Originally published on 15 July 2022
Here are some tips and guidance I’d offer to anyone who is new to coaching flag football, specifically younger kids (ages 4 to 6) in what is known as the “Lil Ballerz” division in our league.
Most kids at this age won’t know much about the game such as rules, strategies or plays so I found it best to work on coaching some of the fundamentals while making the drills as interesting as possible. For a 1 hour practice, I would recommend breaking down the session into 3 parts:
a 5 to 10 minute warm up
20 to 30 minutes doing drills and exercises
20 to 30 minutes of scrimmage
This can be kept relatively simple: jumping jacks, jogging in place and stretching exercises.
For may of the drills and exercises, I would suggest finding examples on YouTube. In particular, I’m partial to the flag football videos put out by Mojo Sports. Most of their videos are less than 2 minutes. For each week, pick 2 to 3 drills that you’d like to work. Some of the ones I’ve used before include:
As you can see, most of these drills focus on flag pulling and basic skills such as handing off and running with the ball. For most kids below 6 years of age, trying to work on throwing and catching will be a challenge. But if you’ve got players who are more advanced, by all means, go for it!
For the last 20 to 30 minutes of the practice, we would run 4 on 4 or 5 on 5 scrimmages. This can be either with just kids from your own team, or you can play against other teams. The team kicking off selects one player to kick the ball. (If necessary, the coach can just throw the ball to the other team.) The receiving team picks one player to receive the ball and run towards their endzone while the kicking team tries to pull the flag. Typically, we just take turns kicking and receiving after every play, but if you have more experienced kids, you can introduce the concept of downs.
The purpose of the scrimmage is to get the kids used to running on the field, staying in bounds and learning how to pull flags during an actual game.
Make sure you leave plenty of time for water breaks. At the end of the scrimmage, make sure you have the teams line up for high fives.
Send out an introductory email to the parents and guardians of your kids at the beginning of the season letting them know what to expect as well as what to bring to each practice (e.g. jersey, proper shoes, labeled water bottle, mouth guard, etc.). Confirm with them the time and place for each practice. I also try to send a weekly reminder of upcoming practices/games.
Get an assistant coach (or 2!) to help corral the kids during the practices and games and to split them up into smaller groups when practicing the drills and exercises.
Bring cones! You can use them to mark out areas, finish lines, etc. when you practice. Don’t expect the league to provide you with them.
Be sure to teach good sportsmanship, such as returning the flags to the player, helping them get up if they fall down and shaking hands/high fiving at the end of games.
If you have other suggestions or recommendations, please let me know!