Flag football drills at home for 8 year olds

At a glance

At 8

24 flag football drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.

How often

At most 3 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 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: flag football (12 of the 24 drills), cones (11), flag belts (3), chair or fence (1), laundry basket (1), tape (1), tape or marker (1). 2 drills need nothing but space. 13 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.

24 at-home drills

Flag football drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 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

• Pinkies Together Low CatchAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Self-Toss CatchesAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Catch and Call the NumberAges 7 and up · 8 min

flag pulling

Flag Pulling

• Eyes on the HipsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Hanging Flag PullsAges 7 and up · 6 min
• Pull the Flag From a Walking PartnerAges 7 and up · 8 min

route running

Route Running

• Plant and Cut StepsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Slant and Out BasicsAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Walk the Route TreeAges 7 and up · 8 min

speed & agility

Speed & Agility

• Quick Feet in PlaceAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Red Light, Green Light StartsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Shuffle and BackpedalAges 7 and up · 8 min

throwing

Throwing

• Grip and Throwing StanceAges 7 and up · 8 min
• One-Knee ThrowsAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Throwing Motion FreezeAges 7 and up · 8 min

A 21-minute session

A home flag football session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 1 drill and a cool-down, 21 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Flag Football Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for flag football players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then flag football moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Pinkies Together Low CatchLow ball, pinkies together.8 min
3. 3Flag Football Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for flag football players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and inner thighs, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in flag football training at 8

The app opens the same 24 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting flag football into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 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