Wide receiver play: catching the football.

All receivers have two jobs. One is blocking. Another is catching the football and scoring. While blocking is arguably the most important function of a receiver, since each receiver spends more time in games blocking than catching a football, receivers tend to be judged by their catching ability. This article discusses techniques of catching in general, as well as specific catching techniques based on the type of route being run.

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BASIC CATCHING: HAND POSITION

The basic rule of catching is to make a diamond-shaped window (some coaches teach a triangle) by putting the thumbs and index fingers of both hands together with the fingers spread out. This hand position is used when a football is coming waist-high (belt buckle) or above, and directly to the receiver. When a ball is thrown below the waist, the hand position is the opposite: The pinkie fingers of both hands touch, with thumbs pointing to the outside, so that the hands form a basket to catch the ball. While common practice is to stay waist high or above, the preferred method is to fine-tune the delineation point by using the bottom of the numbers, as the location that determines which hand position to use.

THE WINDOW: BIG EYES

The eyes are the most important component of the catch. Teach receivers to look through the window created by their hands. This technique is used not only to teach basic catching, but also to underscore the significance of using the eyes in the catch. Receivers should frame the incoming football with their hands and view the ball through the window. The receiver must maintain eye contact with the ball as it moves through the air, and he catches it--thus embracing the phrase "big eyes." Receivers should constantly practice catching skills with their eyes, hands, and the football all in the same frame.

Focus and concentration are key to getting the ball into the receiver's hands. Teach receivers to put a "radar lock" on the ball, which means they lock their eyes on either the tip or the white stripe that forms a circle as the ball rotates in the air. The purpose of the small aiming point is that when the receiver focuses on the whole football and he misses it, he misses it completely. Yet if he aims at a smaller spot on the ball and misses that, it is still highly likely he will get his hands somewhere on the ball.

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SOFT HANDS AND BIG HANDS

Teach receivers to catch with soft hands, which means to catch the ball with receptive fingers, wrists, and slightly bent elbows, and to give a little with the football as they catch it. Tai Chi, an ancient Chinese martial art, offers a useful lesson here. When two hard things collide with enough force, they often break. However, when a hard thing hits a soft thing, the softer thing can--by giving a little initially--control and manage the force. It is the same with catching a football, which can travel with a velocity of up to 70 mph. The catch can be secured when the hands and elbows give and accommodate the force of the football. If the hands are too inflexible and hard, the ball will ricochet off.

Also, place emphasis on spreading the fingers apart during the catch. This use of big hands helps the receiver to cover more of the ball's surface area and in effect makes smaller hands bigger and the catch easier to secure.

CATCH WITH THE FINGERS

Remind receivers to catch with their fingers and not the palms of their hands. Their fingers should be strong and powerful, slightly bent, and not stiff or straight. Receivers must grab the ball from the air with their fingers, and then cushion it with their palms while giving with the elbows.

A telltale sign that receivers are catching too deep in their hands is when an especially loud thud noise is heard when they make the catch. If you look carefully at the hand action of receivers who are in a catching slump, you can often see that they are using their hands (palms) and not their fingers to initiate the catch.

Finger and hand exercises that build individual finger strength are extremely helpful. In addition to the typical grippers and squeeze balls, tools that work one finger at a time are especially useful. They not only improve mechanics, but also build the finger awareness that is crucial to catching.

ARMS EXTENDED

Receivers need to catch the ball with their arms extended, and not with or against their bodies. If a ball in flight touches a receiver's body, it may ricochet off his shoulder pads making the pass incomplete--or worse. When his arms are extended and slightly bent, the receiver is able to use his elbows as shock absorbers to help cushion the catch as the ball makes contact with the hands.

Another reason to extend the arms to make the catch (and not wait for the ball to come into the body) is that the stretching out of the arms increases the distance between a defender who is behind the receiver and the football. If the receiver waits on the ball and then attempts to catch the ball against his body, the defender has a much greater chance of a deflection or an interception.

If the ball does pass through the receiver's hands, and he is lucky enough to trap it against his body, obviously the catch still counts. However, receivers must understand that a body catch is Plan B, and Plan A is to catch the ball in the hands with arms extended.

THE TUCK

Once the receivers have caught the football, they must correctly tuck the ball to protect it from defenders. Tucking consists of watching the ball into the hands, and then locking it in a protected position using the hand, forearm, and elbow to squeeze the ball into the body. While coaches differ in the exact number of pressure points involved, it is imperative to have pressure from each of those three areas. Coach the receivers to run with the ball high and tight: high to maximize protection from tacklers, and tight against the body.

Coaches also disagree about how many fingers need to be held over the nose of the ball. Some programs teach one finger over the nose and others teach two. The preferred method is two fingers because two fingers give strong bilateral pressure.

The catch is not complete until the ball is tucked away. Receivers should tuck the ball every time they make a catch--even in the most basic warm-up drills in pre-practice. Demanding the tuck at all times instills discipline in your players, and adds crispness to your program. Tucking the football on every catch should become as automatic as breathing.

"THE EYES HAVE IT" TO THE TUCK

The key coaching point on tucking the ball away relates to the eyes and not to the hands. At any level of football, look at the number of passes that hit receivers' hands but get dropped--often because the receiver does not look the ball all the way into his hands. Instead, he looks up at the oncoming defender or starts to turn his body upfield to run too soon. Concentrating and watching the ball in until the tuck is complete will prevent many of these drops.

To drive home this point, make receivers call out, "Laces" or "No laces," depending on which side of the football is up whenever they catch a football. Some programs use this just in individual receiver drills, but others incorporate it throughout practice.

By Susan "Chuck" Myers, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach, Prince of Peace School, Carrolton, TX