Pick your age group
Ages 5-6
Kindergarten and 1st grade · 5v5
At this age the goals are fun, flag pulling and knowing which way to run.
Ages 7-8
2nd and 3rd grade · 5v5
Seven and eight year olds can learn positions and simple routes.
Ages 9-10
4th and 5th grade · 5v5
Nine and ten year olds are ready for real football ideas.
Ages 11-12
6th and 7th grade · 5v5
Players this age can handle 8 to 12 plays, reads for the passer, and both man and zone defense.
Ages 13-14
Middle school, 7th and 8th grade · 7v7
Thirteen and fourteen year olds can learn a system.
High school
9th to 12th grade · 7v7
High school flag football is fast and tactical.
The shape of every 60 minute practice
Every plan uses the same five blocks so practice runs itself and players know what comes next. The minutes shift a little by age; this is the plan for 9 and 10 year olds.
| Block | Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Warm-up | 10 | Agility and flag pulling at game speed. |
| Skill stations | 20 | 3 stations. Swap every 6 or 7 minutes. One for passers and centers, one for receivers, one for defense. |
| Team period | 10 | Offense installs one play while the defense learns its zone drops, then swap. |
| Scrimmage | 15 | Full 5v5 with game rules. Call plays from your sideline the way you will on game day. |
| Cooldown | 5 | Stretch, then two minutes on what the scrimmage stats showed. |
Every drill in the plans is on the drills page with a diagram, and every play is in the 5v5 or 7v7 playbook.
Stat the scrimmage
The scrimmage is the best data you will get all week. Stat it in the BreakAway app and you see who is catching, who is pulling flags and which plays work before game day. A practice game in the app is the fastest way for a new statter to learn the buttons.
