Teaching Inflexible Players a proper 3 PT Stance

[sandyf]

Hello,

I am fairly new to coaching.   I am coaching 10-12 year old kids up in Canada.  For a lot of our players it is the first time they are playing an organized sport.  I was trying teach 2 new players the 3 PT stance for the Offensive Line (I am trying to follow the Player Progression Development Model from USA Football as much as I can).  Both players were very inflexible and I could not get them into a proper stance.  One player once his had hit the ground his right leg moved back so he looked like a runner.  The other player was had totally lopsided shoulders which I couldn't straighten out.  Both players look fairly solid looking (not heavy set).  Oddly enough our new to football heavy set lineman had no problems with the 3 PT stance.

Any suggestions/tricks on how to get inflexible players into a proper 3 Point stance?

[bobgoodman]

I see this problem all the time. The problem is not one of flexibility; these kids could twist themselves into a pretzel if they wanted to. The problem is one of understanding. They don't get what it's all about, so when you correct one thing wrong with their stance, they compensate by screwing up something else -- moving their feet too far apart, becoming bow-legged, staggering them ridiculously, winding up with shoulders lower than hips, etc.

Sometimes it's better if you sneak up on them, so they don't realize you're teaching them a stance. I ask them to stand, then squat, then slowly tilt forward just until they need a hand on the ground to keep from falling over. They'll put that hand down voluntarily to keep that from happening.

[Chris Clement]

A 4-pt stance does wonders for the lopsided shoulder thing, and is a much easier teaching progression from the 2-pt.