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At-home football drills for 11 to 13 year olds

This is a free sample week of at-home football training for 11 to 13 year olds: 3 of the 7 plans SSTracker has for this group, each 14 minutes, with every step and minute. Nothing here is written for this page alone; it is what the app gives a family.

Everything here can be done in a room, garage or yard. Drills that need a team are left out; a parent can be the partner in a pair drill.

A free sample week of football for 11 to 13 year olds

Session 1

Awareness: Pre-Snap Reads 14 minutes

  1. Warm-up: easy jog, skips and arm circles · 2 min
    Start slow and build up. Loosen up; nothing should hurt.
  2. Pre-Snap Reads · 5 min
    See it before it happens.
  3. Split Squat Basics · 5 min
    Straight down, straight up. Safety: Good form beats more reps: stop the set when your form slips. Muscles may feel tired; stop if a joint hurts.
  4. Cool-down: walk and easy stretches · 2 min
    Breathe slowly and hold each stretch about 20 seconds, never to pain.

Session 2

Strength: Split Squat Basics 14 minutes

  1. Warm-up: easy jog, skips and arm circles · 2 min
    Start slow and build up. Loosen up; nothing should hurt.
  2. Split Squat Basics · 5 min
    Straight down, straight up. Safety: Good form beats more reps: stop the set when your form slips. Muscles may feel tired; stop if a joint hurts.
  3. Lean-and-Go Starts · 5 min
    Lean from the ankles, punch the knees. Safety: Warm up first. Take a full walk-back rest between runs; fast running when tired is how pulls happen. Stop if anything hurts.
  4. Cool-down: walk and easy stretches · 2 min
    Breathe slowly and hold each stretch about 20 seconds, never to pain.

Session 3

Speed: Lean-and-Go Starts 14 minutes

  1. Warm-up: easy jog, skips and arm circles · 2 min
    Start slow and build up. Loosen up; nothing should hurt.
  2. Lean-and-Go Starts · 5 min
    Lean from the ankles, punch the knees. Safety: Warm up first. Take a full walk-back rest between runs; fast running when tired is how pulls happen. Stop if anything hurts.
  3. Comeback Route Catches · 5 min
    Come back to the ball. Safety: Use a clear, soft area and throw at a speed your partner can handle.
  4. Cool-down: walk and easy stretches · 2 min
    Breathe slowly and hold each stretch about 20 seconds, never to pain.

Want the rest of the plan?

This sample is 3 of the 7 football plans SSTracker has for this group. In SSTracker every step is on the screen, your child logs the work, and you see it. No club needed: the family plan is $7.50 a month per player, or $12 a month for the whole household, and the first 14 days are free.

Get the full plan free for 14 days Coach or club director? Set up your team free Print a free week for another sport or age

The drills in this week

Pre-Snap Reads

Ages 11 and up · 10 min

Learn to read the defense or offense before the snap.

  1. Watch a game clip and pause before the snap.
  2. Note the formation and where players line up.
  3. Say what you think will happen, then play the clip.
  4. Write down what you got right.

Coach's cue: See it before it happens.

Bring: game video, notebook

Split Squat Basics

Ages 10 to 14 · 8 min

With one foot forward and one back, lower straight down and up. Builds single-leg strength and knee control.

  1. Step one foot forward into a long stance.
  2. Lower your back knee toward the ground, trunk tall.
  3. Keep the front knee over the middle of the foot.
  4. Push back up; do 2 sets of 8 each leg.

Coach's cue: Straight down, straight up.

Bring: none

Safety: Good form beats more reps: stop the set when your form slips. Muscles may feel tired; stop if a joint hurts.

Lean-and-Go Starts

Ages 10 to 14 · 10 min

Stand tall, lean forward until you must step, and turn that fall into a quick 10-yard acceleration.

  1. Stand tall with feet together at a cone.
  2. Lean forward from the ankles, body straight.
  3. When you start to tip, drive out with short, powerful steps for 10 yards.
  4. Walk back; do 6 to 8 starts with full rest.

Coach's cue: Lean from the ankles, punch the knees.

Bring: cones

Safety: Warm up first. Take a full walk-back rest between runs; fast running when tired is how pulls happen. Stop if anything hurts.

Comeback Route Catches

Ages 11 and up · 10 min

Run up the field, stop and come back toward the ball to catch it.

  1. Jog 8 yards up the field.
  2. Plant, turn back toward your partner and come to the ball.
  3. Catch with your hands out in front and tuck it.
  4. Do 8 each side.

Coach's cue: Come back to the ball.

Bring: football, cones, partner

Safety: Use a clear, soft area and throw at a speed your partner can handle.

Safety for ages 11 to 13

  • Plans for this age group use beginner and developing drills only. Advanced drills open from age 13 in the app.
  • Tackle-football contact drills are never shown under 14; younger players keep flag and non-contact fundamentals.
  • Home plans use only drills for a room, garage or yard. Stop if anything hurts.

Before you start: football

  • Helmet fitted by a coach, mouthguard and full pads for any contact.
  • A cup and well-fitted cleats.
  • Tackling and blocking contact only with a coach, in a helmet and pads. Never practise tackling at home.
  • Tackle with the head up and out of contact (shoulder tackle). Never lead with the helmet.
  • Full-contact practice is capped (USA Football: 30 minutes a day, 120 a week). Many experts advise flag before 14.
  • Hot preseason: 14 days to get used to heat and gear, water at every break, stop on dizziness or headache.
For every sport and age (7)
  • Head knock or concussion signs (headache, dizziness, confusion, feeling "off"): when in doubt, sit them out. See a doctor, and no return the same day.
  • Back to sport only with a doctor's written OK, after a step-by-step return. Every U.S. state has a youth concussion law.
  • Heat: drink water before, during and after. Take shade breaks, ease into hot weather over about two weeks, and stop if dizzy, sick or headachy.
  • Lightning: if you hear thunder or see lightning, go inside a building or a closed car. Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder (the 30-30 rule).
  • Pain is a stop sign, not something to push through. Stop and tell a grown-up; pain that lasts or comes back each session needs a doctor.
  • Water and rest are part of training: 1-2 rest days a week, plenty of sleep, a meal or snack before and after, and other sports welcome.
  • Know where the nearest AED (heart defibrillator) is, and who calls for help in an emergency.

The research behind these plans

Which drills are shown at which age, and the safety notes, follow the 28 sources below: national governing bodies, medical associations and studies on youth sport (last reviewed October 2026). Where no study gives an exact number, the plans use cautious defaults, and we change them as the research does.

Football: governing bodies, safety and development (8)
Youth athletic development and safety (20)

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