1. Don’t Correct Every Mistake
You don’t need to correct them every time they make a mistake…let them realize that they are doing it wrong once (maybe twice) and seek you out for guidance. However, under no circumstances should you allow your teens to fail publicly. Don’t let their mistakes result in humiliation in front of their peers. They’ll resent you.

2. Whisper Criticism – Yell Praise
Pull your players aside when you correct their mistakes. Adolescents can easily misinterpret public criticism as a condemnation of their abilities. Even if you have the most sincere intentions, like adjusting minor details, adolescents can take it personally. Verbally “dressing down” a player will usually result in deep resentment, especially if done in front of a peer group.

If many members of a group are making the same type of mistake, couch the criticism in terms of what “we” are not accomplishing. Do not to point out those people who are actually making the mistake when you correct it. (The kids will automatically try to place mental blame anyway while you’re talking.) Instead, say something inclusive, like, “OK, guys, we keep making this mistake, so let’s go over this again….”

Yelling praise is an excellent way to boost team morale and motivate an individual to repeat exceptional performance. “Great catch!” “Good job!” “Nice footwork!” – all of these are important to building confidence in the player. Be careful of singling out the same person too frequently, though.  Playing favorites can disrupt team chemistry. Whatever you do, make sure you praise everyone at some point during the season.

3. Respect Your Players
You cannot let the players run the show, but you don’t need to lord over them either. Let them know you’re in charge, but solicit their opinions and listen to their concerns. Stay in charge but respect your players’ input. Not only is it helpful to get an “on the field” perspective, but your players also need to feel like you are empowering them.

4. Don’t Overuse the Pep Talk
Teens have a finite number of times when they can be intimidated, encouraged, or pushed to do anything. Whether it is a rah-rah type of speech or a good old fashioned chewing out, my magic number is somewhere around 2 for each event. That means if you bark at your entire team once, they’ll probably listen. Twice, they might listen again, but perhaps less so. More than twice and they will resent you for yelling at them – either because they don’t want to be treated like children or because they didn’t care that you yelled in the first place.

The same is true for pep talks. Once and you’re cheering them on. Twice and your cheering them on…again. More than twice and you are “that cheering guy who is probably going to cheer whether we suck or not.” While it is important to be positive, teens need order, structure, and discipline. Be realistic in your expectations on a team level. Every game can’t be the most important game we've ever played. 

5. Challenge Your Players to Excel
Don’t underestimate your players’ potential, and don’t allow them to underestimate themselves. They will only grow, both as football players and as young adults, if they stretch themselves to do more than they ever thought they could.

Description – A short, two-move, inside route.

Technique – Run hard at the defender for three steps, selling a long route. Plant on your sideline foot and cut at a 45-degree angle to the middle of the field. Bring hands up and get your head around – the ball is in the air as you accelerate through the cut.

Coaching Tips – Remember to look back for the ball as soon as you make your cut. Slant is a quick-hitting route, and should be completed on the same side of the field where the receiver lines up. You should not have to cross over to the other half of the field.

Also, position is key to the success of Slant. Keep your body between the QB and the defender. This means letting the defender stay deeper than you are, not running past them, but making your cut in front of them.

A Herculean feat, no doubt.  You have several significant challenges to overcome:

First, your player-to-coach ratio is 32:1.  That means you’ll be (barely) managing chaos.  To address that, you’ll need to get help from leaders within the ranks.  With 32 kids in each class, you could comfortably create four teams of 8 players.  Everyone gets to play, some play both offense and defense, and you have 2 instant games a week. An easy way to make it fair is to empower 4 team captains (usually kids who can throw) and let them do a schoolyard pick for teams. On days when some kids are sick, you should still be able to field four teams with as few as 20 kids, so there is little risk of you not having four teams. If you pick new teams every week, you can insure similar team sizes regardless of attendance.

The reason for using 4 teams is that you can have kids work in smaller groups. Smaller groups means more reps for each kid, which keeps them engaged during practice and having fun. To keep it manageable for you, I suggest each group do identical drills at the same time. You can bounce from group to group with positive reinforcement.

Your job is not "coach" as much as "commissioner." You're not teaching techniques, subtleties, or nuances. With only 2 hours a week, everything is meat and potatoes football - basics all the way with a heavy emphasis on fun, sportsmanship, and more fun.

For your first class session, do an Intro to Football primer. The learning objectives could be:

 - Present overview of flag football gameplay (field size, flag pulling, how to score, difference between offense and defense)

 - Define rules and key terms (line of scrimmage, forward pass, blitz/rush, blocking)

 - Identify positions, roles and responsibilities on offense and defense

 - Practice offensive and defensive alignment

 - Introduce and practice one offensive route (Slant)

 - Scrimmage for fun

Remember, there's a lot of potential jargon in football, but use as little as possible. Don't be hesitant to assign reading homework, like 5 vocabulary words with definitions. This can help students become familiar with important terms like "Down and Distance" or "Turnover." Regular written quizzes (matching or multiple choice) on the reading homework is a good way to reinforce key concepts and assess student learning. But beyond that, I wouldn't get hung up on installing an offense, learning plays in a playbook, or anything technical. Participation should be the largest part of a student's grade.  If they show up and try hard with a great attitude, that's a win!

Week to week, make the routine the same. Stretching, brief review of last week's work, new topic(s) for today, pick teams for today, team drills to practice topic(s), then lots of scrimmage. Above all, make sure it's fun!

What advice would you give? Share your suggestions in the comments box or via Twitter @MyCoachArt, or on Facebook on the "Winning Flag Football" page.