Tag and Sprint
Speed & Acceleration
Legend
- player
- cones
- movement path
How it works
Develop first-step quickness and sprint acceleration in a fun tag-and-sprint game format.
What you need
- cones
Your focus
Young players develop acceleration instincts most effectively through play-based activities that require sudden bursts of speed. Tag formats create natural motivation for maximum acceleration without needing complex instruction. Early development of sprint acceleration habits gives players a physical foundation for flag football route running and flag pulling.
Set up a 15x15 yard square with cones; choose 2 players as taggers.
Taggers try to tag (no flag pulling yet) other players; tagged players freeze.
Frozen players can be unfrozen by a free teammate sprinting to tap their shoulder.
Rotate taggers every 90 seconds; run for 6 minutes total.
Goal
You've got it when you tag a teammate who had a head start, your first step made up the gap.
Helpful cues
- Explode on your first step, do not lean before you go
- Drive your knees when you sprint
- Change direction suddenly, do not give the tagger time to react
Adjust the challenge
Make it easier
Strip it back
Increase the square to 20x20 yards giving players more room to avoid taggers.
UpLVL it
Add the next challenge
Reduce to a 10x10 yard square to increase the sprint frequency and direction change demand.No account needed
Build a practice plan
Add drills, keep the plan in this browser, then share a link with your staff or parents.This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.
This library helps you find the right drill. Inside UpLVL the right drill finds the player.After every practice, UpLVL automatically surfaces the drills each player needs to work on most. See it for yourself.