Many of us have enjoyed pickup games of football ever since we were little guys trying to emulate the professionals on TV. Touch football, little league football, and plain old tackle football occupied our late summers and early autumns. However, when it comes to playing in a flag football league, you just can’t line up, snap the ball and expect to get anywhere without planning your game. The teams that develop a playbook, practice and execute fundamentals, and have a few flag football tips to follow will find themselves in the win column more often than the alternative.

This article presents some tips for playing flag football in a way that will produce more fun than you could ever imagine. Knowing the rules of the game is a big help towards enjoying the game, and committing yourself to develop a solid game of playing by the rules and stick to it no matter what other people may say will define your team as a standard for excellence.

Here are some tips that will take your team to the next level of flag football excellence and fun play.

1. Develop a team of players that will absolutely commit to being at every practice and subsequently present at every game. Reliability goes a long way to developing a well-organized team. When your men are dependable in this area, they will be dependable in carrying out play assignments.
2. A simple playbook will establish not only dedicated assignments such as pass routes and blocking particulars, but it will also help develop strategies when certain obstacles and circumstances present themselves. There are several sources for plays on the Internet and at your local library in the sports section.
3. Watching football games on television is really entertaining, but it can also be a bad example, especially for flag football. One common rule is that when the ball hits the ground the play is dead. There is no recovering of fumbles, which is a good rule for protecting the players from harm. What you can do when your ball carrier gets caught in an inescapable situation is to lateral or pitch the ball to a teammate. This advances the ball and can keep the play going when most teams would take the down.
4. According to the rules of the United States Flag Football Association each team is composed of eight players. With this many men on your team you should develop a defense that has at least four rushers and the balance of the team play zones to cover pass receivers. Every now and then blitzing will also cause a team to stumble and it will give your team the advantage in those circumstances.
5. Offensively develop some plays that will continually give you some short gains. Everyone likes to throw the “bomb” to the parking lot kind of play, but game strategy is like trying to eat an elephant. Take little bites at a time out of the defense by running short yard plays. This type of play will become a burden on their defense and it will open up opportunities for that big yardage gaining pass play.

You can never have too many flag football tips and the wise coach will develop all the little things that will cause his team to shine. Practice until everyone is confident of his position and employ each of them to look for some secrets that will help their position become a stronger asset for the team.