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Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Sit & Take It or Create More SPACE to Help Your Team Win!

FLORIDA Coach - Urban Meyer, former Texas Tech - Coach Mike Leach, Oregon Coach – Chip Kelly, the Spread Triple Option at ARMY, and a host of other Spread Offense football teams at every level of play employ different spread formations and tactics to Create SPACE, in order to help their team win more games.

WHY? The answers all have one common thread: SPACE

· SPACE is the best equalizer that helps to offset your opponent’s superior size advantage because each Defensive player is automatically responsible for policing, defending & protecting more ground. The Defenders are less able to be finite in their responsibilities and actions, instead they must combat ultra-wide formations and players coming at them from broader angles

· SPACE between the Offensive Lineman makes it easier for the OL to quickly identify the defensive front coming at them, and which Linebackers are blitzing or not.

· SPACE makes it easier for the Running Backs to find a Hole to run through. A larger Hole or Bigger Space to gallop through is the preferred route for most Running Backs. SPACE also makes it easier for the Running Backs to make the correct read on Blitz Pickup for Pass Pro and Run Blocking adjustments.

· SPACE between the Quarterback(s) and the Line of Scrimmage usually allows the QB a less obstructed “launching pad area” in which to set up, and identify blitzes, make good reads of the pass coverage, and execute the correct throws to open receivers more often.

· SPACE enables the Wide Receivers to identify the Depth, Eyes and Leverage (DEL) of the Defensive Backfield more readily because the Safeties, Cornerbacks & Linebackers usually must account for all of the Receivers spread out across the field of play. “Don’t get beat deep,” is a mantra that every Defensive Back knows all too well.

· SPACE helps to reduce injuries to the players & it’s one of the main reasons many coaches have switched to Spread Offensive football in the first place. The more spread out each player is from one another, by design then, more open SPACE between the players automatically reduces the frequency that they will collide and/or get their legs twisted and tangled in pile ups or freakish happenings during the play.

· SPACE allows the Offensive Play-Caller (the Coach or a QB) to see “All Twenty-Two Players” competing on the field in a clearer, more defined way. The more precise an Offensive Play-Caller’s ability to identify what the defense is trying to do, then the more productive the Spread Offensive system should be most of the time.

We’d like to extend our sincere gratitude to every football coach in history that has used innovative spread formations, and deployed their team’s offensive players across the field with as much SPACE between them as possible. The A-11 super-spread formations we use, combined with solid football fundamentals and maximum SPACE between our players has helped our football program and others like it succeed.

Thank you very much.

About the innovative A-11...

"The A-11...allows us to get the ball into our athletes' hands unlike anything else in football today. It is a truly innovative evolution in football as we know it, and we'll be seeing alot more of it in the future!"

Tim Souza
Eagle High School Mustangs
Eagle, Idaho

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

TIME to Eliminate Jersey-Numbering Requirement Rule

Throughout football history, innovation has always pushed the game further ahead than some people anticipated, notably the legalizing of the Forward Pass in large part to vastly improve player safety by helping to Neutralize the defense with the threat of a Forward Pass as a viable weapon of choice for the offense.

Today, with the size and speed of the players from the high school level on up to the Pros, the game is about to surpass the Critical Mass threshold in terms of how much punishment the players can handle or absorb throughout the course of a game or a season within the current dimensions of the football field and coupled with the outdated and antiquated jersey-numbering requirement rules that greatly restrict excellent creative freedoms regarding formations, motions and eligibility.

The elimination of the jersey-numbering requirement rule has already begun to show it inherently offers benefits for the athletes:

1. It allows every player an option to be super-spread out across the field of play to keep the defense more honest in its pre-snap movements and alignments because the defense must account for potentially eligible threats

2. The offensive players are now all interchangeable and eligible by Formation Only - which keeps the defense guessing and thereby less able to just tee-off on certain offensive players

3. It's easier for all of the players on O and D to "see things coming" their way because they are often spaced far apart.

4. Most importantly, the head-to-head banging between the players is greatly reduced during Practices and Games because the offensive players on the Line of Scrimmage are usually set in a TWO-Point stance most of the game, and it translates into a reduced-rate of concussions occurring.

5. Inadvertent pile-ups are greatly reduced because of the wide spaces between most players, and the teams have less blown out knees and ankles from the entanglements.

The Elimination of the Jersey Numbering Requirement is the right tonic to help improve player safety, and maximize the innovative aspects of football across the board.

A Top California Football Official on the A-11...

“Any good high school official who is competent would have no problem officiating a game showcasing the A-11 scheme. It’s really no big deal. We’ve had no complaints from any officials whatsoever that have refereed their games.”

Sam Moriana
Head of East Bay Football Officials Association
Northern California