5 On 5 8-9 Year Old Defense Help!

[cc13lab 0]

Hi All, My first post as I just found the site while searching for information. I am a 2nd year coach for 5 on 5 flag football with no quarter back runs and passing for 8-9 year old boys/girls. We run a 3-2 defense with 1/2 and 1/2 blitzes throughout. No matter what we do our defense can not pull flags... It seems we are in the right position but the flags do not get pulled. Is there a better defense to run for a team that is not pulling flags well?? maybe a 2 - 3 or even a 1 - 4? Our team ranges from very fast to not so fast but we have some really good players. Offense is not a problem but we just had a team score 8 TD's on us with no problems. All endzone to endzone stuff.... It is very frustrating!! Any help you could provide would be greatly appricated. Thanks

Coach.

[Texas_D_Coach 14]

Hi All, My first post as I just found the site while searching for information. I am a 2nd year coach for 5 on 5 flag football with no quarter back runs and passing for 8-9 year old boys/girls. We run a 3-2 defense with 1/2 and 1/2 blitzes throughout. No matter what we do our defense can not pull flags... It seems we are in the right position but the flags do not get pulled. Is there a better defense to run for a team that is not pulling flags well?? maybe a 2 - 3 or even a 1 - 4? Our team ranges from very fast to not so fast but we have some really good players. Offense is not a problem but we just had a team score 8 TD's on us with no problems. All endzone to endzone stuff.... It is very frustrating!! Any help you could provide would be greatly appricated. Thanks

Coach.

Hi Coach,

Being in position and actually grabbing the flags are 2 totally different things. No matter what defense you run, flag pulling should be consistent.

Do a search for Coach Rob's "Gauntlet Drill". It will do wonders for your defense. Also depending on what type of flags your league uses, teach your kids proper technique to grab the flags. For the velcro belts raking at the belt seems to be the mehod of choice. For nfl type flags that pop off the belt, I teach the kids to scrape at the runners legs on the side to make sure they get the belt when they grab.

Good Luck!!!

[Orange 26]

Gotta pull the flags. I'd hyper focus in on that in practice until you feel comfortable. Run a drill where the defenders are using their bodies to get in front of and slow down the runners. That makes pulling flags easier and also allows for help to get there. If I were desperate I'd also tell them to get a little physical.

[patandsu 3]

Our team pulls flags well, thanks to the drills I found here, they work wonders. We work on raking the belt with BOTH hands, which does cause some physical contact but have never had a penalty called. Our team has trouble overpusuing and allowing a cut back across the field for long TD runs. I can't get my opposite side defenders to corral the runner instead of running right at him and letting the cutback happen.

[YMCA Coach 1]

Hi there

I'm coaching two teams, one of them 8-9 year old players. We play 8 on 8, and I have to tell you, the idea of playing defense at 5 on 5 scares me!

We recently had a team forfeit a game because they could only field 5 players at the start, and only 6 players after a quarter. We played anyway, and for much of the game it was a disaster for our team.

It was touchdowns on 4 straight possessions (both teams), and very little success on defense. They forced us by rule to play 3 on the line, so I had one drop back in a linebacker or even safety position. I cna't figure how to do it, to be honest, and I'm glad I don't have to!

[Johnp2 21]

We used to play 8v8 also, but recently switched to 6 vs 6 last season. The reason (as I believe) was because so many coaches were having trouble moving the ball against eight defenders and complained about the number of low scoring (and 0-0 tie) games. I landed on the short end of that, as after a few seasons I figured out how to move the ball against eight defenders and had a sizable advantage.

To that end, I did not see a tangible difference once we switched to 6v6. We probably scored the same number of points, and defensively I think we had seven shut-outs in 10 games. I was actually surprised as I thought it would open up the offense as well, but have not seen it--and in our only game thus far this season, we shut out our opponent.