As football teams across the country prepare for the upcoming season, many are trying to find a new winning edge. Experienced coaches know that new plays don’t cut it — but taking a systematic approach to a given area often breeds more success. 

That’s why USA Football is building new systems this year that can help you enhance your program. Whether you need a system that is mental or physical, USA Football has you covered.

What is a system?

There are misconceptions about what a system is. A system isn’t a cure-all, and it’s not just a playbook. A system is a comprehensive framework of tools and resources joined together that is taught to improve and drive behaviors across your program. 

For instance, a system for blocking should give you everything — for every position — that enhances your ability to coach blocking to your players. This includes initial footwork movement to unlocking the hips to finishing the block. It should be applicable for the guys in the trenches and your wide receivers on the edge. There should be drills to install this with your players, and specific elements to help you troubleshoot problems.

Since we’ve now broken down what a system is, let’s jump right into the new systems that USA Football is offering this year. We’ll cover the physical aspect first.

USA Football Contact System

Scott Peters (far right) demonstrates the USA Football Contact System. (Photo by Mike Fender)

The USA Football Contact System offers your coaching staff the most effective and sophisticated system for blocking, defeating blocks and tackling in football. Unlike most systems out there, which are based on schemes, this system provides instruction on how to improve fundamentals — regardless of position on the field.

Created by former NFL offensive lineman Scott Peters, the system emphasizes proper use of the hands and hips to help to reduce helmet contact through superior technique. It’s a leverage-based, all-position-relevant system that addresses athlete posture and body movement efficiency for greater skill development.

“Football focuses so much on the attributes of big, fast and strong, whereas skill is something related to the techniques you are implementing,” Peters said. “Size is arbitrary when you have really good technique.”

RELATED CONTENT: USA Football adds new contact technique

Listen to Peters talk about the USA Football Contact System and how it could revolutionize the game here:

In this video, Peters explains how he devised the Contact System and a few of the technical aspects that enable it to be effective on the field.

 

At the USA Football 2018 National Conference at Pro Bowl, Peters displayed some of the Contact System’s intricacies. This video discusses a technique that helps players deal with the dreaded stalemate that is often encountered during contact. Peters also breaks down how to refit the hands inside by using circular force when blocking.

 

Finally, if you want to see how the Contact System can improve the way you coach your players on leverage when it comes to blocking and defeating blocks, check out the B.L.A.S.T. video.

ACCESS: Click here to access the USA Football Contact System B.L.A.S.T. video.

The B.L.A.S.T. video will teach you leverage techniques that can be used by any player on the field and you’ll also bust some myths, like the low man doesn’t always win.

 

Focus 3 Leadership System

Focus 3 CEO Brian Kight discusses his leadership system at the USA Football 2018 National Conference at Pro Bowl. (Photo by Mike Fender)

As for the mental side of the equation, team culture and leadership development are near the top of virtually every program’s priority list. Focus 3 and USA Football have partnered to create an exclusive system of resources for football coaches.

This system, the only online offering of its kind for football coaches, includes Lead Now and the R Factor, which features Brian Kight’s E+R=O equation (Event+Response=Outcome). Lead Now and R Factor are broken down into 16 skill courses, 80 chapter lessons and five-plus hours of exclusive content. Coaches can track their progress on a dashboard.

Last fall, before the program became available, Focus 3 CEO Brian Kight was a guest on a series of podcasts called “The Leadership Journey” with USA Football Coach and Coordinator podcast host Keith Grabowski. During these podcasts, he talked about several leadership tenets. 

In this podcast, Kight and Grabowski talk about the importance of humility for leaders: 

Kight and Grabowski discuss how to handle stress here:

At this year’s National Conference, Kight discussed his philosophy, E+R=O, which is short for, “Event+Response=Outcome.”

“In the football coaching community, we overemphasize job skills to the detriment of behavior skills,” Kight told the assembled crowd, which consisted primarily of football coaches and administrators. “I do not control events. I do control my response. Outcomes are earned by the quality of my response. E+R=O is the way life works.”

Here's a video of Kight explaining how to relate culture to other measurable aspects of a program, and how culture forms:

 

If you’re interested in learning more from Brian Kight or the Focus 3 Leadership System, there is a free guide that contains 10 ways to remove BCD from your organization and 7 reasons why simplicity wins.

ACCESS: Click here to claim your access to the free guide. 

Click here to learn more about Focus 3 and the courses.

This post was updated on 12/6/18.