When I first saw the medicine ball I thought like everyone else, is it really worth using during season practice?  Well, it is.  These are some of the medicine ball drills that you can use in everyday practice.  They take very little time but are absolutely great for linemen as well as backs.

Medicine Ball Blasters 

This drill is easy to teach, takes very little time to do, is interesting for the players, and can help develop all types of football players. 

Almost all programs have some sort of rope or high stepper routine in their agility program.  Here we have just super charged one of the drills that is pretty common to the ropes.  Many coaches throw footballs to certain players as they go through the ropes to make sure the players are keeping their heads up and not looking at the ropes. It is also a great way to make your backs and receivers concentrate on catching and tucking the ball while their body is doing something completely different.  We have went a step further by spreading several coaches or managers out and giving each a medicine ball.  As the players come through the ropes the coach will throw a medicine ball at the player who will catch it and return it to the coach as they are making their way over the ropes.  We try to use as good of judgment as our coaching minds will permit as to how hard we fire the ball at the player.  We do not take it easy on the players that can take it and we encourage them to fire the ball back hard as well.  However, we do not blast smaller players for obvious reasons.  Here is what it looks like.

After we are done on one side our coaches will go to the other side and we will complete the drill going the other direction. This is a very quick and easy drill to add to your practice.  I think you can see the benefits your players can get from the drill.