The Case For and Against 7v7 Football and My Current Thinking

Ah....spring ball and the upcoming 7v7 Football tournament season. That chance to get your skill guys and gals out there competing and installing new concepts. What a great opportunity to inject some good coaching and training...or is it?

There is big business in 7v7 Football leagues, teams and tournaments. Almost every high school down South and out West starts spring ball with 7v7 and the cold weather states engage with 7v7 during the summer months. Most teams swear by this but is there really true value in 7v7? Let's explore.

THE CASE FOR 7v7

For 7v7 Football leagues, its a chance to stack a team, coaches make money, and the team competes in regional competitions. Cool and lots of fun. Especially if you win. Coach's can brag about how good their stacked 7v7 team is. Yes, some colleges come out to see super studs, but everyone knows what they are looking at. We will get into that in a minute.

7v7 gives the OC, QB and WR coaches the opportunity to start to install concepts and evaluate their team talent and hopefully coach the finer points and fundamentals of the position and passing concepts. Any chance to run your offense on air is great use of time, especially if you coach the WR's on how the properly run the route, coach the QB how to go through their progressions on that specific play (there is not a one size fits all on reads), etc.

7v7 is a great opportunity to coach up finer points for receivers likes eyes and hands, working the DB's against the receivers also gives them a great chance to dial in and create team competition and team chemistry. All in all, very productive time, training and coaching. Especially, if you can compete against other teams in the spring and film it so you can refine and fix. Plus, it helps to get a sense of your upcoming competition. NO, the opposing teams are not going to show your their secret sauce, but you can get an idea of talent and how your's stands up. Caution, many a coach has competed against an upcoming opponent and assumed they will run similar formations and plays that you saw in spring/summer 7v7. BEWARE! The probably wont and you just made a bad assumption.

THE CASE AGAINST

The case against 7v7? Are you nuts Coach? Hear me out. For all the good things 7v7 offers, there are several determents that must be guarded against. Lets explore.

7v7 does absolutely nothing for timing and pace of your offense. There is not realistic pass rush to build timing of a concept thus creating very bad habits with your QB's. Further, due to a lack of a real pass rush, there is no value for your QB to develop and master their base, footwork and systematic escapes.

Your LB's are relegated to hook to flat drops and DB's in Cover 3. Pop Warner? Come one!

Almost no coach ever incorporates stalk blocking for the WR's in 7v7 unless they are running tunnel screens and even then its half assed. Most egregious is the fact that no coach or RB coach ever coaches up the RB on how to run proper pass schemes. There is in fact an art to running a swing, bubble or leak route, let alone the ever present 7v7 staple... the wheel route. Further, very few coaches EVER coach up the RPO portion or simple hand portion of the hand off in 7v7. It's half assed at best. Yes, there really isn't anyone to fool in 7v7. However, these are wasted coaching opportunities and reps to dial in the finer points. Everyone is looking for the deep ball!

Yes, thats fun and gets people fired up. However, the deep ball is not your go to pass...I HOPE! Most effective teams have an effective blend of short, mid, play action AND deep. But in 7v7 most the passing is the deep ball. Not a good use of time or coaching.

7v7 never focuses on the DB's. They are simply fodder. In fact, I have seen occasions when NONE of the D coaches are at a 7v7. Crazy! Another wasted opportunity to coach up your DB's, assess opponents WR's, etc..

Lastly, for those college coaches that go to the 7v7 tournies? Yes, they may be looking at the stud kid, but they are simply assessing athleticism but are fully aware this is make believe. The stud receiver is not getting his ass kicked at the LOS or tackled play after play, no assessment of mental toughness, poise, football IQ, blocking to the whistle, etc. This is simply showing off your athleticism which is fine just so long as everyone...especially the player, knows whats actually going on.

CONCLUSION

So, is 7v7 worth it? Yeah, it is. The benefits outweigh the negatives AND the negatives can be mitigated with expectations, coaching, focus on fundamentals, good coaches, and looking at it for what it is. A chance to install new concepts, start getting reps, assessing talent and competition, and coaching up fundamentals. Most importantly, this may be your only chance to focus on fundamentals as a coach so don't wast it!

Now, if you are talking about building a stacked team and competing in tournaments? Well, thats for fun, ego and bragging rights and in many cases for the coach to make money....which I am not bashing. It just is what it is. But its not effective for the program or players HS team.

If you use the opportunity to build, focus, set expectations and have a coaching game plan for what you want out of 7v7, it can be very productive and beneficial for the team and coaching staff. HOWEVER, be sure to use the opportunity to COACH and coach the fundamentals and execution. If you can't do it slow and methodically, what makes you think you will be able to do it at game speed against a prepared opponent? Remember the old saying from US military snipers. Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. Master your concepts!

Yes, incorporate 7v7 but do it right. If you do, you will reap the benefits. If its half asses, well...practice like you play and play like you practice.

Coach