Secrets To Increase Tournament Success:
5 Ways To Build A Champion:

What does it take to build a championship caliber team? Start with a solid understanding of the game of flag and a penchant for practice, and add to it a fearlessness and respect for failure and perseverance. Understanding that practice should not be underestimated and is vital to any teams success, we will cover couple other ways to help improve your teams’ chances of winning consistently.

5. Expand At Home; KISS on the Road – Most teams often feel the need to expand the playbook on the road; they believe they need to be more sophisticated when in actuality there’s no need to be.  Don’t go into battle with plays you are not familiar with.  If you lose, lose with your strengths. 

Only when playing local teams or in tournaments with teams you have face frequently, do you consider altering your plays.  Other than this, keep the playbook short and the game plan simple and focus on being consistent.

4. Perfect High Percentage Plays – First of all, a playbook 50 plays long is unnecessary and will never be mastered.  And we all know that “Chicks and dudes dig the long the ball”, however the long ball is a low-percentage play that is least effective with veteran teams who usually defend by keeping everything in front and reacting, especially if it has not been set up with a series of high-percentage plays underneath.

In eligible play, the proper usage of your O-line as WR’s alone will increase your consistency by presenting you with several options of high-percentage plays.  Design plays for your O-line and use players that are not only solid blockers but also threats to produce plenty of YAC.  Using your O-line will allow you to manage the game better and keep you out of “long yardage to gain” situations.

3. Know Your Players and Build Appropriately – Knowing your players simply means understanding their strengths and weaknesses and building a system and recruiting complimentary players to support the strengths and strengthen the weaknesses. 

For instance, if you have a scrambling, street-style QB you should surround him with WR’s who know how to find the openings and stay alive during plays.  Then create a system designed to allow your QB to hold the ball longer until the defense breaks down and he’s comfortable throwing to a free WR.  Like setting up deeper in the pocket or running a screen-like offense with designed crack-backs to allow him to reach the edge.

A scrambling QB who likes to move first will not work well with route runners looking for the ball on the break and vice-versa; a pocket passing QB will struggle throwing to WR’s not understanding when to break off a route or to extend it.  

If you force the issue with either of these, prepare for lots of inconsistencies and frustrating showings in tournaments.  Don’t run systems of other teams who are successful if it does not fit your teams’ makeup.  Just about any offense will be successful if executed properly.

2. Set Goals and Objectives – Everyone on the team should have a complete understanding of the teams’ overall goals and objectives.  If local success is the ultimate goal let it be known.  If winning national tournaments is the ultimate goal, let it be known.  What ever it may be, be certain that everyone on the team truly understands the goals and are willing to work to achieve them.

A clear vision keeps everyone headed in the same direction and helps maintain focus on a single target.  A team of players working relentlessly for the same ultimate goal will achieve success at any level of play.

1. Focus On Team Chemistry and Discipline – Try and resist the temptation of loading up with star players prior to tournaments that don’t compliment what you currently have and may disrupt team chemistry.  Star players are everywhere and just because you have one who dominates in your local league does not mean it will equate to dominance in tournament play; everyone has them (star players) so it balances out.  (It can also force more loyal and dependable players away in some cases weakening your teams core; nucleus)

Avoid “Eggshell Personalities”; players who fall completely apart at the slightest success of an opponent, mistakes made by teammates, bad ref call(s) and having to play from behind.  They can kill a team in highly competitive games and disrupt team chemistry at the most inappropriate time. 

Create discipline by setting team rules and goals from the beginning and enforcing them as well as recruiting players that will buy into the total team concept.  Discipline players increase the success rate of offensive and defensive plays; helping make systems more effective.