Defending Flag Football Bunch Formations


By FirstDown PlayBook on May 31, 2022

Flag football bunch formations are very popular these days, especially with younger players. The main reason is that you play against a lot of man coverage with youth flag football. We have touched on this from time to time here on the Coaches Community site.

Here’s one of the many things that make the game of football so great. You can coach up one side of the ball and if you have been doing this long enough, you can flip the play around and coach the exact same play from the other side.

That’s what we are going to do today. Earlier we have covered how bunch formations are a great way to attack man coverage. This is especially true when you are dialing up flag football plays. We mentioned that, as a coach, it’s always wise to take into account your players’ age because that will dictate a lot about the play call you want to consider.

When you flip that play around and look at it from the defensive perspective, the one thing that does not change is that first you need to look at your players’ age and ability to grasp defensive concepts. If they are older and understand zone coverage concepts then your menu of defensive calls will be longer than otherwise.

However, even if you are looking down into 6-7-8 year old eyes as you coach your flag football defense, there are small but important coaching points to give them to help them stay out of trouble while defending bunch formations with man coverage.

How To Defend Flag Football Center Bunch Formations Too…

One of the first things we cover in this short video is that disruption is your friend on defense. Your players need to understand this. Because you have three of their players lined up in such close proximity can be an advantage for your defense. This is a video walks you through our thoughts on defending flag football bunch formations with young players.