Youth Team with Small Numbers
I coaching a 7th grade team this year, and we only have 16 kids total. Luckily we have a decent mix of sizes within the team, so we have everything we need.
My struggle right now is two-fold:
1 - about 2/3's of my team is effectively first-year players (either they have never actually played before, or were playing with a coach that didn't give them any playing time or attention the last few years)
2 - With the low numbers we are having a tough time getting some real looks in practice. We had a our first scrimmages this last week, and that showed.
So, looking for advice on two main topics. How to get these newer kids more willing to hit and deal with contact. (Not a huge fan of just doing Oklahoma-type drills, but some variations are useful)?
How do we teach our kids proper blocking and playing when we can't give them a full 11-on-11 experience consistently. We have gone half-on-half a few times, and there is some value there, but it's limited.