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I'm coaching my son's flag football team and I think I have a decent idea of what's going on. But I was wondering if anyone can offer additional insight

The team is a 7-8 year old team. The basic rules are 6-on-6, kid quarterback, qb cannot run, defense can rush after 10 second count.

I coached the same group of kids at the lower level and it was coach quarterback. So this is a big step for them and us coaches allowing the kids to qb. I do have one challenge. Both of my assistants are insiting that I pick 1-2 quarterbacks and stick with them. That goes against my idea of playing maybe 4-6 quarterbacks, probably not 6 in any given game but definitely 3-4 per game. My idea is to have 2-3 that will do more of the passing but the others can take snaps and handoff. I was told that one of the other teams is putting everyone into positions and having the kids tryout for spots. Heck, I want everyone to play everything. During the game I'll make sure that my key stoppers are in position when it counts but I was wanting to have everyone play everything. Thoughts?

My offensive gameplan is pretty simple, keep the ball moving forward. I have two basic runs and some basic quick passes. From what I can see, any kind of long passes or drop back passing is unrealstic. I have my qb either rolling out or hitting some very quick slants and curls.

On defense we ran man-to-man all last season. But with the kids as quarterback it makes much more sense to me to play zone. I'm curious what other people have experienced. My idea is to have 2 cbs in the flats, 2 safties splitting the field deep, one lineman on the center and a mlb. I want my cbs and safeties to stay home and my lineman and mlb to follow the ball side to side.

Give me your thoughts please. I'm most curious as to what kinds of defenses we should expect to see.

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Well, no replies. :o

We had our first game and we were quite successful. We ran our zone defense and after giving up an early TD, we got stingy picking the ball off 3 times and getting the ball back on downs once. I found that our zone was solid but that when they got close to our endzone I switched to man-to-man. Also later in the game I could see that they were throwing to the same two kids. I had two of my players go man-to-man on them and kept everyone else in a zone.

The other team ran a man-to-man defense. We had little trouble moving the ball and only got stopped once when we ran out of time in the half. We threw only short passes and had no interceptions. Our old classic end around that served us well last year was again the best play. I was able to work in 3 quarterbacks, two of them throwing TD passes.

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Well, no replies. ohmy.gif

We had our first game and we were quite successful. We ran our zone defense and after giving up an early TD, we got stingy picking the ball off 3 times and getting the ball back on downs once. I found that our zone was solid but that when they got close to our endzone I switched to man-to-man. Also later in the game I could see that they were throwing to the same two kids. I had two of my players go man-to-man on them and kept everyone else in a zone.

The other team ran a man-to-man defense. We had little trouble moving the ball and only got stopped once when we ran out of time in the half. We threw only short passes and had no interceptions. Our old classic end around that served us well last year was again the best play. I was able to work in 3 quarterbacks, two of them throwing TD passes.

Congrats on getting through the first game, sounds like you guys did great. I'll throw in my 2 cents on the qb controversy, since I live in Denver and we recently experienced one with the Broncos. wink.gif

My opinion on 7/8 yr olds is that you should allow them all to play different positions whatever the sport. Guess it depends upon your personal philosophy and the degree of competitiveness in your league, but I'm all about letting the kids play and have fun.

A few seasons ago during one of my b-ball games, I challenged the kids to pass it 100 times in a game for a special prize at the end. The other team killed us on scoring baskets, but the kids on our team were stoked about how many passes they'd made. When they hit 100, you would have thought they'd just won the championship game.

It's taken a lot of discipline to stay with my philosophy of emphasizing passing over scoring and making sure all the kids get plenty of ball touches (we track ball touches every couple of games or so). Now we're down the road with a few more seasons under our belt and these guys are amazing little passers, which I know will be a huge building block for future seasons to come. I run into so many teams where 1 or 2 kids are the "hotshots" and their teammates end up virtually watching the game instead of playing an active role on the team.

I know this is a bit off topic for Flag Football, however, I've found that the underlying principles of making sure all the kids play different positions, making sure fundamentals are emphasized before scoring and most important of all, making sure the kids are having fun apply to all sports at this age.

Coach Rob

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My philosophy is similar, I want all the kids to have fun and be able to try the different positions. I spoke at length with my assistant coach and it turns out his ideas are not that different from mine. We have 11 kids on the team and there are only 2 of them that have limited skills (both are a whole year younger too). His idea was more geared towards them, having them specialize in something simpler that they can do well. It will give them more satisfaction due to more success and let them concentrate on a small number of tasks (the other kids being older and more proficient can handle many more assignments). We'll incorporate them in all the other aspects of practice of course, but we'll give them some easy plays designed just for them (we'll call it our secret plays or something, they'll love it). We've also found that only 3-4 kids really want to play qb, so that problem solved itself.

One of the big problems we encountered during the game is that on every play, everyone is open and wants the ball. My assistant calls the plays in the huddle on offense and he said it was really bothering him as he was bombarded by chatter while he's trying to call the play. It was the same last season and I witnessed it in the huddle too. At tonights practice I'm going to institute my "no asking for the ball plan." Any player who asks for the ball, tells us he was open, why don't you pass it to me, etc., will be taken out of the game for a minimum of two plays. I'm going to impliment it our scrimmage and hopefully it will eliminate the problem.

It got so bad that one of our players was moping and crying on the sideline because he wanted the ball. Of course he caught several passes during the game but he wanted more. We have a lot of kids that can catch and run well, plus we move the ball quickly downfield so we have fewer possessions to spread around. Some players only get one touch (I make sure everyone gets at least one), while if someone gets 3-4 that's a lot on our team. It's a good problem to have so many capable players but some of my kids need to be broken of this whining habit.

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It got so bad that one of our players was moping and crying on the sideline because he wanted the ball. Of course he caught several passes during the game but he wanted more. We have a lot of kids that can catch and run well, plus we move the ball quickly downfield so we have fewer possessions to spread around. Some players only get one touch (I make sure everyone gets at least one), while if someone gets 3-4 that's a lot on our team. It's a good problem to have so many capable players but some of my kids need to be broken of this whining habit.

Something that has helped us is having one of our team parents track ball touches, passes, etc. for b-ball and soccer. In between subs, I can do a quick check to see who isn't getting the ball or who needs to take more shots and make changes on the fly during a game. The stats also help the kids and parents see the real deal, memories run short after the game is over. Football is a different animal than b-ball and soccer, but there might be some stats that would be worth tracking.

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I'm coaching my son's flag football team and I think I have a decent idea of what's going on. But I was wondering if anyone can offer additional insight.

I will be co-coaching my son (along with the rest of our current b-ball team) next month for flag football. Most of the kids have played soccer and b-ball together for about 3 yrs now, but this will be our first time in the flag football arena. Rules will be similar to what you described.

We have an opportunity to go watch a few indoor flag football games before our season starts, but quite frankly, I have no clue how this will look. I'm sure once I see a game; it will be obvious how much a 7/8 yr old can grasp. I gather from your post that any kind of drop back pass or complicated running plays (i.e. reverse) would be stretching things.

We plan on allowing all the kids to rotate in at qb, running back and wide receivers. No clue on defense if man to man or zone would be better. Looking to see how your season is going and any tips that would help us start out on the right track.

Any place online to grab some basic flag football practice drills you'd recommend?

Coach R

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I can give you LOTS of good advice. Probably more than you'd care to hear! biggrin.gif

DEFENSE:

There are 6 teams in our league and we've played 4 of them already. We're the only one that runs a zone defense, all the others run man-to-man. We've given up no more than one touchdown in each game (actually we've given up exactly one td each game). Against our opponents we've scored 5, 3, 4 and 2 tds. I feel that the zone is easy to understand for them although man defense is a little easier. You can go with either but I really prefer zone.

Either way you have to focus on two things in practice: Pulling flags and swarming to the ball. Missed flags are the biggest reason teams give up tds. The second reason is that once a flag is missed the other kids are standing around watching (because they expected the other player to pull his flag). We spend no less than 15 minutes each practice on defense (far more than anyone else). I run the same drills for defense. They consist of:

Movement drills> I form two lines and have them bend their knees and keep their arms up and move side to side, backpedal some, etc. Same as in bball. During this drill I'll sometimes hold a ball in my hand and after a while yell swarm! Then all the kids have to run to the ball. I'll watch for stragglers and call them out. I used to do this far more last year but with all the same players they dont need to do the swarm drill too much.

Flag pulling> I form a line of kids, each with a flag on and a ball. One kid (the defender) stands inside a rectangle and waits. The line goes one by one versus the defender. They have to stay in the rectangle. After the line completes then I switch defenders, each kid gets a turn. There are several things to look for during this drill. Make sure the offensive guy is not flag guarding or anything. For the defender the hardest thing to do is get positioning. Let me explain. The defender should be trying to do two things 1) pull the flag (obvious) but 2) slow down the runner. Sometimes you get what I call the "matador" pull, kind of like when a matador whips his cape past the bull. If you pull flags like a matador then if you miss he's still going full speed. So I'll vary the flag pulling drill without flags. The defender simply has to move in front of the runner and slow him down. That way the defender can focus on blocking him instead of the flags.

Strategy> I usually spend a few minutes talking about angles of pursuit and what the various positions are responsible for. I'll walk them through scenarios we've seen in game and discuss with them how to handle it.

As I'm writing this I realize I don't even have any drill for coverage. I ran some coverage drills last year but with a zone and the kids experience we really don't need it.

At the end of practice we scrimmage and I look for flag pulling technique, swarming and staying in position. I'm constantly offering advice, critiquing, helping them improve.

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As for ZONE, here's some reasons why I like it. The biggest reason is that all my defenders can watch the qb and the backfield. In man coverage you're turned around trying to follow your guy.

Our guys can sit back into coverage and it's easy for them to make interceptions. They're in an area and I tell them to watch the qbs eyes. 7-8 year olds DO NOT look off their receivers. We pick off 2+ passes per game and we either score on the int or get great field position. In contrast we've only had one pass picked off in 4 games (that's partly due to my offensive philosophy too). In our league when the ball turns over on downs or after a score you start at your own 5. IF you intercept you get the ball at the spot so it's a great advantage to intercept.

Against runs, your defenders are watching the backfield and can see the runs coming. I put my two lbs on the line about 5 yards left and right of the center. We stuff runs big time. Also the corners stay home so reverses and misdirection are less likely to work against us. Against a man defense a reverse is deadly because kids bite hard on it.

A good qb can pick apart a zone because there are many holes in coverage. I've only seen one 7-8 year old so far that was accurate enough that I had to switch to a partial zone-man (that was our first game). And then we still only gave up one td and picked him off 3 times.

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OFFENSE:

I'm rewriting a bunch of my plays and refocusing my offense this week. My overall philosophy is to keep the passes very short and run. That's not changing. What I need to change is to have more misdirection and incorporate some of things that worked better and some of the things that didn't work. When you drop back a 7-8 year old and have him throw downfield you get too many incompletes and interceptions. Completion percentages are too low to be worth it. Sure we'll chuck it sometimes we get a good matchup but not often.

If you want I can email you our plays which I should have later this week.

First off we line up in the same formation every play. Other teams use all kinds of formations but my team never changes. We had two wideouts, two slots a center and a qb. Many of the teams use kids in the backfield as running backs but not us. It's too easy to see the run coming. We run end arounds and delays to the center. Some will load up a side which is an obvious charade for a run to the open side, not us. We create open sides by clearing out receivers on their routes.

Our best play has been our center drag. It's very basic. The center snaps the ball and takes two steps forward and then turns 90 degrees. The qb takes the snap and begins running parallel to the line of scrimmage. The center has to keep pace with the qb. They run about 5-7 yards sideways and the qb tosses the ball to the center. It's a pass on the run but it's like a 3 yard pass so it's near impossible to miss. The center catches it on the run which is key because he takes his momentum and keeps going. The receivers on the side of the play have routes that clear them out of the area. Therefore when the center gets there he only has to beat his man in a sprint. We call this without fail on all short yardage plays.

I'm not going to go into all my plays but that illustrates how we keep it simple and easy but are very effective. We have variations off that play too like a fake end around that preceeds the center drag and a play that begins as a center drag then reverses direction with the slot receiver for a slot drag going the other way. Also, I found that teams began keying on our end around (our basic run) so I'm putting a fake end around on several other plays so the defense will have lots of things to look at.

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WoW! Really appreciate the detailed answer; this will save me a ton of headaches down the road. I'll probably hit you up with an e-mail for those plays if you're okay with that.

Sounds like you have some 7-8's that have played flag football before; I'm concerned because 90% of our team as never played. Most of them are awesome b-ball and soccer players, so I'm hoping those athletic skills will transfer over.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write all that out, this is exactly what I was looking for.

CR

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WoW! Really appreciate the detailed answer; this will save me a ton of headaches down the road. I'll probably hit you up with an e-mail for those plays if you're okay with that.

Sounds like you have some 7-8's that have played flag football before; I'm concerned because 90% of our team as never played. Most of them are awesome b-ball and soccer players, so I'm hoping those athletic skills will transfer over.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write all that out, this is exactly what I was looking for.

CR

Well, I could go on and on. Let me know if you want the plays and how to send them to you.

I believe stongly that misdirection and isolation is the way to go for offense. I want to put the ball into my players hands and have them running downfield. Good things happen when your kid is carrying the ball full speed. Incomplete passes and especially interceptions are very bad things so we design plays to minimize that.

Taking a step back and looking at some things other teams did against us:

One team did a double reverse. The first time they did it the kids ran into each other and the one who got the second handoff busted his lip and began cying. They lost yards. They ran it again later and it gained a few yards but my guys stayed home. I feel like the double reverse is a very risky play because if it works well it could gain big but with 7-8 year olds, you're asking a lot (several handoffs while running).

Another team had two halfbacks behind the qb in a pro formation. They faked a handoff to the first rb and gave to the second one the other way. This one worked against us because my lbs both bit on the fake. But once my kids saw it, it didn't work again.

Other teams run end arounds like we do and it only works (against us) when you have an exceptional runner who is very fast and can make people miss. Last game they gave the handoff on an end around and the kid took it and immediately went back the other way. This worked because we overpursued it. A few games ago with little time left I placed my defense in a prevent zone and the other team ran the end around. They gave it to their best kid and because he had time to turn the corner (we were too far back) and get to full speed it was almost a td if we didn't save it with a timely flag pull. Lesson learned was to keep defenders at the line of scrimmage.

I've only seen one team pass well. I think the key for the qb is to take his time and wait for someone to get open. But even that team threw 2-3 interceptions against us. Long passes become ducks and its so much easier to intercept when you're facing the qb like we do in the zone.

As for passing, don't expect that the kids will run patterns with any sort of consistency. Your well drawn up play will look like shambles in about 5 seconds. That's why we try to isolate a receiver so even if he alters his pattern he should be by himself with only one defender. Also thats why we stick to very short passes mostly. I say mostly because we have 2 kids who can throw it very far and maybe 3-4 kids who can possibly catch a long pass. We'll sometimes see a favorable matchup with one of our deep threat receivers and send him long but the catch ratio is still low even when the ball nails him in the numbers. Of course it's always fun to hook up on a bomb.

Haha, one more piece of advice I just thought of:

I have drawn up all the plays on paper, two to a page, front and back. During the huddle I kneel with the play in hand facing away from the line of scrimmage. All the kids in the huddle are facing the line of scrimmage. I point to each position and call out a kids name so that they can visualize which position and direction they'll be running while looking at the play. I think this makes it easier for them to understand where they are and which way to run.

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Coach Rob,

I emailed you our plays. Let me know if you received them.

Got them, really appreciate it. Sent you back an e-mail.

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Coach Rob,

I emailed you our plays. Let me know if you received them.

Got them, really appreciate it. Sent you back an e-mail.

Your email must have been placed in my spam folder. Can you resend it?

I coached the offense this past game and my tweaks to the plays REALLY helped. We could not be stopped on any possession. Also, I tried a new defense that seemed to work very well.

I'll highlight what really worked on offense:

In the huddle I knelt down facing the line of scrimmage. I had all the kids stand behind me such that they were also facing the line of scrimmage. I'd hold up the play towards the line of scrimmage such that they could all see it over my shoulder. Then I pointed to each position and named the kid who'd run it. I tended to keep kids in the same position from play to play and that helped them. I'd usually highlight certain things.

The other thing that really worked well was when my quarterback dragged (or rolled) along the line of scrimmage. The reason it works is because the defense usually places 1-2 kids over the center and dragging leaves them trailing behind the play. If the qb just takes the snap and stands there then he has to contend with those kids in his face and has to throw around them. Also, when the qb drags with the receiver it shortens the distance of the throw. Most of our passes are under 5 yards.

The final thing that really helped our offense this week was an emphasis on proper patterns. We had gotten to a point of assuming everyone knew how far and how to run each pattern. In reality we were getting 11 different versions of the same pattern from 11 kids. So we drilled them and instructed them in patterns over and over. ALSO, and most importantly, for our drag plays and shuffle passes, we instructed them to only run 1-2 steps beyond the line of scrimmage. Throughout the season our kids were running them further and further until it was finally like a 10 yard pass, not at all what we intended. That little 2 step drag play was magical, and we ran it with the center and slot guys.

My final thought is that we ran a brand new formation. We overloaded the left side with all 4 receivers. From this we ran 4 different plays that all worked. The man defense was thoroughly confused with this one probably more so because of the novelty of it.

On defense:

We had been runnning a standard cover 2 zone. We'd place 2 corners close to the line of scrimmage over the wideouts, two lbs on the line of scrimmage about 5 yards left and right of center, and 2 safeties deep over the middle. This week I switched. I noticed that the corners were too wide to be effective. I'd keep telling them to move towards the middle. So I tried a cover 3 zone. This time I placed 3 safeties back deep. At the line of scrimmage I put one over the center and 2 kids on the line over the slot receivers. It provided us with good coverage and we still stopped the run well. I don't think anyone throws outside to the wideouts, they usually just run them deep on posts anyway or ins over the middle.

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I'll be starting my flag football season in another couple of weeks. As I mentioned before, several of my kids have never played flag football, however, they've played two-three years of soccer and b-ball together as a team. I've reviewed your plays (great job and thanks for sending them to me) and your defensive schemes. I took my son to watch a couple of indoor 7/8 flag games and have a pretty good idea of how things flow; looked like controlled chaos at times. You're right on the long passes; none were completed during the games I watched. One thing I did notice is that the center was almost always open for that 3-4 yd pass you talked about. Couple of questions still:

I'm going to try and practice a few times before our "first scheduled" practice which is the same day as our game. What would you emphasis during practice? I'm sure it won't take too long for me to figure out who can throw and catch, but I'm anticipating that I'll need to go over some of the basics of catching and throwing. During your practices how much time was spent on drills and how much on running plays/scrimmages? I'm trying to get a mental picture, which I'm sure will be clear after our first game, of what I should focus on given the 1 hour to practice time. Looking for those things that will give me the most impact during a game.

From watching the games and my own research, it seems that some basic things to emphasize would be:

-Stay on your feet when catching a ball or flag pulling.

-Swarm the flag.

-Keep running when you have the ball and someone pulls at your flag, don't slow down and look to see if they pulled it. Only stop when you hear a whistle.

-Watch the ball into your hands.

_????

We play 5 v 5, so it seems the best defense is a 2 1 2 zone. You can have a pass rusher from 7 yards out and that seemed to be the norm with the teams we watched. So, I'm thinking a 2 1 2 is the way to go.

Looking for some drills to make this fun and teach practical skills that can be used in the game.

Also wondering how you made the decision to switch players? Since we'll have 10, I'm assuming you pick 5 on a team and let them play X amount of minutes, then switch? During b-ball they stop play every 4 minutes to allow for subs.

Thanks!

CRob

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Lots of great questions. I'll answer them in no particular order.

As for switching players my system is very simple and effective. I divide my team into two groups evenly. In the first half one group plays offense and the other group plays defense. In the second half they switch so now the offensive group plays defense and the defensive group plays offense. That way everyone gets approximately the same time on offense and defense and I don't have to worry about subbing in and out. I make sure that each group has a mixture of players that have strengths and weaknesses spread out so that both groups are equally capable. When the numbers are not equal I still split them but then make up the difference from the group on the sideline. So since we're 6-on-6 and lets say I have 9 show up I split them 5 and 4. When my group of 4 is on the field I pull 2 from the group on the sideline for that series, trying to mix it up.

Our age group doesn't allow a rusher but if it did I'd send one every play. He has to be very fast and understand how to contain. The most dangerous play in flag football is the qb scramble. Teach it to your qbs and incorporate it into your offense as a set play. Make sure you understand the rules, it's likely that the qb cannot run until the rusher crosses the line of scrimmage. Also with a rusher you might want to do a shotgun snap. We take all snaps directly under center since a fumbled exchange equals a loss of down and lost yards. But with a rusher you can give your qb a few more yards to escape in shotgun.

As for zones, one versus the other you kind of have to see what the other team is trying to run and adjust. I'd say typically we were in a 3 1 2 but the last game they kept running so I went with a 4 2 zone and it stopped it. Another team that tried to throw it long made us switch to a 3 3 and I've said it before that one or two teams would key on one receiver so we just played him man with everyone else in zone. Have a standard zone but adjust as necessary.

From watching the games and my own research, it seems that some basic things to emphasize would be:

-Stay on your feet when catching a ball or flag pulling.

Yes, especially when flag pulling keep the feet moving.

-Swarm the flag.

If your team does this well they'll be very tough defensively. You cannot emphasize this enough.

-Keep running when you have the ball and someone pulls at your flag, don't slow down and look to see if they pulled it. Only stop when you hear a whistle.

True. This needs to be mentioned and taught because the tendancy is to stop. Another thing is if your flag falls off prior to you catching the ball. In our league you have to be tagged when you have no flag. You don't want them to stop running if on offense or worse not try to tag the opponent on defense. Make sure you and your team understand that rule.

-Watch the ball into your hands.

That's a basic catching technique but you should make sure it's understood in drills.

_????

Lots of other things but I'd also emphasize flag pulling. Have the players rake at the belt and not just the flag. The flags typically fly around and are sometimes hard to pull. The belt is relatively stationary and comes off just as easy. Have them work on positioning and not only pulling the flags but getting in the way of the ball carrier so he has to slow down allowing an easier pull and time for the teammates to get in the area.

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My practices have evolved as the team has become more focused and I work on things I see need attention during the games. I'll give you the outline from my last practice first. I always write it down as its easy to lose track of what you want to do while you're in the middle of it.

5 minutes - movement drills. I use a large square say 20 yards by 20 yards. The kids line up. They sprint to the first corner, then sidestep left to the next corner, backpedal to the next corner and finally sidestep right to where they began. We might do this twice.

15 minutes - flag pulling. I use a rectangle about 10 yards wide and 20 yards long. At one short end I line everyone up with a flag and a ball. At the other short end stands a defender. One by one they have to try to run past the defender and cross the line. They cannot step out of bounds. If the defender forces them to slow down significantly, pulls their flag or they step out of bounds he wins. If not the ball carrier wins. I stand behind the defender and compliment or correct him on just about every flag pull. Usually I can run this through twice with 11 guys. Sometimes I'll have them just use positioning (no flag pulling) one time, asking them to merely impede the runner so he has to slow down or hopefully stop.

10 minutes - patterns. We run through all the patterns in the playbook. I emphasize distance and where they should cut and end up. We go over and over the few patterns until I feel confident they have it down.

10 minutes - patterns with passing/ catching. Same thing as above but we have a kid throwing the ball to them. Here we're more focused on the short 1-2 yard drags and crosses and the qb rolling with the receiver as that's what we mainly run in the games.

10 minutes - offensive plays. We run through the plays with no defense. I'll call the plays in a huddle and they execute just like in a game situation. I try to go at game speed since we only have 30 seconds to get the play off.

10+ minutes - scrimmage. If numbers are uneven I grab an older brother or two (there are usually a few hanging around the field) and have them play defense.

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As I mentioned my practices have evolved as my team understands many things now they didn't at the start of the season. I'll give you some other drills I think helped earlier and even last year. First off I like to start with drills they can do singularly or one-on-one. Then I move to drills that require more participation but not all the moving parts. Towards the end of practice I like to put it all together. I really like scrimmages for any team but especially one you're trying to teach and learn about. Things will become obvious when you scrimmage so do at least 15-20 minutes for the first few practices.

Various drills:

Catching and throwing one-on-one. Start them close and work with them on technique.

Defensive swarming. Preach this in all scrimmages over and over. Call out the ones who don't do it and congratulate the ones that go all the way across the field even if they never end up in the play. I ran a little drill where I'd stand in front of them with a ball and they'd all backpedal, sidestep, etc on my command. Then suddenly I'd yell swarm and they'd all chase after the ball (don't throw it or you'll get a pileup). After you yell swarm try to watch for stragglers and call them out.

Coverage drills. Funny I haven't run one of these all year but they seemed so important last year. Basically teaching man-to-man coverage. You can work this several ways but having a qb and receiver and one or two cover guys is a good one.

Defensive theory. I lecture on zone, staying home, angles of pursuit. I'll set the kids up in positions and have them stand there and ask/ tell them what to do in various situations. Get them to thinking about where to go and what to do.

Center/ qb exchange. Had all kids work on this. We're directly under center but if you run shotgun you're going to want to work on this.

Hanoffs. Don't assume this will go smoothly. Practice over and over the exchange. You have to tell the qb where to put the ball and how to turn, how the runner should clutch the ball. I want my end around to go full speed. When we don't practice this they get cautious and slow or end up dropping the ball. When that end around hits full speed it's great. When it comes slow it's easier for the defense to anticipate and get it. And a fumbled ball is a loss of down, never a good thing.

As for the most fun, I ask my kids this throughout the year. They almost universally say they love scrimmaging. I try to get in at least 10 minutes of scrimmage each practice.

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I see most of what you flag youth football guys are talking about is about ofense and offensive skill development.

We have a flag youth football season in the Spring for our tackle kids.

While we have had the highest scoring offense in the league in each of the last 6 seasons. we put our defense in first.

In Flag that means getting very good at pulling flags. We use many of our regular tackling drills with flag pulling rather than tackling. We do lots of form work and angle tackling as well as open field tackling.

The kids have to get very proficient at pulling flags, getting in the correct pursuit angle and tackling in the open field. Our kids rarely missed anything within arms length and most of our opponents were held to no first half points, while we averaged in the high 30s.

Winningyouthfootball.com

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My practices have evolved as the team has become more focused and I work on things I see need attention during the games.

Had my first practice today, it went well, all things considered. Used a lot of your suggestions, thanks again.

Couple of questions. We're required to rotate all players in all positions, which after running a few plays today, I can see this will be a huge challenge. Seems that you have to pick 3-4 pass routes and have everyone get those down so they all know how to run each pattern. When I called plays today (at the end of practice), they nodded their heads when asked if they knew which route to run, but I could see the plays turn into funk as soon as the ball was snapped. Can't imagine running any kind of misdirection running play with a fake to one back and handing off to the other. I'm trying to figure out the best way to make sure they know the plays in the limited amount of practice time we have. 10 minutes doesn't seem like enough time for everyone to get pass routes or running plays down.

The other problem I ran into was the kids asking to be QB or wanting to be the receiver who ended up with the ball. It looks like I'm going to have to keep track of who has been QB and who's received the passes. Don't see any other way to make sure everyone is feeling like they're getting enough "ball touches".

When you called plays, did you tell the QB who to look for as a primary receiver? Seems that if you have everyone run routes and leave it up to the QB to find the open person, you're asking for trouble. Especially in our league where there's a rush coming from 7 yards out. The other challenge is if I keep the kids in the same position (which makes sense from a practical standpoint to help them get in a groove of where to line up each time), then I'd have to make sure to run plays to all the different receiver positions each offensive possession. I'd like to have the flexibility of running the center drag twice in a row and just switch players in the center position, rather than try and keep track of which position hasn't had the ball yet. Thoughts?

Defense - We play 5 on 5, so a 2 1 2 zone seems like the way to go. The only concern is usually the 1 is your pass rusher which leaves the middle open every time. Any thoughts on that?

Thanks!

CRob

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Had my first practice today, it went well, all things considered. Used a lot of your suggestions, thanks again.

Couple of questions. We're required to rotate all players in all positions, which after running a few plays today, I can see this will be a huge challenge. Seems that you have to pick 3-4 pass routes and have everyone get those down so they all know how to run each pattern. When I called plays today (at the end of practice), they nodded their heads when asked if they knew which route to run, but I could see the plays turn into funk as soon as the ball was snapped. Can't imagine running any kind of misdirection running play with a fake to one back and handing off to the other. I'm trying to figure out the best way to make sure they know the plays in the limited amount of practice time we have. 10 minutes doesn't seem like enough time for everyone to get pass routes or running plays down.

You should only have a few pass plays. Post, flag, down and in and hook. I'd line them up in a few lines and have them run them over and over. Do it without throwing them the ball. Specify exactly the distance and where to cut. Use cones or something on the field to help them run it a few times then take it away so they can run it without it. On your playbook you might even want to write the name of the pattern next to the play for double emphasis in the huddle. Since your team is new you might want to spend more than 10 minutes a practice for now. And during the game, the patterns will vary quite a bit, they are only 7-8. It's just a matter of being familiar and repitition.

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The other problem I ran into was the kids asking to be QB or wanting to be the receiver who ended up with the ball. It looks like I'm going to have to keep track of who has been QB and who's received the passes. Don't see any other way to make sure everyone is feeling like they're getting enough "ball touches".

This became a real problem for us. On every play, everyone was open and was upset that they didn't get the ball. It was so much of a problem that we coaches were bombarded in the huddle, sidelines and during practice. I was forced to impliment a simple rule. If you ask/ complain/ etc during the huddle or game you immediately have to sit out for 2 plays. It sounds harsh but the problem was instantly cleared up. I enforced it more in practice so I didn't have to during the games. I did however tell the players that they could ask me anything they wanted at the end of practice or the end of games. That was my time to discuss anything they wanted like getting the ball or playing a certain position.

As for tracking who got how many touches, I can tell you what I did. My goal, as stated was simply to make sure every kid got >= one touch per game. Some kids would get more, some less. I didn't write it down or really need to as I could remember who got a chance. I think in football that's the best you can do.

As for who plays qb, I gave them all chances in practice. In theory I wanted many of them to get a chance in the game. In execution I ended up playing 2 kids a majority of the time and would work in maybe two others towards the end of the halfs.

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When you called plays, did you tell the QB who to look for as a primary receiver?

YES. I only had two plays where the qb had more than one option to throw to and even on those plays I'd tell them who to watch for. In practice there were a few times where the qb had to improvise when the play went the wrong way. We strongly complimented our guys when they did that, taking things into their own hands.

The other challenge is if I keep the kids in the same position (which makes sense from a practical standpoint to help them get in a groove of where to line up each time), then I'd have to make sure to run plays to all the different receiver positions each offensive possession. I'd like to have the flexibility of running the center drag twice in a row and just switch players in the center position, rather than try and keep track of which position hasn't had the ball yet. Thoughts?

I solved this by creating similar plays for every position. The slot drag and wideout shuffle pass plays are all basically the same. Instead of dragging with the center, the qb waits for and drags with the receiver. I'd prescript my plays too with like 7-8 plays. I'd run them in that order the whole game and they were prescripted such that each of the positions were targeted. Example:

play 1 end around left to right wideout

play 2 center drag right

play 3 slot drag left to right slot receiver

play 4 shuffle pass right to left wideout

That's just a quick example to show how you can mix it up. If the series ended on play 3, let's say we scored, then our next possesion I'd start on play 4. Once I got to the end I'd just start over. There were certain situations where I'd call a certain play but I basically stuck with the scripted plan. This allowed me to get all the positions the ball and have the kids in basically the same spots, at least for a series or two.

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Defense - We play 5 on 5, so a 2 1 2 zone seems like the way to go. The only concern is usually the 1 is your pass rusher which leaves the middle open every time. Any thoughts on that?

You'll have to pick your poison, it's the same at every level. While I think you can be very successful with running just a 2 1 2 zone and no rush I would think that you'd want to pressure the qb as much as possible. Can the qb run when you rush? Can he run when you don't rush? That would make a difference to me.

Let's assume that you want to rush every time. If you can trust your safety that he's fast and can close and go after the ball, then you could maybe get away with one deep. Have him play deep and just shadow the QB sideline to sideline. Take the other and play him also in the middle with the qb and move him side to side. But honestly, I'd say that due to the distances the kids can throw (or lack of) the safeties in a pair can close quickly enough for stuff over the middle. The corners, well they aren't truly corners. Have them play over the slot receiver position maybe on the outside shoulder of where the slot guy should be. They'll also be able to cheat over and cover on the middle routes.

With your safties and corners playing zone they will be staring at the qb. That will give them a huge advantage in coverage. There are not 7-8 year olds who can pick apart a defense AND receivers that can catch well enough that precise passes are a threat.

I'd initially go with the 2 1 2, the middle guy being your rusher, your corners not truly corners but closer in towards the slot and the safeties splitting the middle. If the qb can only run when you rush, rush him and see what he does. If he's a good runner and starts beating you for yardage, stunt the rusher; meaning have him start from 7 yards back, run to the line of scrimmage and then don't rush. The qb will be waiting for him to rush and become confused. Then have the rusher drop back in the middle and then maybe have him rush after the qb begins looking for receivers. Mix it up. I'm very confident that a straight 2 1 2 zone with no rush (assuming the qb cannot run) will be an awesome defense so don't be afraid to fall back to it.

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Had our first game today, lost 30-20. It's good to have the first one out of the way, I see several things I need to do. Couple of questions though. The league I play in promotes everyone rotating in every position which makes sense to me. The problem is if you're going to keep score and have a playoff at the end of the season, it throws a whole different light on things. The team we played today used the same 2 QBs almost the entire game and hooked up between the same two players quite often. They were definitely the two best players on their team. I rotated all my players (had 8 today) in at QB at least 2 times each. I also made sure everyone either rushed or was a receiver at least once in the game, several even had 2 ball touches.

This is going to be a struggle for me, because I have 3 QBs that rock and could've easily dominated this team by using the same strategy they did. We gave up 12 points on interceptions thrown by kids who aren't really cut out for QB.

Here's what I'm thinking. I have to create specific plays for my weaker QBs like a simple handoff and leave the more complicated plays for my better QBs. Only way I can think of doing it so I can save time in the huddle is actually writing their names on the positions and plays. That way, if Joe is one of my weaker QBs and my stats guy is telling me he needs to play QB because he hasn't yet, then I can pull his specific play out and run it.

Defense worked out well with the 2 1 2. We tried a power rush where we take our two deep players, pull them even with the 1 and have them both rush at the same time. As they do that the two players on the line pull back even with the 1 in the middle. Worked well a few times, got burned once.

Got burned a few times on a straight fly pattern. I can see our kids need to work on not letting the receiver get behind them.

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