Connor is off to my right, arms out playing Mr. Airplane. Ryan and Trevor are busy seeing just how much grass they can pull form the ground. Billy is blowing bubbles and staring into the sky. I have a group of 5 year olds on my team. Where do I start?

Welcome to my first flag practice.

When my son was growing up, there was no football in the area where we lived, so starting an NFL FLAG powered by USA Football league made perfect sense. I decided to take all the younger players, including six 5 year olds. Some parents want their children to play football but don’t think they are ready for full contact. NFL FLAG gives kids a real football experience and the ability to build their skills in a non-contact setting.

Coaching 5 year olds present many challenges as attention span is very short, so it is extremely important to have a defined practice plan in place. This allows you manage every minute of your practice while holding their attention as you move from one drill to another. When building your plan, keep drill work to 12- to 15-minute sessions. Remember to constantly reinforce and review the skills being taught and build in water breaks throughout practice. Don’t give these young players time to lose interest and understand as a coach that it will take multiple practices to learn each skill. You may get lost in trying to stay with a drill too long in an effort to have them understand, but you must stay on time and move on.

I can tell you from experience that they will learn and retain more following your plan. Here is an example of my first day plan with my kids.

• 6 p.m. Welcome and warm up
• 6:10 p.m.  Start stances
• 6:15 p.m.  Position alignment (Where to line up)
• 6:20 p.m.  Center/QB exchange
• 6:35 p.m.  Water break and review
• 6:40 p.m.  QB/running back exchange
• 6:55 p.m.  Flag pulling (One-armed bandit drill)
• 7:10 p.m.  Water break and review
• 7:15 p.m.  Practice ends

USA Football’s Practice Planner tool offers many examples that you can use as you prepare for your flag season. Once you start to put everything together, keep it simple. On offense, teach the basic run plays, and as they get comfortable introduce reverses. On defense, start with man-to-man then begin to add zone coverage.

At this young age, constantly remind yourself, as I did, that having fun and praising effort is more important than the score. They will learn more and look forward to the next practice, game and … Year 2!

As for Connor, he used the “Human Airplane” as his celebration dance after a touchdown that year.

A veteran football coach on the youth and high school levels, Tom LaNeve has worked 15 years with the Baltimore Ravens as the club’s youth football consultant, coaching and helping develop Ravens Rookies Kid’s Club clinics and Women’s Fan Club clinics. A member of USA Football’s Flag Football Committee and Heads Up Football Master Trainer, he also has worked with the NFL, NFL Europe, NFL China, American Youth Football and All Pro Dads.