Flag football is an intense, highly athletic sport that is on the competitive rise in high schools and colleges across America. This fall it will become an AIA sanctioned sport. With teams forming constantly, preparing your body and mind for the sport is essential for success. As a coach of a local high school flag football team, and the captain of Valley Fever- a local flag football team here in Phoenix- here are 4 keys to success that I implement into my practices- to help myself and my athletes succeed:
#1 Speed Work
Speed is going to be important for offensive and defensive positions alike.
Offensive players like receivers run longer routes up and down the field. On the defensive side, players like cornerbacks and safeties will need speed to keep up with those receivers.
The quarterback and linebackers need side to side speed and the ability to change direction to make a flag pull and to avoid getting their own flag pulled.
For every position, progress yourself to practice running routes and defense at a game speed. Not every play will end up with you running perfectly down a straight line, and it is important to prepare your body to step and change directions at a moment’s notice.
#2 Agility
In any sport, you must react to what’s happening in front of you. As a defensive player, you have no clue which direction that receiver is going to cut. You constantly must react and change direction based on their movements. Offensively, you know your route, but you don’t know what the defender is going to do in front of you. The same can be said for rushers and blockers. The blocker doesn’t know if the rusher is coming at them from the right or the left, and the rusher doesn’t know which way the blocker is going to step.
In flag football, you aren’t tackling, so you have to try and make moves to get around people. You are moving your hips up or down and side to side to evade someone from pulling your flag. You need to be agile to make split second decisions and successfully act on them.
#3 Coordination
In football, agility and the ability to move left and right is important. On top of that, tracking and catching a ball and then turning to move up the field is vital to help your team succeed. Coordination is key for success in flag football.
Developing the hand eye coordination necessary to track and catch a ball will take many repetitions. And then it will take many more repetitions to learn what it feels like to make a cut for your route. The first time you try anything new, it is going to feel weird. The more you practice, though, you gain coordination and control, so the movement is engrained in you.
You know what you need to do with your body at every step. You drop your weight low and slow yourself down before you make the cut. Knowing how this feels for you takes time and practice.
On the defense, too, you need to get used to changing direction and guarding offensive players’ running routes. When you see the receiver changing direction, you need coordination on how to plant your foot and cut to guard them.
#4 Strength
All sports require strength in order to reduce your chance of injury and elevate your performance. Like many other sports, flag football requires you to able to control your own body weight and be prepared for both the expected and unexpected.
Even though flag football is a non-contact sport, there will still be times you run into players or vice versa. Having strength, agility, and body awareness will help you be able to hold your own while going up for a ball with someone else in the air.
Applying the Keys to Success
Developing these keys to success is not only vital to your performance on the field, but it also plays into the safety of you and the other players.
Practice. Practice speed, agility, coordination, and strength. If you want to be successful in this sport- or any sport- put in more work than just what you do at practice. And, if you need support in any of these areas, reach out to a Spooner physical therapist today!
If you are injured in sport or want to develop your keys to success, schedule an appointment with a Spooner therapist today!