5 Tips to avoid Flag Football Injury

With the off-season injury to star wide receiver Steve Smith, in flag football I thought it would be perfect to write a post on injuries in Flag Football. Most flag football injuries occur for several reasons. One cause with any "weekend warrior" style sport is conditioning. Some type of pre-season conditioning program with a focus on strength and stretching should be under taken. It also should go without saying that if you have been a "couch potato" and now decide that you can get out there and compete, pay a visit to your local doctor.

We all can use a checkup before we hit the field. Another risk is the exposure-related injuries; Like extreme heat that can lead to heat exhaustion or worse heat stroke. Cold related injuries can bring forth the same conditions if you are layered up and not properly hydrated.

Flag-Football is not usually played as a contact sport, but there are leagues where light contact is encouraged and played out. So the more exposure to contact the risk of injury increases. I have witness some very severe hand, head, and knee injuries all from seven man no-contact leagues

So the following tips should help you with an injury-free season.

1. Participate in a pre-season strength and stretch program.

2. Pace yourself, if you have been in-active for a period of time, take your time.

3. Warm-up and stretch 30 minutes prior to game time.

4. Have the proper equipment, like a mouth guard to prevent oral injuries.

5. No shorts with pockets should be worn, shorts with pockets leads to broken fingers.

Bonus Tip - The field can also cause injury, check the field for any glass, divots, holes, or just trash period.

Have a Good Season

Run da Ball - The art of the run in flag football

Pass....Pass...Pass.....

Flag Football is all about the wide open, misdirection passing game. So line play can be downright boring and frustrating. This is because you cant use your hands to block. In seven man screen flag football the screen is just what it says, you screen your blocker with your feet. Eight and nine man football is a little different you are able to full extend your arms and block. So you would think that when playing seven man why would you run the ball. The answer is simple, in seven man all defenses are looking for the pass. Some good teams from the start of the game will place Linebackers and safeties directly in most passing lanes. The run will keep them guessing and thinking, and we all know once a defense starts to think and not react it increasing the chances of the offense. So you ask what is the art of the run?. Here you go

The first thing you want to do is get in a two point stance with your feet about shoulder width apart. Placement of the feet is important. Running to the outside to the right you want to place your right foot forward with your left slightly back. This will allow a good seal screen once the play starts to help the runner get a quick jump to the outside. Even two yards matter in Flag Football. If running to the outside then it is left foot forward and right foot back.

The trick to this is when the play starts you have to move with short quick steps and place yourself in front of the oncoming rusher. If you followed the above foot placement then you should be in a position to either bump or limit the penetration of the rusher. Once in front of the rusher use your leverage and weight to guide or turn the blocker in the direction you want. The key here is to keep a slight bend to your stance and move into the blocker.

The greatest thing about the run is this, once the play goes forward and you provide a good block and most times the run will catch the defense off guard. This will open up the next most under used play/weapon on any flag football team. That is the pitch. Always run behind the runner providing an outlet for the pitch. So you can see playing the blocking position is not that bad

Flag Football Tip # 9 - Defensive Communication

I hope you all had a good weekend and enjoyed the NFL preseason games. I did and already the season is shaping up to be one of high drama. I will speak on the story lines later in the week. Today i want to talk about a very important aspect of defense - communication.


You watch any sporting event and the players will huddle and discuss in seconds what is going on. I always thought when I was younger how is it humanly possible to share information so fast during a game. I could not see any long discussion or pointing in the direction of the other team just a quick huddle and then reset for the next play. I found out once I started to play organized sports that players develop there own lingo for every action on the field. I found that this helped to quickly get me in position and give direction on what action I am to perform.


In flag football this is vital that your team develops its own lingo or lets say audibles to make sure the defense is on the same page. A typical flag football offense can be very complex, most offenses really on misdirection in there play calling. So a quiet defense is a beat defense. There should be communication going on before and after the play. There should be established audibles to blitz or drop back into a different play. The defense should be able to communicate before a play to mix up the look - its important to do this in flag football. Having a talking, unpredictable defense is the key to winning. Follow the tip to a very fast and winning defense.

Here is a video i found to display the difference between good defense and poor defense. Ignore the song in the background but focus on the team that is clearly more together than the other, plus one team using proper flag pulling technique - where the other is doing it all wrong. Enjoy

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