Video: Central Michigan illustrates how to win collisions demonstrating with broken boards

Coaching is teaching. It's one of the first sayings you hear upon getting started in this profession, and one that will ring true until your last day wearing a whistle.

The staff at Central Michigan shared a video that found a unique way to drive home some football fundamentals in a meeting recently, and it's a clip that sure to be shared by coaches with players as teams prep for their upcoming seasons.

Defensive coordinator Sean Cronin, who is in his second season leading the Chippewas defense for Matt Drinkall after following him to Mount Pleasant from the Army staff, starts off the video by asking one player from each position to come to the front of the room.

Then he breaks down the three most important aspects of the activity.

First, strike with the meat of the palm.

Second, they have to believe they're going to break it. 

Lastly, Cronin doesn't want players to simply strike the board, but rather aim six inches past the board to ensure a strike through the board. 

Failure to believe they're going to break the board will result in their hand meeting the board, but not accelerating through and breaking it.

One-by-one a player from each position group comes up and punches their way through the board.

Then Cronin turns things up a notch, telling players they have to start with their fingers touching the board, not allowing them to build up momentum with a punch. Instead, players had to generate power from their hip.

Again, players stepped up and answered the challenge one by one - some following the instructions better than others.

 Cronin used the lesson to teach defensive fundamentals in a fun and engaging way.

"When I strike a guy, do I just want to aim for his chest? Or should I aim for his spine? I want to strike through a guy.

"If I am tackling a ball carrier, and he's coming to me, and I'm attacking a blocker, I want to run through the blocker - not to the blocker. If I'm making a tackle, I want to run through the tackle not to the tackle."

"The last thing, the one inch punch, just goes to show you that your power comes from where? Your hips. So it's really important that we play with our hips back because that is where our power comes from."

"So if you hear a coach say 'Break the board!' what we're saying is don't stop your feet on contact. Run through it."