AsianChexMix

I think this is why I was so successful last year with our team, I was EXTREMELY organized. I literally had a practice by practice breakdown of what I had planned for our team and even tried to measure it with timing as well. I think the area of growth for me is really learning to motivate players because at the end of the day, I will be one of the most knowledgeable people on our team. I mainly focus on coaching teen girls since I like to give equal opportunity and to show that they can do things and hopefully boost their self esteem and self confidence, two areas in which teen girls tend to struggle with a lot. What are some things that you remind yourself when you have moments of self doubt about coaching? I was trying to do some positive self talk but I didn't want to be delusional about it but what are some focus areas for positive self talk?

This is very encouraging stuff. I mean as I think about it, I'm really not stepping down because I hate failure. Honestly, I'd rather have failure and learn something than not have it at all. Sometimes we need to get our behinds handed to us to re-evaluate things. I don't mind losing but I guess my sense of pride of "being the football lover" and being insecure if my tactics/strategies will be executable. I LOVE the chess match in football and I do feel that it's something that might be something I can use to my advantage as I tend to look at things at different levels and areas. I guess after some self reflection (and a loss of a good night's sleep...heh) that I realized that I am a decent coach since there were people who began to love the game of football as I did and that's what I truly wanted to impart. People are saying they are excited so perhaps I did SOMETHING right and we did win a game. To be honest, personnel definitely helped with that but I guess my main concern was learning the techniques of football since I do not have any personal experience other than lineman play (I'm a big dude so that's where they put me). With all this being said, I think this topic is definitely beneficial and I think I won't be able to NOT coach but since I do have other responsibilities, I do think not being a head coach would be beneficial in getting the other tournament organized. I'm sure that this topic has been helpful for those who perhaps stumbled across this forum and did not register to read. I'm sure they loved this insight. Thanks guys and I can't wait to help my girls this year again.

That's really reassuring because I was slowly evaluating myself about how well I did as a coach last year. I made mistakes but as a first time coaching, I wasn't terribly bad. Perhaps I am being my own worst critic. I saw people wanted to play and motivate them to play and the fact that most of them didn't quit when it was easy to do so during the tough play conditions. I guess I was really worried about being unknowledgeable about specific techniques and such but I guess it is something that you can study on. Technique can be taught but desire and passion can't. Rob, I like that story about your tennis coach. You wouldn't think that an overweight guy can be a great tennis coach but I guess it's those intangibles that you have to motivate that make a great coach.

I recently stepped down from coaching a team because of my responsibilities as a tournament coordinator for another flag football event but I must admit that it was also partially because I am insecure about my knowledge in football as a coach. I never played football and as much as I enjoy it, I still am concerned about being a coach since I really don't know how to coach. Am I overthinking this? Is the only real way to get better at coaching is to be a coach?

Easy one here! Line up twins right and have RB behind QB. QB hikes the ball and with his throwing hand pretend to throw it to the receivers but QB actually has ball in the other hand...RB handoff and TD easy. Yes sir...Statue of Liberty! We did this twice and BOTH times we ran it in for a TD. That's what I'd do. If not, I'd just run a play with misdirection but I love Statue of Liberty!

If you could rush the passer, then I would do that as well. Since the QB would have to throw the ball after 5 seconds, added pressure would be great to have to make him force a bad throw even more. I was thinking of either 2:3:2 but with linemen being eligible, maybe stick to a 1:4:2. I think practicing both would work out and you can make it situational 2:3:2. I think 2:3:2 + 5 second clock would make the QB need to make REALLY quick decisions. To continue onto mine, I think that 2:3:2 was a great base defense but I think I forgot one crucial aspect of girls flag football: they run a lot! I don't know why I didn't consider this earlier but the most effective team was the one that ran the ball. But anyway, I think this year I am implementing a cover 1 and a cover 2 defense.

I see a lot of people asking for playbooks for their certain team whether it be 5v5 or 8v8. The best playbook is one made that is tailored to the skill sets of the players you have and such. With that being said, what are some thing that should be kept in mind when coming up with plays? How would you write a play that you would be sure that would be the defense? Just kinda wondering how that all works out since this would be great information for everyone. I personally play 7v7 girls and there is a lot of run plays as most girls do not have arm strength. With that being said, I mainly expect defenses to be in a cover 1 zone based (2:4:1) or the standard cover 2 zone (2:3:2). I don't think they play man defense as it is easier but it would not be effective in my opinion. I guess it all depends on the rules as well but since mine is screen blocking, misdirection is key. How does everyone else come up with plays?

Where can I find this drill? I want to practice handoffs as we are doing a wildcat based offense and would LOVE to have this drill!

I was actually up for coaching again this year with my girls and I was thinking of running solely on wildcat. We have 7v7 and 4 have to be on the line. I was thinking of lining up in a spread offense with 2 WRs left and 1 WR right and having QB/RB in backfield. I was wondering what is the key for running the wildcat type offense. I was thinking it's all about blocking and making sure everyone understands their assignments. I was thinking of having the slot receiver go in motion before the snap and then hike it while still in motion and as defense tries to figure out, our WR/OL is out blocking which gives time for the play to develop. On passing, it would work as they are running routes as it appears to be a run. Just wondering of how this would work out and any tips in running wildcat offense. Player wise, must they all have breakaway speed? I'm assuming they have to be one of the fastest but I was hoping the misdirection will make up in the lack of speed we have. Last year our tournament had like 30-40 mphs winds which made the GUYS have issues throwing the ball so I wanted to have a repeat where even if it doesn't work out, we have three solid plays we can do for runs.

Hey guys! This season, it appears that I'll be organizing a football tournament which will definitely be fun. Anywho, I was wondering how big your fields are. Right now, we have two turf soccer fields reserved and we can't use the grass due to county closing all grass fields at their parks. So with two regulation fields, I need to somehow make four out of them. I did the math and we would have the field of 80 yards long but only 25 yards wide. I was starting to think if 7v7 would be too much for that limited space. What do you guys think?

You guys gave me a lot to chew on and digest which is great. The following are the rules last year's tournament and from what I heard are the general rules for several years now. 7 v 7 no contact (screen blocking) flag football Must have 3 offensive linemen, only one is eligible to receive 4 players must line up on the line of scrimmage (3 linemen + 1 other player) Motion is allowed as long as not going towards endzone Only one forward pass is allowed behind LOS 1 yard neutral zone where defense can line up (similar to your rules Orange) No returns from punts and there are no kickoffs (we start at the 15 and need to get to the next zone as our first) From my first year coaching, I realized that I should have had a more run heavy offense utilizing misdirection. Our day long tournament conditions were nasty (for girls). It was cloudy as it had rained the previous night which made field conditions muddy. The temps were mid 30s with winds blowing 10-20 mph. It was so bad even our guys were having a hard time throwing it. So that literally threw out 2/3 of our playbook (we had 6 plays, 4 throws and 2 runs). I think this year, I am going to change that and reverse it where I will have an emphasis on running. The interesting dynamic in my group of girls is that we have several great components but it compliments each other. We have a lightning fast girl who I put as RB. She can't catch. I have another girl who isn't as fast but has great hands. I have a our QB that can't throw but has great leadership and then I have a girl who can throw the ball but have no leadership. Then we have wide range of height (mainly Asian girls so yeah, majority of them are short) with varying skills and most of these girls, on average, can catch except our RB. She REALLY can't catch. I think that we have what it takes that with the right system and attitude, we can be a great team. Looking at my offensive playbook, I'm thinking of having a run play that is almost identical with one another except the runner will be different and the blocking scheme will be different. For example, I'll be in standard I with RB behind QB and have WRs on opposites sides. Before the snap, a WR would go in motion and the ball would be snapped while in motion and then the QB would either hand off to WR in motion or the RB. I'm also thinking about implementing Wildcat as well. I think the only worries I have is if the blocks would give us enough time to create holes for our speedy RB or our WR to find. I think then I would have a few pass plays that would be set up by these runs. I'm thinking this may be complicated to learn but we start practices in September (tournament is in November). Orange, could you describe your defense for me? I was thinking of running two different zones...one for passing and one for running. Basically, it would be 2:3:2 for passing (2 rushers, 3 short, 2 deep) and then 2:4:1 for run plays (2 rushers, 4 short, 1 safety). One thing I want is our rushers to create havoc on the field defensively. I want to be as nasty as we can with our swarming and our flag pulling. I think we will also need to learn how to recognize these misdirection plays and remain disciplined. I would like to be known as a bend but don't break defense so I'd really be interested in what kind of defense you ran. Coach Rob, I saw some clips and I think I'll need to rephrase it. There aren't that many good girl throwers out there. Do they exist? Hahaha, yeah. We have video evidence and I have one on my team but generally speaking, girls can't throw the ball as well as guys.

I am mainly here to gather info for our church as we have an annual flag football for guys and girls. Often times, I felt it like I was being a bit anal for our girls but then the things needed were also part of the lessons learned in football. How do you know when you are taking coaching too seriously or keep it within the context of maintaining a Christ-like attitude?

I was just wondering if there were any girls flag football coaches out there. I think it's hard for me to find information specifically for girls that may be an oversight compared to guys. I also think that it's hard to find specifics on 7 v 7 as most of you coaches deal with younger ages with small teams. So just combining them together, it's been rather interesting looking for info especially during the offseason. My question is 1) are there any girl's flag football coaches out there and 2) what are some of the differences you think would be a main difference compared to guys flag football other than the fact that guys can throw a whole lot better. Just trying to develop a game plan since I know most of our players will be playing next year.

Well since we have to have three linemen at all times, that only allows us to move four players around which I think would be 3 WR/RBs and a QB. I was thinking of staying in I Formation as it provides balance and keeps it easy for our girls to remember formations. Well, that was what I was planning to do. For example, I'd have two plays that would look COMPLETELY the same except it's a different runner. One play would be that pre-snap motion of WR towards QB and then the QB would fake it to the WR and have RB go opposite direction. The same variant would be to fake to RB and go to WR. I think the key is to have the QB, WR and RB bunched up so that it's hard to see where the ball got handed off to. That's what I was thinking along those lines. Right. I'm thinking Wildcat formation would have two runners, stealer (WR in motion) or the RB herself. I was thinking if it would be possible to do what they did with Pennington and lining him up as QB and having the stealer pitch and throw it downfield. I think especially for girls flag football, especially since girls aren't known for arm strength, it's all about run and misdirection. Fortunately, we have a girl who has a really good arm but the tournament we played in had 15-20 mph winds. Even the guys were having issues throwing it. Our playbook consisted of two runs and it really hindered us.

I like your "pick your poison" play. It's basically an option for QB to either give delayed handoff to RB or pass it to WRs getting open. How would you teach that to offense? Just have RB prepared to get the snap at any moment? Couldn't you also use a fake handoff as well if defense has seen you pull it off then have him/her go be dump receiver? As for what I wanted to do with my girls, I think a further explanation of the rules will be needed. It's 7v7 no contact with no lead blocking. We must have three offensive lineman but one is eligible to catch (basically, acting TE). Four must be lined up on LOS and QB can run. Initially, I wanted to run a true Wildcat offense like Miami Dolphins does but only issue is our fastest person acting as QB can't throw (or catch for that matter). Here is what I'm thinking of doing. 1. Staying in I Formation about 90-95% of the time. Reasoning is two fold, simplicity and slight advantage against defense since they don't know what to expect. 2. Motion a WR pre-snap towards QB. At snap, I had two scenarios. One is QB hands off to RB and as RB is running (say right), the WR would be running left and she would then hand off the ball or fake it and keep running. Second is where QB can fake hand off to RB from get go and then hand off to WR. I'd assume it would create misdirection for a second as the defense is trying to figure out who has the ball. Initially, second option seems as if the RB would have to slow down because of the WR coming right in front of her. I'm thinking which would be the best to implement. 3. If I did Miami Wildcat, if our RB or sweeping WR is unable to throw, only option would then to have a QB line up as WR and we'd have to pitch it back to her to throw? I saw this done with Miami. 4. How effective can it truly be against a rush without contact and lead blocking? I'm assuming rush would be hard and the key to all this movement. Thanks for the help!

Wow...I totally didn't realize I didn't post the rules. Sorry. Since we are playing with girls, there is no contact allowed (screen blocking) but also there is no lead blocking either. So the player can run but then has to stop if they are blocking. I was just wondering, is this all about misdirection then? How would you just do a simple sweep? Thanks!

I'm assuming that it would be all misdirection plays (reverses, double reverses, Wildcat, etc) but if we wanted our standard I formation RB sweep or PA QB Sweep, how would you give blocking if there are no lead blocking? I mean would the defender just run to their spot, stand still and then run again and stand still? This is 7 v 7 flag football no contact with girls.

So I was preaching the right thing on defense...since I assign our corners to not just cover the WR in their zone but also cover flats, I should preach that they should constantly watch the backfield and make sure to COVER flats. I think that's one thing we've had issues with...flats...the QB would scramble or we'd have a reverse and WHAM touchdown. I think this is going to be the next step of our defense. As for implementing it, how would the double reverse work? I was also thinking if this would work? 7v7 no contact block are rules. Standard I with WR on both sides, 3 line, QB and RB. Before ball is hiked, one WR motions towards QB, ball hiked to RB and hands off to one WR. As that is happening, the other WR would come around and grab the ball and then would become a double reverse. We would have to set this play up by doing reverses well on both sides just to keep the defense honest. We'd eventually do fake reverse to set up passes or other plays. Would the I formation be the best to do it? I'm thinking that since this is for girls, I wanted to keep everything in I formation for simplicity. Also, keeping it a balanced look so that it may be hard to know exactly a run or pass.

What would be the drills of practicing this? I think our defense was amazing against the pass but unfortunately the girls teams didn't do that much because of wind and perhaps arm strength. Due to that, a lot of girls starting running and I just knew that we had to cover flats but that didn't happen. What would be the best way to drill the girls to defend reverses?

Sorry if I've been spamming this board but just really had a few questions that I've come across as the tournament is coming up for me and that the final things are getting wrapped up. I noticed two things as we were going through our plays for the first time. First was execution was poor. That's fine...first time for us running plays but overall, I do think we did. We ran a few plays with the guys from our church (church tournament) and they were WALKING...dropped balls, incompletes, poor execution. I think that may just be due to the guy issue but I expected a bit more. This, I think, will attribute to first time and just going against them. The more concerning thing is that these girls lose focus sometimes. That they don't realize how competitive our tournament will be. I don't want to instill the "I'm happy to be there" mentality and really want to teach to give 110% effort. We're here to play as a team and have fun but at the same time, we're a lot better than this and have talent that will help us out. How would you teach/preach focus and being serious? I'm thinking that the hard way to learn this lesson is show up for the tournament and get our butts handed to us and then we will realize what is going on and then get serious...not sure what to do here guys. Any advice/input? Thanks ahead of advance!

I like this a lot especially since it's something we need to work on. I definitely taught that you do some kind of move to get you extra open and to expect it RIGHT when you turn and such. Good stuff!

I am unsure if there are breaks but if is similar to the ones I participated in a few years back, usually the only break we get is if there is an hour break for lunch or no game scheduled which would only be an hour. Probably just resting up through that time and just going over a few things would probably be good. My girls are great...they won't go all over the place. Thanks guys!

Hey guys! Throwing another one at ya! The tournament I am joining is going to be the whole day and I wanted to keep my team (girls if that matter) fresh and healthy and such. So I was thinking of emphasizing this: 1) Stretch 2) Hydrate 3) Eat bananas (cramps?) I also will be switching out some of the positions that have a lot of tasks (RB, rushers, some WRs, etc). Are there any other things I need to consider when planning for this tournament? Thanks!

Well the advantage we have in flag football is that the field isn't that wide, so 2 fast safeties should be able to cover the whole thing pretty well, also since they are playing zone, they should have an excellent read on the QB and if they throw it long (which is not going to happen often if you get a good rush from your 2 rushers), then the 2 safeties should have a very quick break on the ball and you should see a high number of picks if they do try to throw deep on you. I agree you should have a t least 2 defensive variations, but I like the 2-3-2 best for most situations. If you keep people in the same spots then it will be easy to audible into the optional defenses based on what you see from the sidelines. You can use simple code words or whatever and shout them from the sideleines for your defense to switch. Exactly. At the older ages where the kids can throw the ball really well it is imperative that you get a good rush on the QB. If not they will eventually pick your defense apart, especially a zone type defense. If you get a good rush you can force the QB to make bad decisions and bad throws, which will help you win the turnover battle, and if you win the turnover battle you're well on your way to winning. Thanks for breaking down, sentence by sentence, on what my questions were. I think I will still implement my prevent type defense just in case but would be thinking that 2:3:2 is going to be a good base to start. I'm thinking offenses generally won't be going 3 wide all the time unless they run spread. In that case, only runs would be from QB and any reverses which I'll allow them to do instead of trying to go downfield. Thanks once again.

Now would this work if they have three wide outs going long? That would potentially be hazardous to our defense which is why I don't want to rely just on this defense. I want to have another one in place. Do you think that the rush would negate that because they only give them like 3 seconds so unless they are crazy fast, then safeties would shade but I don't think ALL three will be fast.