to accomplish and evaluate any potential new drills or concepts by how well they fit with what you want to get done. Then learn to be really good at teaching the drills you do use. And remember, success isn't always reflected on the scoreboard (I'll try to remember that too).