Flag Football 2013 Recap

Wow time fly's when LIFE takes over...

2013 has come and gone.  We had another stellar year of flag football.  The team had a rough go of things starting off 0-5.  Some sense of "we suck" took hold among a few of the team members and parents. As the coach I felt it was my job to just keep reiterating, especially to the kid's, that they were a very talented bunch and their hard work be worth it in the end.

We went on to win 5 of our next 6 games including the playoffs eventually losing by 1 point to the league Champions.   (This was a team that destroyed every team they faced in the playoffs)

It was a really good learning experience for many people involved about not giving up and to keep fighting.  I was really proud of our accomplishments for the season.

Flag Football Playoff Weekend - Part 2

This update was a long time coming,  after Hurricane Sandy we were without power for a week and then clean up concerns took over and before I knew it a month had passed.  Well I finally decided to sit down and update results of our last playoff game.

The short of it was we ended up losing.   It was a good game between two quality teams, and in the end was decided by less than a touchdown.  The final score:  18-14.    It was close the entire game and we had a chance to go ahead in the end, however it was not to be.

Overall is was a good season after going 0-2, we only lost 1 game over the next month and a half.  Final record 8-3-2,  not bad for a team full of random kids who never played together before.

Flag Football Playoff Weekend - Part 1

Our local flag football team made it through 2 games this weekend to move into the next round of play-offs next week.

Our first game went really well we got off to a 19-0 start and ultimately ended winning 19-15 after giving up a late score in the last 5 minutes.   The good thing about this is, it was a very tough team that we had previous had lost to.

Our second game was a sloppy affair and we managed to win 25-19 despite mistake riddled play.    Historically my teams have all played incredibly poorly on late Sunday afternoons for some reason.  In fact our last loss was way back in September, and it was a Sunday aftertnoon game that was scheduled as make up game due to the fields flooding during a rain storm on the previous Wednesday.

I decided not to dwelll on it, after-all win is a win.  We will practice this week, and correct our mistakes and come out next Saturday and play great football.

If you want to see the drills and plays we use Youth Flag Football HQ is a great resource.

Coach's Playbook: Trips Receiver Screen

"Trips Receiver Screen" is run out of the Trips flag football formation just like my previous 2 flag football plays, "Trips Center Screen"  and "Trips Swing Pass"

The 3 wide receivers (A, B, D)  line up to the far right near the sideline and close together (this is the same for all "Trips" formations).  The quarterback (Q) is under center (C) and the running back (R) is lined up on the opposite side from where the wide outs are lined up, 3-4 yards deep.

At the snap of the ball the 2 wide receivers on the inside both run deep post patterns.  The center (C) will run a deep flag pattern.  These are the decoys.  The running back (R) short out pattern just beyond the line of scrimmage.  Receiver A take a small studder step forward and turns to face the quarterback.   The quarterback (Q) should pump fake toward one of the deep receivers (B, C or D) then turn quickly and throw the ball to receiver A.   Depending on the rules of your league it may be necessary for A to step forward over the line of scrimmage before the pass is thrown.

The play is designed to catch the defender back pedaling to cover D & B as they start to pass by or moving out of position on the pump fake.    If the corner back is getting aggressive and moving up to cover A, or trying to jump the route to intercept the ball,  then you can have A run a stop&go instead.    In this case the quarterback should pump hard to A and as the defender moves up, A should sprint past and down the side line. 

 

You can also use this play to set up several other options from this same formation:

• A fast hand-off to the running back (R) 
• Faking a hand-off to the running back then throwing deep to one of the wide outs - D, C, or B.
• Fake to A then throw deep to D, C or B

For more flag football plays & drills go to Youth Flag Football HQ

Coach's Playbook: Trips Swing Pass

"Trips Swing Pass" is very similar to my previous flag football play "Trips Center Screen"  conceptually except the rolls of the center and running back are reversed. 

The 3 wide receivers (A, B, D)  line up to the far right near the sideline and close together (this is the same for all "Trips" formations).  The quarterback (Q) is under center (C) and the running back (R) is lined up on the opposite side from where the wide outs are lined up, 3-4 yards deep.

At the snap of the ball the 3 wide receivers all run deep post patterns.  These are the decoys.  The center (C) will hesitate for a second then run a short slant toward the opposite sideline.   The running back (R) comes behind the quarterback running parallel to the line of scrimmage.  As the running back nears the sideline, in the area that the wide receivers (A, B, D) have vacated, he should turn up field.   The quarterback (Q) should them be able to pass the ball aiming in front of the running back so that he is able to catch the pass on the run.   It takes some practice but once executed correctly the "swing pass" is a very effective toss that gets your running back outside with the ball.

If the running back does not get open, the center (C) is the short dump off option.  

 

After we call this play a few times,  I like to confuse the defense by lining in the same football formation as if we are running the same play and then using one of these 2 options instead:

• A fast hand-off to the running back (R) 
• Faking a hand-off to the running back then throwing deep to one of the wide outs - D, B, or A.

You can find similar flag football plays on Youth Flag Football HQ website.

 

Why flag football?

As a youth sports coach one of the questions I get asked a lot is why play flag football as opposed to standard tackle football.   These types of questions generally stem from a negative stigma attached to the sport that considers flag football as recreational only (i.e. non-competitive), or worse that flag football is only a dumbed down version of standard football.  I take these types of questions as an opportunity to educate parents on the virtues of flag football.  

Here are some of my reasons for preferring to have my child participate in flag football over tackle football:

• Safer.   Even if you don't believe that concussions are a problem, as a parent you have to be concerned with having your developing child in scenarios where they are having constant full contact with other players.
• Learning basic skills.  Flag players spend most of there time learning to throw, catch, run routes and defend the pass or run. A flag player will have the same or more knowledge in these areas then the average standard football player, especially considering the next point.
• More diversity in skill positions.   Flag players are more likely to play a variety of skill positions.    In standard youth football players tend to get stuck in certain positions based on their skill set and athletic make up. For example,  a player I know recently moved to the 10-11 year old football program.  Because this player is more robust he ended up on the defensive line, this is most likely the only position he will play the entire season.
• Co-ed friendly.  From my observations the ratio of girls to boys in flag better then most sports at the youth level.  Its not uncommon to see an all girls league or at the very least a team made up mainly female players.

 I'd also like to look at what the players will miss out on in flag football.

• Blocking.  As most flag rules are non-contact, there is normally no blocking.
• Tackling.  Again do to the non-contact nature, there is no tackling required.  Instead players will plug the flag from the flag belt in order to perform a "tackle". 

For children and parents alike flag offers some great benefits in that it is less demanding time-wise, safer from injury and co-ed friendly.  At the same time flag football offers most all the necessary skills that the players need to be able to transition to standard football.  

I fully intend to let my child "pad-up" and play standard football a few years down the road.  However, for right now we are fully enjoying flag football , confident that when it is time to transition my kids will be able step-in with little if any learning curve.

Coach's Playbook: Trips Center Screen

"Trips Center Screen" is a play taken from my 2011 season flag football playbook.  The play is designed for 6-on-6 flag football.  "Trips" refers to the football formation the players line up in where there are triple receivers lined up wide and close together.  I have also heard this called a "bunch" formation, since the receivers are standing bunched up.

The 3 wide receivers (A,B, D)  line up far right near the sideline and close together.  The quarterback (Q) is under center (C) and the running back (R) is lined up on the opposite side from where the wide outs are lined up, 3-4 yards deep.

At the snap of the ball the 3 wide receivers all run deep post patterns.   These are the decoys. The center (C) will hesitate for a second then run underneath the area cleared out by the wide outs as they ran past.  If the center does not get open, the running back (R) is the dump off option.  

After a few successful passes to the center, I like to mix it up by either handing off to the running back or pump faking to the center then throwing deep to one of the wide outs - D, B, or A.

You can also flip this football formation so that the receivers are on the left and the running back on the right.   This will sometimes confuse a defense, who may think it's a totally different play.