Flag Football Zone Tip #10 - Flag Pull

Sometimes the simplest thing can be the hardest. Flag pulling stops the play. Think of it has a tackle. A very soft tackle. Really i think this should be tip 1 but there is a method to the madness. Missing a flag is like yawning, you know once one person yawns someone else is going to yawn. Same with missing a flag i have seen and been on a team where this has happen, this will usually end with some ya hoo celebrating like he just won the super bowl and your team giving each other dirty looks with shouts of "pull the day um flag" or "we have to pull flags guys".

Missing a flag is guaranteed to gain the other team 7 to 15 yards or worse like i said before a Touchdown. To remedy this problem of missing flags is to....Practice. That's right practice is the only way that you will train your body to position and pull a flag without injury. Yes i said injury there is a reason most leagues prohibit the wear of shorts with pockets or sweats. I have seen fingers bent in odd shapes from getting caught in shorts, flag belt, etc. So below i am going to list my 3 tips on pulling the flag or stopping the play

Tip One - Get in the Way

That's right sounds simple right?..wrong it can lead to you getting a shoulder to the throat or chest area if done incorrectly. What you want to do is best you can position yourself in front of the oncoming runner and grazing across the mid section or back if your chasing and pull the flag, always pull down never across. Pulling across can lead to injury

Tip Two - Keep your Feet

What i mean by Keep your Feet is this..keep them moving. If you have ever played football then you know that standing flat or still will get you juked out of your socks. What you want to do along with tip one, is to chop your feet and move with the runner. Notice i said move with the runner and not reaching for the flag - reaching will get you the treatment of our friend above in the video. Instead of grabbing the flag you grab something else(lol)

Tip Three - Penalty

Yes i know what your thinking take a penalty. Sometimes you have to, me personally i would rather a 15yd penalty for grabbing then a game changing touchdown. This can sometime change the course of a game. 15yds. So i suggest depending on field position, time, score, etc. Just grab the guy take the penalty and try again. Some call it cheap, I call it field savvy. I once jumped offsides before the start of a play to allow my late arriving teammates to get on the field. I know what your thinking just call a timeout. Nope, you need timeouts plus i would rather take the 5yds get my guys on the field and save my timeouts. Again Field Savvy.

I hope this post as shown you what can happen when you don't have proper technique in flag pulling and the importance of it. As always leave your comments and see you on the next post