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18

Apr, 2017

Welcome NFF Families

National Flag Football Team Parents

Welcome to the 2017 Spring Season for the National Flag Football Recreational League!!!
- This is DJ Carino, Ilija Prinzevski & Greg Thomas, and we will be your
recreational team coaches for the Spring Season
- Great to see so many returning players from our previous seasons
- And big shout out to all of our new team players!!
(Welcome aboard Matias, Logan, and Reed)
- This season we will be wearing the aqua green and orange jerseys of the
Miami Dolphins

For our new Teammates:
DJ Carino, Ilija Prinzevski, and I (Greg Thomas) have been working together as flag football team coaches for the last several seasons (with some terrific results), and our boys have been teammates in the National Flag Football organization for the last several years
- We're all very excited to start this outdoor season, and return to the Shula
division playing as a 3rd grade team

Spring Season Key Info:

Coach's Meeting:
We have our NFF coach's meeting tonight
- This is where we will receive the league issued equipment and the
schedule information for the season
- This is also where the league informs the coaches of any new information
for the season
- We'll cascade any key dates or new information to the team

Meet & Greet Practice:
Our season officially kicks-off with our "Meet and Greet" practice
(no game for this 1st week) on Sunday April 23rd
- Location: P-CEP Chiefs football field (see attached map)
- Times:
   - Meet & Greet portion: 1:30 pm - 2:00 pm
- Practice Portion: 2 pm - 3 pm
- Key items:
- Meet & Greet Portion:
   - Hand out all league supplied equipment
- Explain all the info needed for the season
- Hopefully answer any questions / concerns to start the season
- Practice:
- Go over some basic skills and techniques to run some offensive plays
- Work on some basic defensive techniques
- Have some fun!!

Games:
Games will be held once / week on Sundays, starting on Sunday April 30th
   - All of our Spring season games will be played at the P-CEP football field
(same as the meet & greet location)
- We just had our team schedule released on our team homepage: https://clubs.bluesombrero.com/Default.aspx?tabid=181866&isstore=false&checkforregwizard=true&familyid=2054102&teamid=393102&subctl=teamcalendar#/agenda
- We will have a 7 game season schedule (from 4/30 - 6/18)
- Games are typically 1 hour in length
- We have a bye week on the Memorial Day Weekend (no practice or game)
- But we will play on both the Mother's and Father's Day weekends
   - Also, it's not officially announced, but there should be a reserved "make-up"
game date on June 25th (6/25), the weekend after our last regular scheduled
game
- And if this year's Spring weather is anything like a typical Michigan Spring,
we will most likely need that make-up game date, so please try to keep
that date available

Practices:

Pre-game practices:
Before each game, we will conduct a pre-game practice 1 hour before our scheduled game time (typically using a portion of the end zone area closest to our game field)
   - These practices are mostly limited to warming-up and quickly running through
our game plays

Weeknight practices:
In addition to the Sunday pre-game practice, the league also allows us to conduct 1 additional practice through the week if the team is interested
- We have done this in past seasons, and I really believe it allowed us time to
not only work on improving the kid's basic football skills and play mechanics,
but it also helped them gain that team camaraderie through the season
- We set up a on line survey to determine the team's weeknight interest and
availability
- Please use the following link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CV7PGYC - Simply click on whether you are interested in a weeknight practice, and
which nights would be best for your schedule
(Ex. Mon, Thurs, Fri evenings at 6:00 or 6:30 pm)
- And please click on as many spots as you think would be OK, and
hopefully we can narrow it down to the one (1) evening and one (1)
time that is most convenient to everyone

Playing Equipment:

League Provided Equipment:

Jerseys:
The league provides every player with the official Dolphins team jersey
(two sided - for our "home" and "away" team colors)
- Only these officially issued team jerseys can be used for the games
- For the games, the team jersey must be worn on the outside, and needs to
be tucked into their shorts / pants (along with everything they are wearing
under their jersey)
- If we do experience some cooler temp's for the 1st couple of games,
we recommend thermal / Under Armor type shirt(s) under their jersery,
as opposed to bulky sweatshirts
(they are light weight and keep the kids warm)
- Also, we strongly recommend against wearing anything with a hood,
which just opens the possibility of a defender accidentally grabbing
that hood during a play

Flag Belts:
Similarly, the league also provides every player w/ a flag belt and corresponding flags
- Again, only these officially issued flag belts can be used for the games
- Flags need to always be outside their jerseys (no portion of jersey can
hang over the flags)
- With the big swing of temps we get in the Spring, we recommend allowing a lot
of adjustability for the flag belt
(based on the number of clothing layers the kids are wearing)

Practice / Game Balls:
We are also provided with the team footballs (blue tacky type) that will be used for both the practices and the games (the coaches will hold onto these footballs)
- We may sometimes use replacement footballs in practice depending on
how many are needed for the practice drill
- But only the league issued footballs can be used in the games

Player Supplied Equipment:
In addition, their are a couple required and recommended items the kids will need for all games and practices:

Required Items:

1) Mouth Guards
     - The league requires that all players wear mouth guards during all practices
and all games
(the referees have been instructed to check every player at the start of all
games)
- I've personally had good luck w/ the Oral Armor brand (Youth size),
that can be usually found at Target stores
(they are relatively inexpensive & seem to be pretty durable - yet can
still have a custom fit)
     - The "gel" type mouth guards look like they should work well, but can get
a little pricey, and I've seen the kids literally "chew" them up into a
mangled mess w/in the 1st couple games

2) Pants / Shorts without pockets
    - The league also requires all players to wear pants / shorts with no
pockets (as the pocket openings pose a injury risk to defensive player's fingers)
- You can purchase the NFF "pocket free" sweat pants / shorts directly from the
NFF website: http://national-flag-football.myshopify.com/
   - Or you can shop on your own
(I've had luck at the sporting sections of Meijers and Target, or at Dick's)

Recommended Items:
1) Cleats with rubber or plastic soles
     - Good for keeping traction on the field
2) Cold water containers
     - Especially in the warmer weather

Practice & Game Formats:

Pre-Game Practice Format:
Our pre-game practices will be all about learning basic football skills and working together as a team. Practices will typically start w/ some group stretching and moderate jogging around our practice area (This is particularly good in getting the kids loose and getting rid of some jittery energy). The majority of the remaining practice time will then be spent going though the plays we will be using in that week's game and any skills we need to work on to properly execute those plays (ex. Fake handoff's, Passing, etc.). We do need to conclude the practice a little early to give us time to get ready for the game, allow the kids to use the restroom if necessary, and move over to our scheduled game field, so please try to be on time for the start of practice.

Game Format:
For the games, we will play two 24 minute halves w/ a 2 min half-time. The kids will be organized into two (2) squads.Each squad will play 1 half on offense and 1 half on defense (i.e. 1st half – Squad 1 offense / Squad 2 defense, 2nd half – Squad 2 offense / Squad 1 defense).We will also have a game play book that contains each game’s offense's plays and the defensive formations(The plan is that we rotate every player's position on every offensive play, so everyone should have equal playing time at every position).The main point is for the kids to have fun, learn to play together, and work as a team.
- All of our activities will be geared at reinforcing that team commitment.

That should take care of the basic season information.

If you have any specific questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us directly:

- Greg Thomas, [email protected], (734) 646-7805 (cell)
- DJ Carino, [email protected], (248) 320-4953 (cell)
- Ilija Prinzevski, [email protected], (313) 282-5779 (cell)

And one additional request, just to make sure everyone has received this initial message, please respond on this e-mail with a "got it" in the subject line
- E-mail will be the primary form of team communication through the season, so we want   to make sure that we have the correct and most convenient e-mail addresses
- And let us know if there's an alternate / additional e-mail you'd like to use for the distribution
- We will follow-up with phone calls if we don't receive messages back

We are looking forward to an exciting outdoor session!!!
- And welcoming our new team players, along with all of our returning players

Go Dolphins!!!

Sincerely,
Greg Thomas
DJ Carino
Ilija Prinzevski
Dolphins Team Coaches

Website Manager

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Apr, 2017

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