How Important Are Turnovers in Youth Football?
In the 2011 Super Bowl, the Pittsburgh Steelers probably lost the game due to turnovers. In the history of the Super Bowl the team that has won the turnover battle has won 33 and lost 3 of those games. Important in the NFL? Yes, but how important are turnovers in the youth game? The answer is just, if not more. The reason turnovers may be even more important is the fact that there far fewer possessions in a youth football game. Most youth football games have just 10 minute quarters, while College and NFL games have 15 minute quarters. In youth football there are many more running plays compared to the prevalence of passing you see in the NFL and College games which also brings the number of possessions down. Most youth team huddle and do not run plays at the same pace as most NFL and College teams, which means even fewer plays. Starting to understand why you have to make every possession count in youth football?
More on protecting the ball and ball hawking in future posts. We place a premium on protecting the football in my program. In 2005 we had just 2 turnovers in a 11 game season, in 2006 just 4 in 11 games. In 2007 just 4 in 11 games. This past season we had an inordinately high number of 6 in 12 games, but we did throw a little bit more, getting 18 touchdown passes to go along with the 3 interceptions. Ball security is key and has played a major role in the success of most championship level youth football teams.
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