Flag football drills at home for 11 year olds

At a glance

At 11

44 flag football drills the app opens for an 11 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 30 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 45 minutes for an 11 year old.

How often

At most 4 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: cones (26 of the 44 drills), flag football (22), flag belts (8), agility ladder or chalk lines (1), chair or fence (1), colored cones (1), laundry basket (1), tape (1). 2 drills need nothing but space. 29 are for two, and a parent can be the partner.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

44 at-home drills

Flag football drills for 11 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 11 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

catching

Catching

• Bad Ball CatchesAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Catch, Tuck and Turn UpfieldAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Over-the-Shoulder CatchAges 11 and up · 12 min

evasion

Evasion

• Cutback RunAges 11 and up · 10 min
• One on One Flag ChannelAges 11 and up · 12 min
• Stutter and GoAges 11 and up · 10 min

flag pulling

Flag Pulling

• Break Down and PullAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Funnel Angle PullAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Pull Left, Pull RightAges 11 and up · 10 min

route running

Route Running

• Curl Route PracticeAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Getting Off the LineAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Sharp Cuts at the ConeAges 11 and up · 10 min

speed & agility

Speed & Agility

• Cone Reaction DrillAges 11 and up · 10 min
• L-Drill FootworkAges 11 and up · 10 min
• Ladder In and OutAges 11 and up · 10 min

A 30-minute session

A home flag football session for an 11 year old

A warm-up, 2 drills and a cool-down, 30 minutes in all. Do it up to 4 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Flag Football Warm-Up, Ages 11 to 13A 10-minute moving warm-up for flag football players aged 11 to 13: running, moving stretches, plank, balance, landings and build-up runs, then flag football moves, with a note on growth spurts.10 min
2. 2Grip and Throwing StanceFingers on laces, shoulder points.8 min
3. 3Self-Toss CatchesHands catch, body stays still.6 min
4. 4Flag Football Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 11 to 13A 6-minute cool-down for flag football players aged 11 to 13 after training: stretches for the legs, hips, inner thighs and shoulders, each held 15 to 20 seconds, never to pain, with growth-spurt notes.6 min

At 11

What changes in flag football training at 11

20 at-home drills join the list at 11.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 11 hours for an 11 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting flag football into a week at 11

At 11 the limit is 11 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 4 sessions of 30 minutes is 2 hours, which leaves 9 for team practice and games. Even 4 days at the app's longest, 45 minutes, is 3 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers