Flag football is becoming more and more popular. Be it flag football for kids or flag football for adults, the likelihood is that there is a flag football league near your location. Flag football used to be seen as niche, something to do when tackle football wasn’t in season. Today, kids flag football is booming, with kids and their parents seeing the benefits of enrolling in a flag football league to learn football basics before potentially – but not always – graduating into the tackle game.
Getting started with flag football is easy. Here are a few pointers to set you off in the right direction on your flag football journey.
Find A League
This sounds like a backward way to learn a game, but first, you should find a flag football league. Joining as a free agent is an option, but a more fun way to do this is to join a league with your friends – or your kid with his/her friends if it is a youth league – as this will be a fun and social experience for you all to undertake together. There are more leagues out there than you think. Using North Texas as an example, here is a sample of the available options.
- YMCA
- Dallas Parks & Rec
- Dallas Sport & Social Club
- North Texas Football League
- Flag Football Association of North Texas
- Lonestar Sports & Social Clube (Adult)
- Frisco Football League
- Plano Sports Authority
- Allen Sports Association
Get Equipped
After a league is found and joined – or even created if you want to if there is nothing in the area – you need to research and see what is provided. Most leagues will provide flags and flag belts, while you may need cones and other field markers if there are no lines out there. Some will also provide a team t-shirt for games, while others will just ask that all players wear the same color. Getting a good pair of cleats is essential, but the type of cleat should judge this – often soccer cleats – that work best on the field type (turf or grass) your new league plays on.
Learn The Rules
There are general, standardized flag football rules, but there is no guarantee that your league will follow them to the letter. Get your hands on a copy of the rulebook – most leagues will have downloadable rules file online – and learn what you can and cannot do. It is also best to get to your game – or if it is flag football for kids to get them to their game – a little early. This will allow for any rule clarifications, but it will also allow you to get to meet any teammates you don’t already know.
Practice At Home
One of the beauties of flag football is that it can be practiced at any time. You only need yourself and another person – perhaps your kid – to throw the ball around and work on basic skills. Getting out to the park will allow your kid to practice their route running while you throw them the ball, a good representation of how it will be when they are running in flag football without the worry of a safety hitting them as they catch the ball. Practice will be essential as a way to hone skills, so be sure to practice work on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.
Enjoy It
This sounds obvious, but you put your kid into flag football to have fun. Another sport or pastime may be an option if it isn’t fun. The same is try when joining an adult league. You are there to make new friends – or have a better connection with existing friends- and the way to do that is by having fun. No one is getting paid here, and no one will be going pro any time soon. Understand that, and the game will instantly become more about having fun than having an insatiable drive to win.
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