4-6 Year Olds-Lining Up

[VolsDad 0]

Hey all,

I am new to the forum and already appreciate all the information that is readily available. It is refreshing to know I have a resource to assist me as a new flag football coach. I have already read several posts, especially the 5-7 year old post about them being kids. However, my specific problem is getting kids to line up in their correct positions. We've played one scrimmage and one real game thus far. During both of those games we did well but had one very consistent problem. I literally had to show 6-7 of the 8 kids where to line up on offense and defense. We go over this in practice but I have a very young team (5 of my 10 are 4 year olds). We have 25 seconds from the time the ref sets the ball and I found myself using that entire time just trying to get my kids lined up correctly. It consumed me during the game and I was wore out from it afterward.

I am convinced that we can be a pretty good team but teaching them to line up quickly would be a huge plus. Obviously at their age I am not expecting them to be lined up in mere seconds, but anything would be better than what it is now.

Any suggestions/tips? I will continue to go over old threads in case I missed it the first go around. It isn't my intention to beat a dead horse.

Thanks for any assistance!

[Coach Rob 26]

We go over this in practice but I have a very young team (5 of my 10 are 4 year olds).

That's a pretty young team. I know it will drive you crazy and probably looks goofy to the sidelines, but don't get too twisted up if it looks funky. Everyone should understand we're talking about very young kids here.

I helped coach a young team like that not too long ago and my solution was to have a second coach on the field with me. Their sole responsibility was to deal with lining up the kids. Can't imagine your league wouldn't allow a second coach to help. That would be my first suggestion.

If you can't have someone help, my second suggestion is to line up in the same simple formation every time on the los or have two basic simple formations. I wouldn't change up things with different formations each play. I don't think it's going to matter who is where for the players who aren't getting the ball that play.

Here's how it will probably play out. The hand off will occur, your player will take the ball, run the wrong way, parents and coaches will scream, he'll turn around and run the right way, then double-back. Meanwhile, half of the kids lined up on the los will still be standing there, the other half will be way down field jumping up and down waving their hands for Jimmy to pass the ball. One of your own kids will get tired of this and sit down on the field. Another one will join in the pursuit of Jimmy and in the end, you'll forget how they were lined up on the los.

[VolsDad 0]

Thanks for the reply. I suppose its possible that the level of talent I am expecting is skewed a bit by our first jamboree game. We played a team of all 6 year olds and they certainly didn't run the wrong way. They were very well coached, but ended up only losing by 1 point suprisingly.

I am definitely not looking to see them lined up perfectly in gaps of a 4-3-1 or 4-4.. however, I literally am spending all my time moving kids around. I don't even have time to really pay attention to what the offense is doing most of the time. We had a second coach on the field with me last game but I am going to instruct him/her that I need more help with aligning and making sure I communicate what I want.

I don't care if we win. I just want my kids to start learning about football and to have a good time while doing it.

[Coach Rob 26]

There can be a big difference between 4 and 6 yr olds, both mentally and physically. Since half of your team is made up of 4 yr olds, that's more where I'm going with all of this. Heck, at the freshman high school level I still deal with kids not lining up the right way.

I'm sure a few games in you'll have this figured out a bit more and the kids will also be getting in a groove. Look forward to see how this turns out.

[VolsDad 0]

So we played our first league game of the year yesterday and won by a touchdown. Offensively our one stand out player is really hard for any team to stop so we did well. However, we are struggling to encorporate any other offensive players to be successful. One kid ran decently well and caught a few passes so he is getting better. My son ran the ball once for a first down but then somehow convinced himself he wasn't any good and refused to run the ball again. It continues to be a work in progress. My son is extremely athletic and very fast but I haven't found a way to get him to be aggressive. Maybe it will come with and I won't be that dad who pushes his 5 year old to do more then he can at his age.

Defensively: They scored on us everytime but once. I made a few adjsustments on one series and put our best d player on right defensive end and he got in the back field and got a flag 3 plays in a row to force a punt. However, every other series they eventually ran around one of my OLB, got to the outside, and off to the races. The strong point to yesterdays game is one of our players emerged as a good flag puller and made 3-4 stops at left defensive end. The weak point is pretty much everyone else. I can't get my OLD to contain at all... and the other defensive players chase but don't engage. Realistically I have two maybe 3 on defense who successfully pull flags.

I am going to work a lot of flag pulling drills our first practice this week to see if I can't develop a few more players into better flag pullers and also work on getting my OLB to not let the runner get outide of them.

[Flagdad 5]

I have coached my sons 4-5 year old team all the way to his 7-9 year old team. At that age my suggestion is to practice playing the game as much as you can. If you have 10 kids, line up 5 on defense and bring 5 to the huddle on offense. Everything you "tell" them will not stick, teach through doing with as much repetition as you can. Break once in the middle for a fun drill like Flag Tag or Sharks and Minnows, then rotate your kids.

If you find yourself talking for more than 10 seconds, get back to doing. Don't worry about getting blown out. The secret to coaching at that age is how many kids have played before. The new coaches get new kids, returning coaches get a 3-4 who resign up and then they can use those kids to crush you.

I will also say...run first...pass second. No matter how wide open at that age or how great your QB, passing is going to hurt you as often as help you. I am not saying to give up the pass, but until you get a good running game you will be in trouble consistently. The key at that age is to get outside. These kids don't want to run in to people, so every middle run, they break outside anyway...even when the middle is wide open. I do a sweep to a wide out and give a reverse on first and second down with my slower kids to get them in the game, then third down I fake the reverse with my fastest kid. If the corner bites on the fake, only one safety has a shot at the getting him. The trick is finding two kids who will do a good fake when they aren't getting the ball.

If you have a team of kids who want to do 'Ole!" flag pulls from the sides, take off flags and do a two hand drill with a cone alleyway about 6-7 feet wide and 20 feet long with 1 defenders every 3-4 feet. The defender only gets an atta boy if he gets in front of the defender and makes them change directions, then two hand touch. The carrier then tries to juke the next defender. Make a big deal about the ball carrier not being able to run in to the defender (this is a rule, but refs rarely call it). This will teach them that most of the time collisions don't happen and that getting in front before pulling flags is key. It really is. You will always have 2-3 grass pickers, slow kids or ones who aren't aggressive enough to risk getting run over. If you can get those kids to at least slow down their speedsters by getting in front and forcing a cut (preferably inside) your flag pullers will get more shots at them. When they stand planted and reach, they miss and they might as well not be there.