What is the flag football route tree?
The route tree is the set of base routes a receiver can run from one alignment, drawn together so they look like branches from a trunk. In flag football that set is nine: flat, slant, hitch, out, in, curl, corner, post and go. Every play concept in the game is a combination of two or three of these, which is why teaching the nine names is faster than teaching plays one at a time.
Why it works
It turns plays into sentences
Once the words exist, a new concept is 'slant and flat' instead of a fresh diagram to memorise. A team with vocabulary installs plays several times faster than one without.
Depth and direction are the only two variables
Every route on the tree is defined by how far downfield it breaks and which way it goes. Understanding that is what lets a player run a route he has never been shown.
It makes adjustments possible mid-game
You can tell a receiver on the sideline to convert his out into a corner. Without shared names, the same instruction takes a whiteboard and a timeout.
How to run it
- 1
Teach the go and the hitch first
Straight downfield, and straight downfield then stop. These two cover most of what a beginning team needs and every other route is a variation on them.
- 2
Add the out and the in
Same stem, break to the sideline or break to the middle at eight yards. This is where players learn that depth and direction are separate decisions.
- 3
Add the slant and the flat
The quick game. Both break inside three yards and both exist to beat pressure rather than coverage.
- 4
Add the corner and the post last
Deep breaks demand the most from both the receiver and the throw. Introduce them once the shorter routes are automatic.
- 5
Start calling plays by their routes
Stop saying 'run play three'. Say 'slant and flat right'. The moment the huddle understands that, the playbook stops being a list and starts being a language.
Adjustments
Numbering the tree
Tackle programmes number routes zero through nine so a three-digit call assigns all three receivers at once. It is powerful and it is usually more machinery than a flag team needs.
Trimming it for young teams
Five routes is plenty under about nine years old: go, hitch, out, slant and flat. Nothing is lost by leaving the deep breaks until next season.
Double moves
A hitch-and-go or an out-and-up is two branches run in sequence. They only work once a defender believes the first move, so they are a second-season tool.
Adjusting for 7v7
With more players on the field the middle routes matter more, because there are enough bodies for the in and the curl to have real windows to sit in.
When not to call it
Do not install all nine at once
A team given nine routes in one practice will run none of them properly. Two or three per session, spread across weeks, is the pace that sticks.
The tree is not a playbook
Knowing the routes is vocabulary, not offense. A team that can run all nine but has no concepts is still throwing into coverage; the combinations are what beat defenses.
Draw your own route tree
Build the tree with your team's depths, print it, and hand it out at the first practice.
Open the designerRelated questions
How many routes are in the flag football route tree?
What routes should a beginner learn first?
What is the difference between an in and a curl?
Do flag football and tackle football use the same route tree?
Related guides
Coach Ray Carroll
Twelve seasons coaching youth and rec flag football, and the builder of RC Football. Every play on this site has been run by a real team on a real Saturday.