OT - Lessons from Coaching Young Kids at Flag Football
This spring, I coached my second-grade son’s flag football team with two other dad volunteers. None of us had coached flag football before. Our team was essentially the Bad News Bears: the kids were 7- or 8-years old, with 8 of the 10 playing organized football for the first time. We lost badly in the first part of the season, lost close in the middle, and we won our last game, 19-0. As expected, the kids got better through the season, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I learned, and how much better the grown-ups got at coaching.
Going in, I would have said that a man who scripted out drives for his son’s flag football games was a douche; however, I wound up doing just that, because it made me less stressed during the game. Here’s a quick story about how I came to these conclusions, then a bunch of the lessons I took away.
PLAYCALLING EVOLUTION
Before each offensive play, we started off verbally telling each kid their assignment in the huddle. This was disastrous; we found the boys couldn’t remember their own assignments (hearing the other 4 assignments was too distracting). Drawing plays on a whiteboard worked better (“Oh, like on Madden,” one kids remarked). From there, it made sense to put a few plays on paper into an organized binder. This worked better, but mid-game I spent too much time searching the binder. In our later games, I scripted the first two drives of the game, making sure to spread the ball. As a bonus, I got to use the same script for each game the rest of the season, because it’s not like we had a scouting report on opposing defenses.
My lessons:
- Pre-Season
- Meet with the other coaches on your team. Figure out which one coach will call offensive plays and who will track substitutes. (You can switch on a game-by-game basis).
- Plan an offense around 2-4 different formations. Draw up run plays for these formations.
- Figure out how you want to visually show these to the kids, either with a binder, some laminated play sheets, or a greaseboard.
- Think about what would happen in the case of a torrential downpour.
- Scan the playbook and send them out to your coaches
- E-mail parents
- Ask for pictures of the kids so you can start to learn names
- Send out playbook. Don’t be a jerk and ask kids to memorize, but have the parents show it to the kids. Most are excited to play and will want to see this.
- Each Week
- Bring nametags for the first few weeks. (I used address labels)
- Bring a first-aid kit, with big band aids to cover skinned knees.
- Come up with a lineup / player rotation, where each boy gets to focus on one offensive position each week. Track who plays where, so each gets a chance to play QB and RB.
- We had 10 players on the team and found it best to split them into groups of 5. One played offense first half, the other defense, and they switched at halftime
- In practice, do drills to focus on one offensive skill and one defensive skill. Spend at least some of the practice time scrimmaging.
- Draft a game script. Add in no more than 1 new formation and a few new plays each week.
- The script just tracks what you meant to call and have already called.
- If you spend less time thinking playcalling, you can focus more on the play and the kids playing.
- In Game
- Try to keep stats to ensure equal playing time.
- Over the season, you want each kid to play similar numbers of series, have a lot of touches, score at least once, and call the coin toss once.
- If you can’t keep track during the game, spend 15 minutes after the game or the next day estimating.
- Key stats:
- Offensive series played,
- Defensive series played,
- Carries
- Receptions
- TDs / PATs
- Who was the captain each week
- Key stats:
- Call the offensive plays (assuming coach allowed in huddle)
- Before getting into huddle, select a play, and flip to the right playcard in your binder.
- Line the players up facing the line of scrimmage and hold the playcard so it is aligned with the line of scrimmage. Some youngsters get their lefts and rights mixed up; lining them up facing forward and holding the playcard forward, you make it as easy as possible.
- Try to keep stats to ensure equal playing time.
- Post Game
- Away from the boys, talk to or e-mail with your coaches about what worked and what didn’t
- Adjust your plans accordingly
This experience of coaching 7- and 8-year old kids taught me a lot, and I wanted to share. Thanks for humoring me!
Nice!
I came to a similar realization. What I did to make things simpler was to have four formations and have the same routes run off of the formation but have multiple things that could happen from each one. Then you tell the QB whether it’s a handoff to a specific player or a pass, I’d rotate one of the receiver positions and have the receiver run the play in. Kept me off the field and kept them more engaged.
Defense was playground rules of, “I’ve got him.”
took me WAY too long to get to that point but boy it sure made things easier and better and more fun. Just wish It hadn’t taken four seasons.
Reverses and mis-direction. End of play calling. Maybe a pass or two off the reverse if you have a capable youngster. Been there, done that.
Our bread and butter (if you can get someone to get the shotgun snap down) is have the offset RB and WRs all on one side (trips and we usually stacked them on the short side). QB lifts leg, inside WR goes in motion to the QB. Snap comes, it takes an hour of practice to get the timing. Play one is a draw to the RB. Run kid. Play two fakes the handoff and then gives to the motion man (your fastest kid) with the wide side of the field to juke and make things happen. Play 3, fake both handoffs and try to hit one of the WRs on a route, we ran one shallow cross and one deeper cross.
User name checks out.
Sounds like a fun way to spend some time.
Nice, love this.
I am coaching my son's coach-pitch baseball team this year, and have had similar revelations as a first-time coach. I will say I came in a bit over-prepared at the beginning, as that is more my personality. But I think many coaches are afraid of taking things too seriously; nobody wants to be the one guy who is going overboard with 5-7 year old kids sports.
But I've found that finding the balance in the middle is key: being organized and structured helps keeps the kids focused, and when they are focused and engaged they are more likely to have fun. Being organized and structured doesn't mean you're acting like Mike Ditka during a game; you can be energetic without being a dick.
And communication with coaches/parents is as important as anything else you do on gamedays/practices. I've seen other coaches do this so poorly that they set themselves up for challenges and drama. Simple, clear, and straightforward communication will keep nagging parents off your back.
Yes! The happy middle is when the coach is well-prepared, but accepting that most of the kids won't be prepared or focused. Weirdly, when I'm more prepared, I'm more OK with kids who don't pay attention.
And yeah, there's an entire art to communicating with the team parents. Someone probably teaches a class on it.
the last 3 seasons (spring, fall, spring) of helping out with my son's 8U team has been interesting... first coach was awesome, kept the kind in line and made sure that they were always paying attention at all times. second 2 coaches not so much... the coach this past spring bragged about all of his success as player in HS and college when he emailed the parents at the beginning of the season, but as a coach he just didn't have it in him to be a disciplinarian with the kids that wanted to screw around all of the time... towards the end of the season he got better about it, but that was more out of frustration...
the hardest part of coaching kids, is their parents. they either don't care, care just enough, or go completely overboard (i fall in between the last 2)... all season long we had kids showing up as the game was starting, or not in uniform, in the 2nd inning... the games started at 6pm during the week and the either at 12pm, 1pm, or 2pm on Saturdays, so i didn't understand how the parents couldn't be on time...
The kids are fine, but the parents and sometimes the grand parents. . . .
After coaching multiple youth rec league soccer teams, if I ever do it again, I'm going to have the parents sign and return an agreement (yes, like the kids in dazed and confused, but without drug restrictions).
(1) The parents will have their kids on time for the warmup before the game. I need to know which players will be there for the start of the game. I have a lot to do before the game to get the kids warmed up, meet with the ref and the other coach. I do not want to set a lineup 45 seconds before the game starts. Our team may not have any substitutes, so if your child is late, we may have to start short handed or delay the game, which is unfair to everyone else. Warming up is important for safety and for performance
(2) Parents will not criticize, yell at or engage the referee, the other team's coach or, under any circumstance, the other team's players. The coaches are volunteers doing their best. They will make mistakes. The referees are often kids in training, doing their best, but learning the job. They will make mistakes. Please treat them as you would want someone to treat your teenager if he or she were learning to referee. If something should be addressed with an opposing coach or the referee, I will take care of it. If I have to mediate a dispute between a parent and the other coach or a parent and a referee during the game, it distracts me from coaching, it interrupts the game and it distracts the kids from the game. It should go without saying that it is never appropriate for a parent to engage with a child on the other team other than to compliment him or her.
(3) The parents agree not to instruct their kids from the sidelines. This can be confusing if your instructions conflict with mine. You may be right and I may be wrong, but it's more important that the kids are receiving a single message. I'm happy to discuss any strategy with you after the game.
my sons coach in the spring of 2021 told the kids after the last practice and said it loud enough for the parents to hear that they needed to be at the field a half hour before the games... he even sent out an email reminder. And then there were parents who still couldn't get their kids there on time... The coach even told one dad that it was a really bad habit that he was teaching his son... lol
This spring the coach only told the kids and only the parents that were at that practice and heard knew... and when it became a problem he never said anything again about it.
As for "coaching" from the sidelines, i am guilty of that but its more or less directed at my son when when hes not paying attention because the coaches were never on the field helping direct traffic like all of the other teams did...
we lost the most of our games in the last couple of innings because the kids had no idea (except for 3) what do when the ball was hit to them. and if the ball made it to the OF then it was a 50/50 chance that a kid would run and get it right away. then you look at the other teams and they have 3 coaches on the field telling the kids to pay attention, where to stand and where to throw it. They're 7 and 8 year olds and they aren't going to remember everything from practice...
At that age, are they more interested in a Transformational NIL experience or a Transactional NIL experience. Asking for a Head Coach.
At that age, I was more interested in Transformers, but you never know with kids these days. Probably expecting happy meal bags full of cash.
Snacks. The secret to getting them to do anything is post game snacks.
In-game snacks. Get yourself a $4 bag of starburst candy and you'll be amazed what 5-10 yr olds will do for 1-2 of those
Here's the lesson I've learned. Find the dads who's kids are really good and ask them to be assistant coaches!
You forgot to mention to use glue, safety pins, etc., so that the flags are harder to pull off. 😊
You sound like a great coach, trying to make sure that everyone gets a TD and equal time/touches on offense and defense. At that age, it should be about learning and having fun. It sounds like a lot of work so I hope the parents appreciated what you did. Kudos to you.
Best thing for 7 year-old boys is to go get ice cream or something fun after each game regardless of the score.
Also, don't forget the James Harrison Participation Trophy Collection.
Great Stuff. We should have a series of these which focus on coaching different sports - soccer, tennis, BB etc.
that's a really great share. I have some experience coaching children as well. Here's my story.
I applied to MBA schools in the fall of 2000. I had an in-person interview at NW and I scheduled it to be the Friday before we played them in football the next day. NW was a top 5 program then and I probably had no real chance of getting in anyway. But her very first question was about my extracurricular activies while in college or post-college. I should have just shaken her hand, stood up, and left her office right then. I had no good answer, it was embarrassing.
The next day of course was the A-Train fumble attempting to run out the clock, followed by the TD to lose in the last seconds. While walking out of the stadium a college aged NW fan got right in my face and yelled, "WE'RE SMARTER THAN YOU AND BETTER AT FOOTBALL!". I had no response, based on my interview and the football game result he was right.
When I got back to Farmington Hills I called the local YMCA to see if I could volunteer, so that I would at least have an answer should I be asked the extracurricular question again. I was able to reach the guy in charge at the YMCA and he told me that they were just starting up an 8 week basketball clinic for 6-10 year old boys/girls on Wednesday nights. I was working at GM in Warren then and wasn't traveling much so that worked perfectly. I came in for an interview and passed the background check, I was all set.
I came in the first Wednesday of the clinic to help this guy out. I am waiting for him in the gym as probably 20 kids are bouncing basketballs, trying to make shots, and their parents were chatting on the side. The director walks in, throws me his whistle, and says, "I'm tied up doing something else, have at it". What?!?!? I was absolutely not prepared to have to run this thing on my own, I had prepared nothing, I was just planning on following his lead. I began to feel very anxious. Then I just counted to 3, blew the whistle, and pretended like I was the director.
It was one of the best experiences of my life. At the beginning of every session I had the boys/girls sit around me at halfcourt for a few minutes. I asked them, "who's a fan of Michigan", a few kids raised their hands. I did the same for MSU, ND, whatever. Then I told them that if they wanted to go to those colleges one day that they needed to do very well in school, those colleges are hard to get into so you have to study really hard now. I think they were surprised that I brough up school at that time. I also told them that if they behaved well and listened well for the next hour that I would dunk the basketball for them at the end. And sure enough, the kids mostly behaved very well and I would follow through with my promise and give them some unique dunk at the end of every session.
There were 2 sessions those 8 weeks, one hour each. Towards the end of the sessions I had parents come up to me and tell me that their kids were actually doing better in school. I guess having someone that could dunk a basketball also talk about school was really paying off.
I went on to get my MBA from UNC (user name checks out) and eventually got a job in the Detroit area again after I graduated. I called up the same guy at the YMCA to volunteer again. He was so happy to hear from me. I did the exact same thing for 8 more weeks, and by now the program had grown to 3 one-house sessions on Wednesday nights. That was a lot of work but I was so happy to give back again, THIS TIME not because I was trying to build my resume.
And that volunteering bug stayed with me when I moved to California, mentoring a boy that lost his father to cancer when he was 6. 14 years later that boy will begin his masters of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford this fall.....
OK, that's a way better story than mine! Few points of comparison:
1) I was at that Northwestern game. At the time, it was the most exciting and high-scoring (51-54) game I'd ever seen. My second road game, it's the loss for which I have the most positive memories.
2) Love that you counted to 3. In so many situations, a person tries to act before thinking. In coaching, I borrowed John U. Bacon's advice -- if you're starting to lose the kids or need a minute, make the kids run a lap while you gather your thoughts.
3) My wife mentored for Big Brothers / Big Sisters. She started when her little sister was 12; she's 30 now and the two are having dinner.
wow, all great points, especially #3.
I went to all 3 of our losses that season, all on the road, UCLA, Purdue, and NW. Three last second losses, ugggh.
You get an upvote just for surviving that.
Nice write up, some very similar stuff, particularly about coordination with rotating players.
My offensive game plan was simple (thus easy for the kids to learn) yet extremely effective. We ran a hybrid of the triple option.
I lined the kids up in a wishbone set behind the QB. I assigned each RB a number:
Fullback (up back) was 1
Left wing back was 2
Right wing back was 3
Each back ran the same route each time...
Fullback dive (quick accelerating runner)
Left wing back went next for a sweep right
Right wing back went last for a sweep left (fastest, best runner)
I taught the QB the right way to hand the ball off to each RB (including fakes when necessary)
So in practice, at each rep, I would yell out....1 go.....2 go...3 go....
We rep this play over and over again so the QB was able to handle the ball effectively.
Regardless of who got the ball, all three RB would run their routes and the QB would do the hand offs every time.
Then at the game time, share the ball and it was very easy to get the defense out of position and lead to plenty of easy TDs.
After establishing the run game, I incorporated a couple of pass plays. My favorite would be for the center to run a seam route straight down the middle of the field. After all the running plays, he was the last person anyone would every look at. Three fakes and turn and throw (12-15 yards pending the skill of your QB throwing, but also your center catching). It pretty much works every time the first time..... It also encourages kids to play the center position as there is a play design for them.
Dominated 2nd, 3rd grade (4 seasons - Spring and Fall) and allowed to build upon it over the seasons as I had a core group (my and the Asst coaches kids) until my son switched to tackle in 4th grade
I also coached my boys in flag football for two years when they were 7 and 8. The rules then were you had to rotate positions every series so you couldn't just play one kid at QB, etc. for the whole game. You also only had 45 seconds to call a play. We found a lot of creative plays on the internet but it was difficult with everyone always moving around.
We ended up color-coding the playbook and then passing out colored wristbands at the start of every offensive series. That made it much easier for each player to see what they needed to do.
For defense, we passed out eye black stickers at the start of every game for the players that pulled the most flags in the previous game. That worked really well to motivate the kids. Of course, at the end of the season every kid had been awarded a couple stickers. The coaches kids understood that dad couldn't always give them a sticker and were okay with that.
I was sooo good at gym class flag football. Didn't have much of a route tree, but I was deceptively fast and caught everything.
Sadly, that was my peak athletic experience.
Good and fun post.
Although --- Brian Kelly is confused as to your advice about "think about what would happen in the case of a torrential downpour."
Isn't the answer to still throw the ball on 60% of offensive plays? Full speed ahead with whatever the plan was in the first case?
Loved your list. I'd like to know more about your experience with the torrential downpour!
I didn't deal with a potential downpour, but when one was forecast, I got very worried that our plays - drawn in washable ink on plain paper -- were going to be unreadable fast. That's when I scanned all the plays, so a weather-event wouldn't be a multi-week tragedy. Also, dry-erase boards don't work well when wet (their name checks out). So the options I considered: waterproof sheet covers, or an umbrella, or laminated plays -- honestly I'm not sure what works best, and I hope I don't have to deal with it too often!
Congratulations on your first year. You have a good list and it sounds like you & the other coaches put in some thoughtful effort. I really appreciate how much care you put into making sure each kid got a roughly equal amount of "focus." That's important in rec league flag, but know it will be increasingly hard as you move up in age, as there will naturally be certain kids who are just light years better than others. Still, you can always give every kid at least a couple "focus" offensive plays each game.
Also, scripting at least something was very smart. I always started with the same 5 plays -- that made it much easier for my kids to know what we were doing and build confidence, and also allowed me some time to focus on the other team (e.g., where were their weak points? Were the playing man or zone?)
I coached about 15 seasons before hanging it up when my kid aged out last year, and my quick additional tips:
- Always take some time to practice snapping. Once kids get just a bit older, the refs stop saying "Do over" if the ball hits the ground & you lose a down. Wasting plays is frustrating, all-around.
- Also as you get older, reverses (the bread & butter of grades 1-4 flag football) become less effective. That said, always still try at least a couple, including a fake, if you have a kid who really has wheels, b/c if you burn one guy at the point of attack, that's all she wrote.
- As running become less a thing, the pass that I loved was the stop & go. Set it up with a couple initial short passes and then bombs away.
- Last, once you get to the age they can start blitzing, take advantage of it. The other team's QB is not Tom Brady and even if he sheds the blitzer, it will likely fluster him. Plus -- and this is key -- it is a great way to get less athletic kids involved. I often "hid" kids who couldn't make a tackle or mark a receiver to save their life by making them a blitzer -- they typically couldn't do anything if they got to the QB, but the QB didn't know that (or at least wouldn't for the first half) so he'd get rid of the ball more quickly than otherwise; plus, that unathletic kid on your team is involved & singled out, which makes their parents feel good, as it is likely they won't get the ball as much on offense (e.g., even if you direct your QB to throw it to them, they unfortunately won't catch it).
Have fun!
Run the damn ball
Thanks for sharing. I coached my ten-year-old son's flag team last spring. On offense, we used color-coded plays that were in a binder. I laminated them so the weather would not be an issue. Kids got colored wristbands before the series to know their assignment. I always kept the QB the same color, which helped. I emailed the playbook to the parents at the starat of the season. I too thought it important to have the kids read the play facing the line of scrimmage so they did not have to reverse it in their heads. One issue with this: sometimes the kids would see the play and look at the player who was getting the ball or otherwise indicate that was going to happen. I had to talk to them about this because they did not realize they were tipping the play off. I also added one new play each week. I found the hard part as a playcaller was making sure to watch both the defense before and during the play and the offense execute the play. I think I called better follow-on plays when I watched the defense more. I did not script plays because I wanted to see how the defense was lined up and what I could potentially take advantage of. We did have 3 or 4 go-to plays though.
As for playing time, we gave kids numbers before the game and an assistant would keep track of that to ensure equal playing time when we had less than 10 players show up. I would often ask the group who wanted to play QB and then rotate among them. Not all players wanted to play QB, so I did not make them do so by rotating them. Alternating QBs makes it harder to throw passes, so I had several plays that were designed short passes.
On defense, two rules: get lined up correctly before the play and everybody sprints to the ball. Had a fun season and am looking forward to doing it again.
I’ve coached every age from 7/8 to HS varsity and the 8 year olds are by far my favorites. They don’t know their limitations yet, so if you care, they listen. Also, those games were, believe it or not, the most pressure packed imo. Everyone’s going D1 and new parents gonna new parent lol. Thanks for the share!