Brian Flores and Chris Kuper coach Sons’ flag football team

Flores and Kuper’s team finished the season with a 5-1 record, placing third among ten teams of fifth and sixth graders.

They are proud of the progress of all their players, who were open to coaching and constantly encouraged each other.

The young athletes were also not afraid to put forward their own suggestions.

“As far as the offense goes, there’s really only five guys on the field, so it’s about getting them to do what I showed them by explaining the play map to them,” Kuper said. “That’s what we’re focused on. We’ll get a thousand suggestions from the kids in the huddle, but no, ‘We’re doing this so the guy gets the ball. You’re going to run out on a go route as fast as you can so we can hand the ball off to the runner and pull the corner from there.'”

We also received a lot of ideas for Flores, from route suggestions to numerous quick requests.

“Sometimes we have to catch up with them a little bit,” he said.

Flores and Kuper also have to restrain themselves itself a little bit from time to time.

During the rained-out game, for example, Kuper realized that his quarterback was having a lot of trouble holding the snap and getting the ball out, and he focused on handoffs instead of the deep passes he had originally planned.

“We have to put a lot of emphasis on taking care of football,” he noted.

Kuper and Flores are grateful for the NFL’s support of flag football and the opportunities the sport provides for so many people at a young age.

Kuper reported from personal experience that tall youth in tackle football are often assigned to the offensive line or defensive line early on – but the omission of linemen in flag football means that other positions can be introduced.

“We have players out there catching the ball, but also catching balls further down the field,” Kuper said. “They learn different skills than they would on a tackle football team.”

Flores believes that flag football is a great sport that anyone can try, regardless of age or ability.

“I just think it’s good for kids to get out there and spend time with other kids – to experience some of that camaraderie, experience some setbacks that happen in all sports and bounce back,” he said. “That’s happened so many times this season, where someone had a bad play and then recovered, intercepted a ball and scored a touchdown.”

“I would encourage anyone,” Flores added. “Boys, girls, big, small – I would encourage anyone to go out and try it.”