Football Practice Plan Template

This blank template covers the standard football practice structure: timed blocks for warm-up, individual technique, position groups, team offense, team defense, special teams, scrimmage, and conditioning. Write your drills and game plan notes in each row, then tape the printout to the field board or locker room wall. You can also copy the table to your clipboard and paste it into Word, Excel, Google Sheets, or PowerPoint.

A 7-year-old in a flag belt and an 11th grader in full pads need completely different sessions. The table below breaks down practice length, skill focus, game format, and coaching approach for five age brackets from rookie flag through high school varsity. Adjust based on your league rules and roster experience.

Youth Football Practice (Ages 6-10)

At the youngest levels, practice is about movement patterns, not Xs and Os. USA Football's Football Development Model(opens in new tab) recommends starting with modified games (flag or rookie tackle) that scale field size, player count, and contact level to the age group. Teach blocking and tackling form in short, controlled drills before any live contact. Keep each station under 6 minutes. If a drill requires more than one sentence of explanation, it is too complicated for this age.

Middle School Football Practice (Ages 11-14)

Players at this level can handle a real playbook and position-specific responsibilities. The key shift is from teaching movements to teaching decisions: when to pull as a guard, where to fit as a linebacker, which route to sit on as a safety. Practice can run 90 minutes if you move quickly between periods. Add a special teams block at least twice per week. Most youth leagues underinvest in special teams, and that is where games are often decided.

High School Football Practice (Ages 15-18)

High school practice splits roughly into thirds: individual technique, team scheme installation, and competitive periods (scrimmage, situational football, conditioning). Film review before or after practice adds another layer. Map your weekly practice themes across the full season with Striveon's season planning tools. At this level, every rep should look like a game rep. Tempo matters more than volume. Twenty high-quality team reps beat forty where players are walking through assignments.

Ninety minutes is the standard for most youth tackle programs (ages 9-12) and many middle school teams. This plan covers all three phases of the game while keeping each block short enough to hold attention. Grab the image for your clipboard or download it to hand out at your next coaches' meeting.

Getting the Most From 90 Minutes

• Split position groups so linemen and skill players work simultaneously. Two groups, two coaches, double the reps
• Use "on the move" water breaks: players grab water during the transition between blocks instead of a separate 3-minute break
• Script your team offense and defense periods the night before. Write down every play you want to run and the formation. This prevents the "what should we run next?" pause that wastes 2-3 minutes per period
• Rotate special teams focus weekly. Monday: kickoff. Wednesday: punt. Friday: PAT and field goal. Covering all three in one practice cuts into everything else

Two hours is the standard for most high school programs and competitive travel teams. The extra 30 minutes compared to the 90-minute plan go toward a pre-practice film segment, longer team periods, and a dedicated situational scrimmage block. This is the format most coaches search for when they look for a "2 hour football practice plan."

Managing a 2-Hour Practice

• Assign a clock manager. One coach or GA whose only job during practice is to blow the horn when each period ends. Without a clock, individual periods run 3-5 minutes long and the scrimmage gets cut short
• Front-load technique. Players are freshest in the first 45 minutes, so schedule your most technical work (individual and position groups) early. Save conditioning for the end
• Script the scrimmage period. Write down the situations you want to practice (2-minute drill, backed up at your own 5, short yardage) so you do not waste live reps on random scenarios
• Build in one 3-minute water break at the midpoint (after team defense). This is also the natural break to adjust the plan if something ran long

Your practice plan tells you when to work on each phase. The drill library below tells you what to run during those blocks. Choose 3-4 exercises per session from different skill categories and rotate them across the week so players build every area without running the same drill two days in a row.

Matching Drills to Your Age Group

For rookies (6-8), stick to Fit and Drive (with pads or a partner's hands), Pursuit Angles (without contact), and Gauntlet Catch. These teach football fundamentals through controlled reps rather than full-speed collisions. For junior and intermediate players (9-12), add the Hawk Tackle Circuit and 3-Step Drop Rhythm. High school programs can run the full table, including Pull and Kick-Out, Read and React, and the Pocket Movement drill at game speed.

Football practice breaks down differently from other sports because you have three distinct units (offense, defense, special teams) and position groups that need separate coaching. Here is how to make sure every group gets productive reps.

Run Parallel Position Groups

The biggest time waster in football practice is running one drill for the entire team. When 40 players share one station, 35 of them are standing around. Split into position groups with one coach per group. Offensive line works on blocking technique at one end, quarterbacks and receivers work timing routes in the middle, running backs and linebackers work fit drills on the other end. Every player gets constant reps.

Use a Practice Script

Write down every play you want to run in your team offense and team defense periods. Number them. Tell your scout team which play to simulate for each rep. USA Football's Levels of Contact framework(opens in new tab) recommends scripting every period with a defined contact level so that every coach on staff knows exactly what comes next. This removes the 2-3 minutes of dead time between reps where the offensive coordinator decides what to call.

Assign Contact Levels to Every Drill

Not every rep needs to be live contact. Label each period in your practice plan with a contact level: "air" (no defense), "bags" (pads/shields only), "thud" (full speed, wrap up, stay on feet), or "live" (full tackle to the ground). This protects players during the week and saves full-contact reps for your team scrimmage period. Most youth leagues limit live-contact time per week, so planning ahead prevents you from using up your contact minutes on individual drills.

End with Competition, Not Conditioning

Conditioning at the end of practice teaches players to push through fatigue, but it also means the last thing they remember is running sprints. Whenever possible, make your last full-team period a competitive situation: a 2-minute drill, a 4th-and-goal scenario, or a turnover drill where both sides compete for the ball. Save gassers for after the final whistle if you still need conditioning work.

A printed schedule works well for a single session. It becomes harder to manage when you coordinate five position coaches, track what you covered last week, or need to adjust the plan after a rainy Tuesday cancels practice.

When Paper Works

• You coach one team with a small staff (1-2 coaches)
• Your season is short (6-8 games) and the playbook is simple
• You hand-write notes on the field and file them after practice

When Digital Tools Add Value

• You manage multiple position groups with different coaches running each one
• You need every assistant to see the same plan without a group text chain
• You want to track which plays you installed and which still need reps
• You need to connect practice plans to player evaluations and game film notes

For programs that coordinate practice across a full coaching staff, platforms like Striveon connect your session plans to drill libraries, player evaluations, and season calendars in one place. See how Striveon ties football practice planning to athlete development tracking.