Most coaches dream of building the perfect playbook – developing that unstoppable scheme that runs roughshod over opponents all the way to a championship.

At the youth football level, though, success is rooted in solid fundamentals not complicated plays.

For many 8- and 10-year-olds, getting them to line up properly within the 25-second play clock can be a challenge in itself.

And where those young athletes run to after the ball is snapped sometimes has nothing to do with what the coach called in the huddle.

Especially if they didn’t understand the play in the first place.

“Keep it simple,” said Lee Robinson, head coach of the Junior Devils of St. Louis Midwest Region Pop Warner. “It’s all about repetition at that age. Try to keep a good tempo, and encourage them a lot. If they are having fun, they will listen. If it’s too complicated, you can lose them fast.”

Robinson has been coaching youth football for more than 20 years. He starts every season knowing he will have players who don’t know how to block or what “blitz” means.

On offense, Robinson runs a basic I-formation or split-back set. On defense, it’s a four- or six-man line.

No matter what the formations are, though, having players who can block and tackle make any coach a genius.

“I teach fundamentals first,” Robinson said. “We have designed plays determined by the team’s age group. As they get older, we add to their playbooks.

“It could take you the first half of the season for everyone to understand what the “A” gap is. As your play-calling gets more complicated, you will find more kids looking at you with blank stares.”

USA Football offers a Playbook Library where coaching members can download complete playbooks that are tailored to their age levels. 

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Video: USA Football's Andy Ryland shows how to adapt a high school playbook to a youth football audience.

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Check out more 2-Minute Drills.

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Human beings tend to work best when they draw on experience – especially their own.

It is natural for former high school and college athletes to want to develop playbooks based on what they ran during their glory days.

Slow down, said Myron Jefferson, a Denver youth coach for the past 31 years.

Experience can come from sources outside of yourself as well.

“When you are just starting out as a coach – no matter how good you were as a player – talk to other coaches and gain as much knowledge about what they do so you have realistic expectations for the age group you will be teaching,” Jefferson said.

Jefferson, who coaches the Cougar Youth Sports 8-and-under team in the Colorado Youth Football League, said a playbook should be tailored to the players’ abilities.

Even if that means adapting to something different every season.

“My offense this year is a little more open because we have a quarterback who can throw and receivers who can catch,” Jefferson said. “Still, even though we throw more than other teams we play, we keep it simple. We only have six or seven base plays that have little variations to it.”

For example: An off-tackle run can be flipped to the other side of the line or play-faked into a bootleg pass.

That turns one play into three with a little extra teaching.

Jefferson also adapts verbiage into his player’s level.

Like most 8-and-under leagues, coaches are allowed in the huddle, so instead of calling “I-right, 46 trap blast,” he simply holds up the cue card for each player to see his assignment.

“Younger kids absorb information better if they visualize it,” Jefferson said. “As a coach, you have to communicate with your players in a way they will understand. Once they understand you, then they can go out and do it.”