The word tempo, in the context of football, is how fast your offense moves. To be a really good team, you have to move fast and everyone needs to be on the same page.
Tempo Examples
An example of tempo at the NFL level is the 2-minute drill. When you have a limited amount of time and you need to score in a hurry, teams will use the hurry up offense.
There is also the 4 minute offense which is where you’re trying to take up time and move the ball methodically, typically taking the play clock down to the last possible second. Now learn to apply it to your 7v7 team.
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Tempo Strategy
A fast tempo is probably your greatest weapon. It is a great complement to a great playbook. However, your team needs to be in shape.
Don’t go so fast your players aren’t able to run anymore, but you want to make the defense think and have to make quick pre-snap decisions.
Combining tempo with motions, and its an absolute game changer. In 7v7 football my teams won league championships snapping the ball quickly and making quick decisions. Using this tactic, we have scored over 100 points in games.
When to Use it
Now this doesn’t mean you need to go fast all the time. When your up, take time to get to the line, taking as much time as possible to snap the ball. Short passes in 7v7 football, runs in tackle football. Since you have to pass in 7v7, make sure they are completed, or else the clock will stop.
Also use a slow tempo if your team is getting constantly confused and if your going to fast, then the team might make a lot of mistakes because the play calls aren’t being communicated well enough. Also slow it down a step if your QB is making crazy mistakes trying to push the ball down the field unnecessarily.
When you get to know the team better, you can decide if they are good enough to run high tempo offense, or if they aren’t super experienced go slower and let them chill out. Younger teams should typically not use this method because they aren’t experienced enough to make quick football decisions.
Basically, tempo is the greatest strategical weapon to help your team to succeed, even if they aren’t the greatest athletes.