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Coach Rob suggested that I add a topic for coaches to introduce themselves and I thought it was a fantastic idea.

So here we go. Once this get's going a little I will go ahead and pin it so that it will be at the beginning of the forum.

Feel free to share as much or as little about yourself as you would like. What offense/defense do you like to run, how long have you been coaching.

With that I will start it off myself.

I have been coaching now for over 15 years. It started with my youngest daughter who is now 20 and has continued with my sons. I am not coaching as much these days as my kids have grown past that point. I am currently coaching two of my son's basketball teams. I have coached in various leagues over the years from CYO, YMCA to Select Baseball and AAU Basketball. I have definately learned a lot along the way and have mellowed over the years, but I am always open to new ideas and love to learn things from other coaches.

Welcome to the y-coach.com boards.

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Coach Rob here from Colorado.

I played sports (basketball, football, baseball and tennis) all my life through high school and into the college yrs. Tennis became the dominate sport, played all yr round and in all kinds of tournaments. However, fame and fortune eluded me.

I got into coaching about 6 years ago as an assistant for my son’s kindergarten soccer team. After a season or two, my wife signed up for a different league, the team didn’t have a coach so I volunteered. The rest, as they say, is history.

I’ve been a head coach for youth basketball, soccer and flag football for the past 5 years. I was coaching 5 seasons of sports per year, but traded soccer in for flag football a few yrs ago and now coach 4 seasons per year. Spring and fall flag football, then two seasons of basketball, we take the summer off. I've coached with local city programs, YMCA and I-9.

In my free time I try and hit the slopes in the winter time. As a youngster, I grew up in Arkansas and developed an interest for snakes, turtles, frogs, etc. My son and I share snake hunting as a hobby. We travel to AZ, FL, MO and IL in search of those scaly creatures à la Steve Irwin style.

I’ve enjoyed this board; the discussions, ideas and encouragement have helped my coaching tremendously.

CRob

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Hello,

My name is Curt I reside in a suburb of Houston Texas. I have been involved with coaching youth sports for about 12 years.

When my youngest son decided to play organized sports in 2005 I became involved with an independent youth football league in my area. Over the past 4 years my involvement with league has swung from ounce a year fall volunteer coach to a year round position as the VP of Football Operations.

The league runs a flag & tackle program in the fall for kids K-6th grade and 5 on 5 NFL flag in the spring for ages 4-17. We have also been involved with the NFL and have been awarded their Junior Player Development camp for past 6 seasons. Last season we also were awarded and sponsored a USA Football coaching education site. Through all its programs the league services about 1500+ kids in and around the North West side of Houston.

The longer I do this the more I learn and the more I surround myself with quality coaches. I have had the pleasure to able to meet and learn from NFL, Collegiate, High School, Jr. High and volunteer youth coaches across the country. Each of them has made me a better administrator and coach and any success I have I owe to them.

My goal is to seek out and share knowledge of the game of football to better myself and our league.

In my search I found this forum and have found it to have great value to the volunteer coach.

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Coach Orange from Orlando, Florida. I grew up playing neighborhood sports, pickup games with all the local kids, soccer, football, baseball, whatever. My parents never got me involved with organized sports for whatever reasons but that never stopped us from playing everything under the sun. I eventually swam in high school and was an avid intramural flag football player in college and volleyball after college. Now my athletic endeavors are limited to working out and running although I do both regularly to stay in shape.

The first organized sport my son played was soccer when he was 5 (about 5 years ago). I signed up to be the "assistant" although I signed up blind, assuming whichever guru coach was in charge of the team would take me under his or her wing. Since nobody signed up to be the head coach, I was it. Thrown right into the fire I quickly learned that I really enjoyed it. The kids seemed to enjoy it too so it was really a win-win. Since then I have coached other soccer teams, including my daughter's who is now 6. I am constantly helping out my son's baseball teams as extra assistants are always needed. This year I signed up to officially be an assistant for my daughter's baseball team. I have also been an assistant on several of my son's basketball teams. But my real passion is coaching flag football. I have coached for 4 years now (only 4 seasons because we limit it to once a year). I feel like I can coach that well since I played it a lot in college and have developed a strong following of parents and their kids.

I feel like I have been a good contributor to this board and also have learned a lot from it and the members. There are many who have helped me here but Coach Rob is really the best. I ask him the craziest things some times and he always answers me without judgment.

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I live in a suburb northwest of Austin, Texas.

I grew up playing little league baseball, pick-up football games and tennis. Occasionally a pick-up game of basketball too.

I've coached for the last 3 years. Started with my son's YMCA baseball team, then the Y- basketball team, and then we found flag football. I've coached 3 seasons as defensive coordinator and this is my first season as head coach.

I got into coaching to help out on my son's team, and just made the switch to head coach, well, to be honest, because I thought I could do a better job than his previous head coaches. I am a huge college football fan (born and raised in Austin - Go Longhorns) and I want the kids to have a positive, fun experience, and learn to truly love the game the way I do.

It is a lot of work but I truly enjoy teaching the kids and watching them have fun playing football.

I really appreciate the great info on this board and all of the great coaches here to bounce ideas off of and ask questions to.

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I am originally from Southern California but live in Las Vegas now and have so for the past 11 years.

I started coaching my sons Flag Football team 2 Falls ago simply because I felt I could do a better job than his coach at the time. I have also helped assistant coached his baseball teams as well. For me I love coaching football as I grew up playing it through high school. I also Wrestled in high school and as an adult I play in adult flag football leagues too. We play in a NFL rules 5 v 5 league.

I have truly learned so much from teaching these kids the game and have learned so much about the game of flag football itself too! Although I do have a few kids who I carry over with me on teams, I truly enjoy the challenge of working with new kids on a new team and love meeting new kids and parents. I have made some great friends of parents just in the two years I have coached...

It is a challenge but so very rewarding! I thank every poster and coach on this board for their participation and insights. I have gained so many tips and so much knowledge on this board alone about youth flag football!! With this board and you guys I feel I am way ahead of a lot of other coaches... Thank You

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I live south of Annapolis, MD. Grew up in PA, in rural areas where football & baseball (ugh) were the only sports until you got to middle school. Played a lot of pickup sports and football when I was in elementary school. Football was my sport through middle/high schools. After college I played rugby and now play soccer (easier on the body).

Most of my coaching experience has been with soccer, although I have coached basketball as well. Last year my wife volunteered me to coach flag football and I took a bunch of my son's travel soccer team players and formed a team. It was fun winning as an "outsider" coach, with soccer players against football players and coaches last year.

I use my approach to coaching youth soccer to coach flag football. In soccer, everyone (excluding GK) needs to be able to control the ball, dribble, pass, shoot and defend. It is my opinion, that you're better off having good soccer players than good strikers, good midfielders and/or good defenders. So, I use that approach with FF as well. Every players is taught how to snap, handoff, throw, receive, cover, etc. with the goal of players being interchangeable and able to be creative. Obviously some kids are much better at some positions than others, I just feel that in sports you can't predict where a kid should play when he's only 10 or 11, so they need to learn all the skills they possibly can to prepare them.

FF is stressful to coach. I love it, but it's stressful. Especially when I had to do it myself. In soccer, most of your coaching is done during practice sessions, and on game day, it's basically free play (which is the reason it's the players game). FF, and football in general, is much more of a chess game, which is what makes it fun as well.

Like most of you all, what makes it worth all the effort is when a player experiences a success even if a small one. A first goal scored in the last game of the year. Good downfield coverage on a pass play. Even a completed throw in a game for a player that didn't even know how to grip a football. Sometimes (maybe too often!) these small moments are missed by us, and parents, but they're what keep most of us doing it.

I owe Orange & CRob big thanks because I gleaned a lot of info from their posts, and probably haven't been as helpful to others as I should have in return posting.

PF

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I live in Dallas. 38 years old, two kids (boy who is 8 and a girl who is 6). In my "real" life I design computer software. As for former athletic endeavors, I played virtually everything in high school, and was a walk-on one season in 1-AA football. Now, I'm just a middle-aged guy with a gut (but as the old SNL "middle-aged man" said, "I'm working on it.") Ha!

I got into coaching four years ago. My son's first team (soccer) I did not coach and was lessed than pleased with his coach's involvment. I thought "there has to be a better way." The next season we signed him up, I came home and my wife tells me I am coaching his team. Turns out they did not have enough coaches and my son was one of the one's without a "team", so I took the leftovers. ;-) I'm one who thinks if there is a better way to do it, I will get involved and give it a shot myself.

Coached soccer for four seasons and we were dominant---but we did it the right way---as a team.

I've coached two years of football (my true love). We have not been as dominant, but we are still doing it the right way.

What I appreciate most about this forum is the level of respect members seem to have torward one another. I am on a few other forums of interest, and this one trumps the others when it comes to rationale dialog (which is rare over the Internet forums).

What I love most about coaching is seeing a team "gel". For the past few seasons, before each game I always tell my players how I would give anything to be out there playing with them. I always drive home how fortunate they are to be out there playing and having fun---and ensure they make the most out of that opportunity.

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I'm 25. I have a 4 year old (will be 5 in April) and an 18 month old. I work full time, go to school full time and manage to have a lot of time for my kids still.

I'm coaching my first team ever. I'll be coaching 4-5 year old flag football. I am going to be coaching I-9, since they are the only ones who do football around me for anyone under 6.

I've played sports since I was 4. I played football, basketball, swimming and baseball from 6-12. I played AAU basketball a lot. I was very athletic and had a very smart natural instinct to all sports I've played. My big issue is that I chose football to be my main sport come high school. I was 5'7 173 and wanted to be a linemen....I played again behemoths that couldn't stop me from getting the QB. My issue was that my coaches thought I was too small..anyway. I know sports, and I know football... I just don't know much about flag-football. I played it, but that was a while ago.

I am also the coaches son...I know there always seems to be a negative stigma, but my dad only coached sports because the coaches we had were not that good and played favorites towards their children. My dad was very tough on me, but it wasn't excessive or anything...It was just a fun challenge for me as a kid. I come here for advise on plays and drills and how to make it more fun for the children.

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Hey guys,

I am the head varsity football coach at a pretty successful high school in Ohio. I now find myself as the coach of my 11 year olds spring flag team. I feel I certainly understand kids and football, but I am looking forward to picking all of your brains about what has and hasn't worked for you in 5 on 5.

Thanks in advance for the advice I'm going to ask you for.

Mav

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Born in Colorado, lived in PA and now reside in NJ. Played contact football for 12 years and played coached flag/touch for 6 years with adults. Was assistant coach for pee wee contact for 1 year. First time Head Coach for youth flag football. For kids I believe in sportsmanship first, fun second, learning third and finally food fourth. At this age I believe in every kid having a chance to do what they want - they as long as they try their hardest. The kids will have plenty of time for tryouts and competitive ball down the road. See you other coaches in the pros!

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Coach Rob suggested that I add a topic for coaches to introduce themselves and I thought it was a fantastic idea.

So here we go. Once this get's going a little I will go ahead and pin it so that it will be at the beginning of the forum.

Feel free to share as much or as little about yourself as you would like. What offense/defense do you like to run, how long have you been coaching.

With that I will start it off myself.

I have been coaching now for over 15 years. It started with my youngest daughter who is now 20 and has continued with my sons. I am not coaching as much these days as my kids have grown past that point. I am currently coaching two of my son's basketball teams. I have coached in various leagues over the years from CYO, YMCA to Select Baseball and AAU Basketball. I have definately learned a lot along the way and have mellowed over the years, but I am always open to new ideas and love to learn things from other coaches.

Welcome to the y-coach.com boards.

Hey everyone, I'm coach Shannon (male by the way). I just wanted to say this is the best forum ever. I've been coaching 3 years now between flag and tackle football and basketball. I have 2 son's 10 and 14. I want to thank coach Rob, coachcurt and orange for all your help and taking time out of your day to coach youth sports and to come on here to help out us rookie coaches.

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Hi,

I'm 42, coaching (youth) Flag Football (5 on 5), Football and Soccer in Europe.

I've been coaching for around 8 years by now.

In Europe, Flag football and Football are growing slowly but surely ... though not easy to compete with Soccer huh !

Thanks for the very useful information, tons of good advice and tips !

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Hello all...

My name is Stan and I'm a first year coach here in Anchorage, AK. I'm currently in the U.S. Air Force stationed at Elmendorf AFB. I will be coaching youth Flag Football for 7-8 year olds in our 7 on 7 base league. I have always loved football and played a little tackle football during high school. For the past 12 years I have been in the military, I have played 7 on 7 flag football at every base I have been stationed. I'm starting to get older now (34) and my son will soon be playing football, thus I decided to get into coaching. I will also be coaching our competitive adult Squadron team, as well. The Air Force will be getting me Youth Sports coaching certified and I will be on my way, I guess. I look forward to picking everybody's brains for advice and ideas.

Coach Stan

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Hey guys. I'm Ken and this will be my 2nd year coaching although I will really consider it my 1st year since I am actually controlling more than last year and had people in charge of creating stuff as I was just doing the overseeing. I am 23 and will be mainly coaching teams for my church. This year I get the lovely opportunity to share my favorite sport with the sisters. They are between the ages of 13-18. Last year I did a co-ed team of the same age group. I am very excited/anxious for this upcoming tournament we will be playing in.

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Hello all. I'm Mark Reed and am a 1st year head coach in a 7 & 8 year old flag football league. I'm 30 years old and am serving in the US Air Force overseas in the United Kingdom. The league is held on base and has proven to be extremely fun. I appreciate all of the tips that have been posted in this forum as they have helped me tremendously.

Coach Reed

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I am back on the forum after a short-lived retirement from coaching. My 3rd grader requested another go around as his coach and a long standing league had an opening. We are in Cleveland, Ohio (please no Browns jokes) and the area is really football crazy.

This will be my 3rd year of flag football coaching (have another couple years of soccer, but that is a nightmare best left for a therapist's couch). I have 3rd and 4th graders in their last year of flag before moving into the local tackle programs. I am all about fun and learning, but want the kids to tap into their competitive side as well. This year I move from a small rec league that played 7-on-7 to a feeder league for the local high school program that plays 8-on-8 with limited rush (only the 2 defensive tackles can cross the line). Full blocking is allowed and there is only one defensive set permitted (4-2-2). They are pretty serious about the league, but are also committed to the goal of getting the kids to stay with the program (80% of the 4th graders go into the 5th/6th grade tackle program). A lot of the rules restrictions seemed set up to actually allow the kids to get into a play. In my previous go arounds, a stud on the d-line was so disruptive that many plays never had a chance (luckily that was my son last year).

I am in way over my head compared to the other coaches, but will do my best to get the kids ready. I may start a season thread as well to look for some help.

BTW, this is a great forum and the regulars here have been a huge help. Now, off to find some ideas for plays because I can throw out my previous playbook!

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WOW....what an incredible site! This is my first year coaching flag football, we're in the NFL flag league with 6-8 year old's, QB can't run, rushers from 7 yards out, no pitches...the usual. I've coached baseball and basketball the last 5 years and now also diving into the football thing. This site has been incredible with plays, defensive ideas, philosophies, etc.

We had our first game last Saturday and WON! Played a man defense, although I wasn't too happy with it, but didn't know how to implement a zone...but I did throw it out there at practice tonight and the kids seemed to enjoy it, so I may play it for half the game this week and see what happens. Offensively, I run some end-arounds and a LOT of quick pass plays...special THANKS to Rob, Orange and Texas D for sharing their playbooks.

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Hey everyone, I'm Kevin Fisher and I"m coaching 5-6 year old kids in the NFL's flag football league in Lincoln, NE. I've coached basketball, soccer, t-ball, and now this. I"m pretty excited for it because football is the sport I know the most about. I have enjoyed reading through these posts and they helped me already with our first practice last night. Any practice drills that can be sent my way would be much appreciated!

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Hi,

I'm 42 years old an have been coaching as an assistant or head coach for 3 years. I was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska and therefore love college football. I started out helping coaches and had my head-coaching debut as a basketball coach. I've found that flag-football is the most fulfilling sport to coach. There is nothing like leading the team out on the field on a crisp, sunny fall morning! This is my second session as the flag-football head coach. I was very lucky that my son's prior flag-football coaches were wonderful to work with and learn from. I only moved to head-coach after the last coach's son moved into tackle. I've got 3 great assistants who love the game. I'm always looking for new ideas to help teach the players and this forum is perfect for that, so thanks in advance to everyone here!

Bob

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Hey all - Coach Greg here. I currently coach a 10U 8 on 8 flag football team. Wow - hadn't ever thought about it before - but I have filled out soooo many of those background check forms...

Let's see - started coaching 3 year old soccer in 2001 at the YMCA and have coached multiple seasons every year since - non stop. That year I coached Spring and Fall outdoor soccer and a 5U T-Ball. Did that for 3 years then moved into flag and then tackle football. Back in flag as our area has an awesome 8 man league which really focuses on developing receivers and DB's and QBs. Tough league. My buddy and I actually have 4 teams in the league. An 8U, a 10U which my son plays on, a 12U which his son plays on and an old man's league (40+). We all run the same system and speak the same language - and have lots of fun. The kids think it's really cool when the Big Drillers show up at a game or just practice with them. Our 10s do that for the 8's, 12's for the 10s and 8's, and the men do it for all three. You should see an opposing 8U or 10U Team when their opponent has 3 other teams - dressed exactly like them - high-fiving and cheering them on - confidence soars. Nothing but fun!!

I was back coaching 3 year old soccer again for the last 2 years and now that one is moving into softball (T-Ball version). My son also plays select baseball and rec basketball - all the same boys on his flag football team with only a couple of exceptions.

I have been lurking and reading up - the respect you guys give each other is a nice touch.

Looking forward to learning a lot!

Coach Greg

I believe that the development of our children is the point of youth sports - PLAY HARD - PLAY FAIR - HAVE FUN

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Hello everyone!

This is my first season coaching 7-9 year-olds in i9 Sports 5v5 flag football. I grew up in the Midwest and have been down in a suburb of Atlanta for the past 15 years. I played many years of football through college and had the most fun playing in 7v7 summer leagues in high school. I am really impressed with the wealth of information on this forum and, more importantly, the philosophy most coaches here have toward recreational sports leagues. I fully believe it should be fun first.

Growing up in a small town, I played baseball in the summers because that was all that we had. I wasn't particularly good at it, but it was fun to get to see friends during the summer. When I was 9, we didn't have enough 8-9 year olds sign up for a team, so they put me on a 10-11 year old team. Needless to say I road the bench only playing a couple of innings every other game in right field. Our team went undefeated and blew the doors off every other team we played even through the summer end tournement. Without a doubt, it was the worst experience I have ever had playing an organized sport. I can honestly say that if your team wins and you don't have any part in it, it really isn't fun. Furthermore, the summer before when I was 8, we had a single mom who knew nothing about baseball coach our team. We were awful and I can't even remember how many games we won - BUT we had more fun that summer than any other. What our coach lacked in baseball knowledge she made up for in enthusiasm and energy.

Attitude, energy and enthusiasm really do make a difference!

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Needless to say I road the bench only playing a couple of innings every other game in right field. Our team went undefeated and blew the doors off every other team we played even through the summer end tournement. Without a doubt, it was the worst experience I have ever had playing an organized sport. I can honestly say that if your team wins and you don't have any part in it, it really isn't fun. Furthermore, the summer before when I was 8, we had a single mom who knew nothing about baseball coach our team. We were awful and I can't even remember how many games we won - BUT we had more fun that summer than any other. What our coach lacked in baseball knowledge she made up for in enthusiasm and energy.

I couldn't agree more. It is sad how much emphasis parents and coaches put on flat out winning when it is supposed to be recreational.

Thanks for sharing.

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Hello all

I'm Mike, 46 year old from NW Ohio, actually living in southern Michigan, but as a Buckeye fan it's still hard for me to admit. Growing up, I played basketball and tennis, but really got into flag football at tOSU, and our intramural team was school champions several times. I feel so lucky to have found this forum, and want to thank everyone, especially Orange, CoachRob, and Johnp2, as they have been especially invaluable with advice to me. This is my first year coaching my son's flag football team through the local Y, the league is (supposedly) 1st-3rd graders. It's been a rough start, as we are 0-3 so far, but I've been extremely enthusiastic with my team and we actually have alot of fun (even after we lost our last game I had two kids ask if they could be on my team next year: helped ease my bruised ego). Our team is challenging...somehow I ended up with 3 kindegartners, and one 1st grade girl who doesn't really want to play football out of 9 kids. It's obvious to me that even at this young age, there are some "stacked" teams; through it all we have managed to play fun football, and I am keeping with my personal philosophy (that I see backed by many of the coaches on the board) of every kid getting touches every game. I have been proud to watch my team take on the first level challenges of learning to snap, hand-off, block, pull flags etc. and have celebrated every small victory with them. Our lack of success many times make me doubt my approach, but I am sticking to it, and feel by the end of the year, I will hopefully have made a positive impact on these kids lives by being a good mentor to them, if not a great coach!

Thanks again all...I'm looking forward to learning much more and keep growing as a coach through all of your ideas and advice.

Coach Mike

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