No matter their experience level, every coach needs to plan out their flag football practice. This is even more important if you are coaching kids as they need structure to ensure they don’t run wild.

In this blog, I will share a basic structure for your practice sessions to make sure it is fun for children or young people.

Warmup

No matter what drills and activities you have planned for your practice, warming up at the beginning of the session is vital. Warming up ensures your players increase blood flow to their limbs, sharpening their performance and preventing muscle strain and pain.

Your warmup should combine physical activity and stretching. Games like ‘red light, green light’ can help make your warmup fun for your players.

Flag Football Drills

Unsurprisingly, drills will make up the bulk of your practice. This will help boost your players’ skills and techniques, all of which will translate into good performance on the field. To keep kids engaged, you will need to run several different drills. In general, it is good to run drills that test offensive, defensive and fundamental skills.

When it comes to general skills like footwork, passing and receiving, drills like snapping, catching and throwing will be helpful.

For offensive skills such as plays and routes - quarterback drills, wide receiver drills and running back drills will come in handy.

Defensive strategy drills should focus on flag pulling, back pedalling, and defending the pass.

It is important to balance different types of drills to ensure your players learn all the skills they need for a game. You might decide to put more focus on a particular skill if you perceive weakness in an area.

Scrimmage

A scrimmage is a session of practice that consists of an actual game. You may decide to run a 4v4 game. This will give everyone a chance to play and influence the game.

Traditionally, coaches leave time for scrimmages at the end of the practice. However, some coaches have found success in putting scrimmage at the beginning of the practice. It is worth experimenting to figure out what suits your practice session best.

Water Breaks

It is important to build plenty of water breaks into your practice. This will ensure your players remain hydrated and at peak performance. Be sure to bring extra water to practice for any kids who have forgotten to bring their own. If the practice isn’t going well, a water break can help ‘reset’ things.

Insert Fun Into Your Practice

While flag football is ultimately a competitive game, it is important to never lose sight of the fact that practice is meant to be fun. Introducing silly games into the practice or playing music during warmups can help make practice more fun. Get creative - your team will thank you for it.

Looking for Tips That can Enhance Your Practice Sessions?

As a professional flag football coach who has a passion for teaching others, my website has a variety of free and low-cost resources to help you learn to coach such as my low monthly fee Play Builder membership that teaches you to make your own plays. Or grab Coach D’s age-based practice schedules with minute-by-minute 8-week agendas with links to drills, and more.