7V7 6-8Yo Man Or Zone Defense?

[dnewberry 0]

This is my first year coaching flag football. I got into it because the was not enough coaches and I didn't want these kids to not play because there was no coach. I am trying to figure out if it is better to teach man or zone coverage at this age? 6-8 age group 7v7. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Michael Rice 1]

Unless you have absolute studs on defense, I would go zone.

I coached at that age level for a year and have done 9-10 year olds for the past 2 years. It is just so easy for them to get lost on man to man, especially on misdirection plays.

IN the three years I have coached I have seen only one team, out of an average of 12 per year, try man to man and it lasted for about one half and they switched to zone.

It's really easy to isolate the weakest defender, pull the other defenders to one side and go to the guy who has the mismatch. It doesn't even have to be a case of the defensive player being weak, just not as good as the player he is defending...

[MillardFlagCoach 0]

Ditto.

I coach 5yr olds and we do zone.. based on on all the info I've found here, ty btw everyone.

[dnewberry 0]

Thank you for the help. We tried man for one quarter and it was a no go. So now it's all zone.