When young athletes first become part of contact sports, there often is the challenge in learning how to engage in competitive and correct contact. It’s a natural fear. Kids can see that as scary, especially if they are smaller or less aggressive than their teammates.

This is a normal developmental process as children learn to determine what is good contact compared to bad contact – good, strong tackles blocks as opposed to aggressive behaviors such as pushing down another child while angry.

In football, tackling, blocking and other forms of physical contact are normal and accepted parts of the sport. It is essential that youth football coaches help their athletes learn how to manage physical contact via correct technique, tactics and drills to build confidence and encourage positive skill development.

Here are five tips to help youth football coaches effectively manage those initial fears:

• Reinforce and educate. Demonstrate at slow speeds. Use positive coaching. Teach and reinforce correct technique. Show that tackling, blocking and other forms of contact are about body position, footwork and hands – not just brute force.
• Words and pictures. From the first day of practice, show young children video that demonstrates positive contact skills and verbalize the feeling of a good tackle, a great block and other contact skills. As the players begin to normalize the skills related to contact, they can manage their emotions more effectively and often come to understand that contact is an enjoyable aspect of the sport. Use USA Football’s Skills and Drills library for non-contact or limited contact drills at any position and share them before practice so players know what you will be doing.
• Set the right pace. Never come right out on Day 1 and go full speed. Young players – whether new or experienced – need to learn the skills required for their positions at easy, contact-free paces before progressing to player-on-player drills. When young athlete fears contact, it can affect technique and even lead to incorrect technique to mitigate contact. As a result, players could “learn” to turn sideway in anxious anticipation of a collision and gets hit at awkward angles. This just reinforces the fear. By helping athletes learn how to focus, engage at the right intensity and make contact with correct technique, this enhances the overall experience.
• Stay positive. Avoid criticizing young football players for fear-related issues. When a coach criticizes an athlete for showing fear, it only creates more anxiety, stress and negative thoughts. Instead, normalize it. Let the player know he isn’t the only one who has ever felt this way at first. “Hey, I know this part of the game is sometimes scary, but we're teaching you how to tackle with great technique so it doesn't hurt.” Then reinforce correct technique with positive encouragement. The athlete will grow to expect contact and collisions so that becomes part of the overall enjoyment of the game.
• Set goals. Use effective goal setting to help young football players learn how to tackle and block correctly by teaching technique prior to actual contact. Steps, footwork, hands and body position are learned first against air. Then dummies, sleds and practice against bags and soft surfaces follow. These effective teaching tools do not require full contact and teach the baseline skills.

Dr. Chris Carr is the sport and performance psychologist and coordinator for sport and performance psychology at St. Vincent Sports Performancein Indianapolis. He is the team performance psychologist for the Indiana Pacers and the Indiana Fever and a consulting sport psychologist for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Purdue University athletics.