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Players and safety

Every kid gets better and every kid stays safe. The basics for the volunteer coach, on one page you can pull up at the field.

Draft. Written from public guidance by the CDC (HEADS UP and heat illness) and the National Weather Service, and being reviewed by a youth sports medicine professional. It is not medical advice. In an emergency, call 911.

Every kid gets better

Every kid plays

  • Everyone takes a turn at QB and everyone gets a ball thrown their way. Keep a quick tally of touches; the quiet kids are the ones you lose first.
  • Rotate positions every few plays. A kid who only ever pulls flags never learns to love catching.
  • Show the team gives every kid their own color and their own job. They know where they are going before the hike.

Skills by age

  • 6 to 8: pulling flags, running straight to a spot, catching with two hands (thumbs together above the belt, pinkies together below), standing still before the hike.
  • 9 to 11: counting steps on a route, eyes back to the QB, finding open grass against a zone, the rush count.
  • 12 to 14: reading the defense before the hike, throwing as the receiver cuts, calling plays by number.

A practice that works, in 60 minutes

  • 10 minutes: a warm-up game, like flag tag.
  • 15 minutes: skill stations, three or four kids at each.
  • 15 minutes: one play. Walk it, jog it, run it.
  • 15 minutes: scrimmage with the play in it.
  • 5 minutes: a huddle, one thing they did well, the team cheer.

Coach the coach: what to say

  • Say what to do, not what not to do: “eyes back after five steps,” not “stop forgetting to look.”
  • One fix at a time. Then let them run it again.
  • Praise effort by name, out loud, in front of the team.
  • If a kid is picking daisies, don’t yell. Give them a job (“you start the count”) and bring them back in.

Win it the right way

  • Nobody wins without the work. Wins are made at practice, one rep at a time.
  • Flag guarding is cheating: no hand, arm or ball covering the flag. Flags hang free at the hips, never tucked under a shirt.
  • Pull the flag, not the kid: no holding, pushing or tripping.
  • Be set before the hike. A head start you didn’t earn isn’t yours.
  • Cheating is taking something another team earned. A win like that fades fast, and nobody remembers it. A win you worked for is yours for good.
  • Praise the work out loud: the kid who ran the right route even when the ball went somewhere else.
  • In the playbook, a play turns game ready only when your kids get it at two different practices. There’s no shortcut.

Every kid stays safe

Before every practice and game

  • Walk the field: holes, sprinkler heads, glass. Move cones well off the sidelines.
  • Water for every kid, labeled. A first aid kit and ice packs at the bench.
  • Know the field’s street address for a 911 call, and who makes the call.
  • Ask parents before the first practice about allergies and asthma. Inhalers and epinephrine pens go to the bench, labeled.

Heat

  • On hot days, water breaks every 15 to 20 minutes, in the shade.
  • Heat exhaustion looks like heavy sweating, pale or clammy skin, dizziness, a headache, nausea or weakness. Stop, get them into shade, cool them with wet cloths, let them sip water, and tell a parent.
  • Heat stroke looks like confusion, hot skin, or passing out. Call 911 and cool them right away while you wait.

Head injuries

  • Flag football has little contact, but kids still collide and fall.
  • Watch for a kid who looks dazed, is confused about the play, moves clumsily, answers slowly, can’t remember what happened, or says they have a headache, feel dizzy or sick, see blurry, or just don’t feel right.
  • Take them out right away and keep them out the rest of the day: when in doubt, sit them out. Tell the parents. They see a health care provider before they play again; many states require written clearance.
  • Call 911 for a seizure, repeated vomiting, a headache that keeps getting worse, slurred speech, weakness or numbness, one pupil larger than the other, a kid who can’t be woken, or any loss of consciousness.

Lightning

  • When thunder roars, go indoors. Clear the field at the first thunder, into a building or a car.
  • Wait 30 minutes after the last thunder before anyone goes back out.

Bumps, bruises and bloody noses

  • Ice wrapped in a cloth, 15 to 20 minutes.
  • A bloody nose: sit up, lean forward, pinch the soft part of the nose for 10 minutes.
  • Anything that looks broken, or any neck or back injury: don’t move them. Call 911.

Lightning guidance: National Weather Service. Head injury and heat guidance: the CDC’s HEADS UP and heat illness pages. Rules and requirements differ by state and league.

Every kid knows their jobOpen the playbook