While some people view flag football as just another way to pass a Sunday afternoon, others know and love it as a competitive sport with its own leagues, tournaments and championships. As with football, flag football games are won by a combination of athleticism and teamwork. The application of basic flag football plays to the right sets of circumstance and situation is crucial to a team’s success. However, the successful running of basic flag football plays does not magically happen overnight; rather it is achieved by practice.

The most important aspect to a flag football team’s defensive strategy is one that pulls flags. Have your players work on pulling from the flag belt as opposed to the actual flag itself. This will increase their rate of successfully removing the flag since it centers in on a constant target. Even if the player is moving and spinning around, an unwavering firm grip on the flag belt could still get the flag out. Also try having your players rake their fingers down their opponent’s back before landing on the flag belt. The main disadvantage to this strategy is when the shorts or shirt gets held for too long or in the wrong spot your team could face a holding penalty.

Improving your team’s flag pulling abilities is as easy as running a few basic flag football plays at practice. Have your team line up single file with one player standing five yards from the line with their back facing the others. The first player in the line runs towards the lone player. Just before he is about to reach the lone player, he cuts to his right and pulls his flag. The next player from the line up performs the same task but cuts to the left instead of the right. This is a great drill to run at the beginning of a practice or just before a game to get the adrenaline pumping and the flag-grabbing fingers prepared.

Once your team has mastered the art of flag pulling it is time to add a few basic flag football plays to their arsenal. When running plays, it is crucial that each player on the team knows and understands his role within the play. The quarterback has arguably the most important job here, since it is up to him to know the location and movement of each player for every play.

While having a team that knows and runs their own plays successfully is important, there is something to be said for knowing your opponent’s playbook as well. Watching other teams can be a great way to add to your basic flag football plays. They may have a completely new way of doing something that hadn’t even crossed your mind. Also, watch how other teams use their players’ skills and strengths to their advantage when running both offense and defense plays. For example, if a team has many compact, quick players they will likely run a lot of shuffle pass plays instead of throwing long lobbed passes, a strategy for fitting for a team with many taller players.