Most practice plans include at least some portion of individual or “Indy” work. This means that each unit on the team will go off to a different section of the field and work on specific skills unique to that group. This is an important period, especially if you are able to design drills that are specific to your offensive, defensive and special teams systems.
The concept of “Integrated Indy Drills” is about using some of your practice time to combine certain portions of these groups. This can help to maximize communication and execution between the different units.
Why Integrate?
There are many reasons you might want to allot a portion of your practice time to Integrated Indy Drills. One might be out of necessity. You may not have the luxury of having a dedicated position coach for each unit on the team. This means you will need to come together for a large portion of your Indy time because you simply don’t have enough coaches to stay separate.
On the other hand, even if you do have a large staff, there are still benefits to bringing certain players together from different units during Indy time. There may be a certain “picture” that shows up in your defence, for example, that involves the Defensive Ends and Linebackers working together. If this is the case, you may want to set up a drill that incorporates those players. This is what Integrated Indy Drills are all about.
A Few Examples
The things you will want to accomplish during Integrated Indy Drills will be completely unique to your program. Again it’s about watching film and noticing certain “pictures” that keep repeating over and over again based on your system and how your opponents are attempting to attack you. If a certain look becomes extremely common, it’s time to create and Integrated Indy drill to work that look.
Common groups that would come together for Integrated Indy Drills on Defence:
- Defensive Tackles and Inside Linebackers can often benefit from working together. This is a time to drill the nuances of handling those interior Gaps in the Run Game.
- Defensive Ends and Inside/Outside Linebackers may want to get together to work on defending the edge of the Box. Halfbacks may also be included in this drill work.
- Linebackers and Defensive Backs, especially Halfbacks, often require a lot of communication in the Passing Game. This can be worked on during Integrated Indy Drills.
Complete Integration
Another aspect of this concept is the idea of getting everyone together to work specific football skills that are universal among all of the players on offence, defence or special teams.
An easy example on the defensive side is tackling — a skill that everyone on the field must master. When working tackling with the entire defence, there are a few different approaches you could take. One would be to set up a single drill that everyone works at the same time. During the drill your assistant coaches can spread out and get eyes on different players, and if you have the benefit of filming this drill work to be reviewed later, even better.
Another option would be to get into a tackling “circuit”. This means setting up a few different drills and having the players rotate through them in smaller groups. One added bonus to this is that you could tweak each drill for each unit in order to make it slightly more position-specific.
Again, these are good options to have if you don’t have a large coaching staff to work with.
Final Thoughts
Practice planning and preparation are major components to a successful football season. The simple concept of “Integrated Indy Drills” might help create some efficiencies during those precious minutes of practice time.
Jon Svec
Defensive Coordinator
St. Francis Xavier University
X-Men Football
IG: @jonsvecx
Twitter: @jonsvecx
Jon Svec is the author of the e-book Canadian Football Chalk Talk: Defensive Basics.