Flag football allows coaches to instruct their players about the basic essentials of the sport without tackling or using excessive physical contact. Flag football coaching allows a team to learn and run plays without risking significant bodily injury. This can be a daunting task for a coach, but fortunately there are many tips and strategies which can make flag football coaching run smoothly and contribute to the overall skill and cohesion of the team.

Keep Everything Simple:

The most important thing is to try to keep everything simple, and then try to build complex plays off the simple ones. In order for your players to understand everything you teach them it is best to keep your offense and defense simple. It may seem like a wonderful idea to create many complicated plays which will throw your opponents off guard, but the truth of the matter is that you will likely only use a small number of plays 80% of the time. The most important element of successful flag football coaching is ensuring that your players understand everything that you are teaching them so that they can easily incorporate their training during game situations.

Swarming and Blocking:

When coaching defense you want to emphasis the importance of swarming around the ball. This is absolutely essential because the more players swarming around the ball, the greater the opportunities to grab the flag. Blocking is also integral for both offense and defense, so make sure that you instruct your players to make sure they maintain their blocks during the entire play, until they hear the whistle blow. Teaching the importance of swarming and blocking during flag football coaching is a necessary and effective method for preparing for game situations.

Use Your Strengths:

When coaching you always want to design your game plan, for both offense and defense, around your team’s specific strengths. Use the knowledge you have about the players and the team as a whole to take advantage of the things that your players can do best. For instance, if the team is not very successful at long passes, then don”t focus all your attention on trying to make something spectacular happen out of the sky. Intelligent flag football coaching is instead more about focusing on the strengths of your team and using those strengths to your advantage.

Let Everybody Play and Show Good Sportsmanship:

Flag football was designed to allow every member of the team to practice and play an important role in the team’s success. The main purpose of flag football coaching is for the players to unite and come together into a successful and cohesive team, so don’t try to emphasis the importance of one or two players over the team as a whole. Showing good sportsmanship is essential to creating a successful football team, so make sure that your players are not trying to be overly aggressive with their own teammates during flag football practice and always teach them to shake hands and be good sports with their opponents after the game.

By: S. R. Tucker

About the Author: