NFL Flag Football 5 on 5 non contact Bernd von Lapp February 2004 NFL Flag Football Manager Europe February 2004

What is NFL Flag Football ? NFL Flag Football is the non-contact version of American Football. Players wear a „Flag Belt“ with two Velcro flags attached, one at each side. A „Tackle“ is substituted by removing a flag from this belt. The fear of injury because of unfamiliar physical exercise is not given. Therefore NFL Flag Football is specially suited for young beginners and also for leisure activities. Because the playing field is smaller than in American Football, NFL Flag Football can be played Indoors or Outdoors. Teams only consist of 5 players each and boys and girls can play equally. The essence of the NFL can be found in the passing game, which NFL Flag Football promotes.

Regular Football Field End Zone 50 40 G 10 20 30

Flag Football Field

How Does It Work in Europe? NFL Flag Football is designed to teach a simple form of non-contact American Football in a fun and safe environment. Target group are boys and girls in school (Primary and Secondary Schools). NFL Flag Football is a program that allows an active integration of the target group into an attractive and new sport within their community. NFL Flag Football is the introduction of Tackle Football. Children and teenagers come in contact with the world of American Football through active participation. NFL Flag Football is the primary Fan Development program for the NFL’s International activities.

How Does It Work in Europe? By working with strategic partners i.e local American Football Federations and government educational authorities, NFL Flag Football is gaining in local acceptance as a fun and exciting game for kids. Currently NFL Flag Football is run in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Luxembourg, Scotland, Spain and Sweden. Coaches’, kids’ and teaching materials have been designed and handed out for the development of the sport. As incentive and motivational tool, the NFL is organizing tournaments which culminate in the NFL Flag Football World Championships. 2004 the 5th World Championships will be held in Canada with 10 countries participating.

NFL Flag Football European School Final Each year at the World Bowl (Final of the NFL Europe Season), the NFL Europe crowns the best NFL Flag Football Team in Europe. More than 5.000 Kids at the age of 12 - 14 years from Schools all over Europe compete in local tournaments to qualify for their national title. Once they have become the national school finalist, the NFL Europe invites the teams to participate at the European School Final during the World Bowl weekend. But that’s not all; besides the chance of becoming the best school flag team in Europe, all Teams will see the World Bowl live inside the stadium and will receive their Trophy on the field during the game and on top of that, the two best European teams will be invited to the NFL Flag Football World Championships in August 2004.

NFL Flag Football World Championships Schedule 2004 Sweden Finland Norway Denmark UK Netherlands Germany Belgium Luxembourg Austria France Swiss Italy Yellow: Expected Returnees 2004 Orange: Targeted new Participants 2004 Spain

NFL Flag Football Tournaments 2004 organized by NFL Europe

Why 5 on 5 Flag in Schools School - Club Integrates Students of All Abilities Integration in Regular Sports Curriculum (Flags – Balls) Coeducational Cheerleading Progessional Practices Develop Core skills and Movements for Key Stages 1 and 2 Integration in Other Curriculum Subjects (e.g. History / English) Rules and Playing Field Can Be Adjusted to Abilities of the Students Spans Classes /Grades / Age Groups Transfer of Learning for Other Sports Can Be Played Basically Anywhere Various Types of Competition Low Costs (Equipment & Uniforms) Can Be played in Break and Lunch Times Teaches Key Citizenship Skills: Social Competence Communication and Teamwork Sense of Responsibility Integration in After-School Clubs Highly Stimulative in Nature Less Demanding of skills Non-Contact Version Trend Sport / American Way Of Life

Step One - Contact Introduction to Schools You should now actively contact schools and ask for an introduction clinic in the school. Ask your youth players which school they attend and if you find a couple of the same school, you found yourself great helpers and advertisers. This introduction should be used to eliminate prejudices about the rough contact sport ”American Football”. Teachers that have been contacted and are interested, should be informed by the Teams about upcoming Teacher Seminars.

Step Two - Preparation Use Games to introduce Flag Football. It is more fun and everyone can participate. Use Games that Teachers and kids already know and make a few changes, use a football in basketball for example (see step 3). Introduce new terms step by step and make Teachers and kids feel they are involved in this process. Don’t just rely on drills, even when you have assistant coaches helping you. The teacher will not be able to run the same drills all by himself once you have left him. Keep the Teacher involved, don’t let him take his coffee break while you are running his class.

Quarterback- Ball & Progressions Step Three – In School Game Concept Start 10 Count (Complete & Incomplete Pass, Interception, Man-Coverage) Quarterback- Ball & Progressions (Count, Snap, Downs, Breaks, Plays, Position: Safety) Air It Out (Flags, Open Field Running) Basket-Football (Scoring areas, Fast breaks) Hunter Ball (Flags, Under Pressure Plays) Ultimate (End zone, Touchdown) Foreword Ultimate (Gain, Line of Scrimmage, Zone Coverage)

Step Four – Follow Up Try to motivate teachers to participate in a Teacher Seminar Every Teacher that passed the Seminar should be visited at least one more time by a Coach to help adapt the given information to their respective school situation (e.g. Gym Size, number of students, etc.) Set up Tournaments to motivate players and teachers to practice and play the game. Invite Parents to the tournaments and encourage girls that might not want to play flag football to be Cheerleaders. Older Players or youth players can assist as referees etc. These tournaments can be organized for all kids in one school, or for several schools to compete against each other. Stress the fact that this is for fun.

Starter Kit Order Contactperson CAFF fax e-mail: Name of Instructor : (person who gave instructor’s Course) Date of Instruction Course : School / Club name: How often do you intend to teach Flag Football per Week, over which amount of time? Flag Teacher : first & last name Number of students participating in the Flag Football course : Flag Teacher : E-mail Age of the students participating in the Flag Football course : Flag Teacher: Telephone When do you play Flag Football, in curriculum, after school, leisure time, etc. : Shipping Address: Street Postal-Code Contactperson CAFF fax e-mail: City

Questions ?

Questions Here are some questions that will help us work out the next steps for the Czech Republic School Flag Program: - what is the status of your Flag program, e.g. number of kids playing, age levels, club based teams, school based teams. - have there been any teacher seminars organized (up to date)? Is this planned within the next year (2004)? - what is the name of the institution that organizes P.E. teacher seminars? - what is the number of schools you try to target for in 2004? - are you able to fulfill the regulations (attached) to participate at the European championships, leading up to the World Championships? - please name one flag football coordinator in your federation.

Contact Bernd von Lapp NFL Flag Football Manager Europe NFL Europe - German Office Westerbachstr. 47 60489 Frankfurt Germany Tel: +49-69-978 279 77 Fax: +49-69-978 279 95 e-mail: Bernd.vonLapp@nfle.de