Girl Dad Flag
Flag football podcast hosted by a girl dad and his nine-year-old daughter who is already better at this than him. Weekly drills, news, real talk, and a segment called The Draft Board that you have to hear to believe. For every family growing the game together. No pads. Just flags. New episodes weekly. girldadflag.com
Girl Dad Flag
Two Drills, One Special Guest & The Sweetest Game in GDF Arena History
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Eric and Finley welcome a special guest, the Finley talks over the shoulder catching technique, and the Oklahoma drill. The news covers New Jersey becoming the 35th sanctioned girls high school sport, with flag football now in nearly 200 schools statewide. And the Candy Bowl with a halftime entertainment provided by the Tootsie Rolling Stones.
Maggie Try.
SPEAKER_01What did I say?
SPEAKER_00Hello everyone and welcome to Girl Dad Flag Podcast. As always, I'm Coach Eric here with Finley. Finley, say hello.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everyone.
SPEAKER_00And we had a special guest with us today. We have one of my favorite players. She plays on our 8U Blitz program. She's a neighbor of ours. She's been involved in a lot of just practices here at the house. Her name is Margo. Margo, say hello.
SPEAKER_01Hello, everybody.
SPEAKER_00Alright, so uh typical format here on the podcast. We're gonna start with the huddle. And what we decided to talk about this week is something that you girls learned in practice, like we always do. So um, why don't you girls go ahead and get started? Tell us something that you learned in practice this week.
SPEAKER_01So we learned the proper technique for the overshoulder catching. Is you put your two pinkies together, you want to get your like spread out your fingers so you can like get the ball in there and you want to catch it with your hands and bring it in and run as fast as you can deep.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, what do you same thing, kind of Margaret? You just kind of we talk about you know tracking the ball with your eyes the entire time. You maintain your running form and your speed, and the hand position is really critical. Kind of like the diamond drill, how I taught you girls to put your hands in that inverted diamond. It's a little bit flipped, right? We take our pinky tips and we kind of touch them together and we create a basket and we want to keep that you know outward and slightly up. You want to keep your hands high above your shoulder, above your chest, your elbows kind of slightly bent, and then you catch with your fingertips, right? Not your palms. We don't want the ball bouncing off the palms.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You kind of look in, you know, some of the mistakes that you want to avoid are looking back too early, taking your eyes off the ball. You don't want to have your hands too wide apart, right? You want to make sure you have your fingers touching, your palms facing each other a little bit, and you're kind of slowing down and raising your hands, kind of to catch it right as you go. And we pretty much start every one of our practices with that, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00We basically line up and put about 30 cones in a line. We do about 30 to 40 yards deep. And you know, the more advanced girls, I throw it about 30 to 40 yards for them, and they practice running down the ball, catching with their eyes, catching over their shoulders. And then the the girls that are a little bit newer and still kind of learn it, we sometimes throw them like maybe 10 or 15 yards, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And it's it's a really good drill. I'd say the girls, the first 15 minutes of the practice, that's what we work on. It's a really good warm-up, gets the girls running, gets them focused on catching, gets them locked in. It's it's one of my favorite drills. Is that kind of the way you girls like starting the drill as well?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00All right, great. So we're gonna take a break here and come back with the playbook. One of our favorite drills that um something we learned at practice this week. Stay tuned. All right, and we're back, and we're back to the section called the playbook, and that's basically where we break down a drill, one of our favorite drills that we learned this week and kind of explain it for people. Um, girls, what is the drill that you want to talk about this week?
SPEAKER_01The Oklahoma drill.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so why don't you explain? I know um the Oklahoma drill's been kind of famous in tackle football, and we kind of altered it a little bit for flag football. Why don't you girls kind of explain and how it's done?
SPEAKER_01So there's an offense, and the offense has to lie on their back and they have the ball, and the defense has to do the same thing, but just no ball, and your coach will say go. You guys will flip over, and the defense wants to pull the offense's uh flag. So you want to just get the other person's flag reality.
SPEAKER_00What do you think, Margaret? Is that kind of the same way?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so essentially the girls nailed it. You bit you lay head to head inside of a standard box drill. You maybe have a 10 by 10 box. The girls lay on their backs a head to head. I either clap or say go. They jump up, but the offender tries to get through the defensive zone. The defender tries to pull the flags. It's a really good quick twitch drill, allows you to work on your favorite move. And what's your favorite move when you're carrying the ball?
SPEAKER_01Um, probably the spin or the hip swivel.
SPEAKER_00Margo, what's your favorite move?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably the hip twist or the jump cut.
SPEAKER_00The jump cut's a good one. Yeah, I like that one a lot. Who who do you think is the best uh at spinning?
SPEAKER_01My friend Emmy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd agree with that. Who do you think is the best hip twist?
SPEAKER_01Probably both of us, because we coach coach Mike.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you guys do cook coach cook. You do cook. Oh my goodness. You do cook. Coach Mike. Cook, coach Mike. Oh my goodness. All right, let's all say it together. Cook Coach Mike. So we have a coach of ours who's um super coach, fantastic guy. He at the end of every practice that we have, he challenges the girls to the box drill. And our practices end at 7:30, and they actually don't usually end until eight o'clock because the girls just want to get in the box drill with Coach Mike, and they all challenge him. And you know, he usually beats them, but a couple times the girls beat them. And um, you know, we work really hard in our practices. Our practices are usually an hour, hour and a half, and we try to put in some fun games and stuff. But we're gonna come back with a news segment, and then following that, we're gonna have the uh daddy-daughter draft, which we've got a really unique topic for this week. So stay tuned. All right, and we're back with the news segment of the podcast here. And as kind of a pattern is coming, it's just more schools and and states are being sanctioned. Uh, New Jersey has become a fully sanctioned varsity high school sport by the NJSIAA. So beginning in 2026-2027 school year, it's gonna be the 35th sanctioned sport in the state for girls. And uh this decision basically follows a rapid rise in popularity. It's something I've been talking about already, with over 170 schools, I think, are already participating in leagues. They have roughly 4,200 girls across more than 173 schools were involved in the pilot programs. This is great by the NFL. They're providing grants and equipment to the school. You know, the sport grew from 10 teams in 2023 to over 50 by 2024 and expanded to nearly 200 schools by the 2025-2026 school years. This initiative aims to provide girls with the same opportunities for competition, championship titles, and potential scholarships as their male counterparts in the sport of football. What do you girls think about that? It's pretty exciting, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, it's very exciting.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it gives you girls another sport that you can um have the possibility of playing in college. I know Margot's uh a spectacular soccer player, and this is just another sport for her to maybe have an opportunity to get a scholarship for. So uh well done, NFL, well done, New Jersey. Really exciting stuff coming. And stay tuned. Finley and I are gonna draft a very unique topic for our daddy-daughter draft. So uh stick around. All right, and we're back here for the final segment of the podcast here, and that's me and Finley's favorite. That's the dad-daughter draft, where that's where we take a quarterback, a running back, two receivers, and a center, and we put them into AI and simulate the game and then run a program for you to uh enjoy. Right now, I think the standings are what, one and one, Finn? You've got one win, I've got one win.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Coach Al versus Coach Axelado. Maggie, uh, who's your favorite?
SPEAKER_01Probably Coach Axelado.
SPEAKER_00Coach Axelado, huh? Yeah, it seems like you girls are teaming up on me there a little bit. So, Finn, why don't you go ahead and start with your QB and give us a quick description of why you're choosing uh that candy is actually the topic this week. I should probably mention that. We've gone with candy, so um, these two girls are hopped up on candy as we speak. Finley, why don't you go ahead and talk a little bit about your quarterback and why you chose it?
SPEAKER_01So, my candy is a sour strip because I feel like they're tall and I would probably have like stronger arms. And if they get blitzed, they could like shed their sourness into their eyes and make them our eyes hurt.
SPEAKER_00Kind of like your onion strategy last time. Yeah. That seems to be your strategy is affecting people's eyes. That's pretty funny. You know, maybe the sour strip could have a little whip action to whip the ball down the field, too. It's kind of bendy and flexible, maybe. I went with a payday. Uh that's a peanut caramel bar. Payday is a money player, they're kind of reliable under pressure. You know, big energy can drop dimes. Get it? Like dimes, payday. Yeah, pretty lame. Anyway, uh, why don't you go ahead and tell us about your quarterback, Finn? I'm sorry, running back.
SPEAKER_01My running back's a Sour Patch Kids. Okay. One of the Sour Patch. Yeah, kids because like the taller ones.
SPEAKER_00Like the full-size Sour Patch Kids.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, those ones because they're taller and I feel like they can run down the field with their little legs.
SPEAKER_00What's your favorite flavor, Sour Patch Kids?
SPEAKER_01Probably blue.
SPEAKER_00Margot, what's yours?
SPEAKER_01Blue or red? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Blue or red, yeah. I think red's probably mine. Orange is my favorite, actually. You know what? They're all good. I like them all. Orange. Yeah, orange or green. I went with a Twizzler. You have like kind of the twists and turns. You know, it's kind of like through the coverage, like uh, you know, like a rope, like they're, you know, they're red, they're fast color, you know. I don't know, but they're kind of like twisty and turny, they're kind of twisted up. So I went with a Twizzler. So why don't you give us your uh WR1 then, your first receiver?
SPEAKER_01My wide receiver ones, a Milky Way, because first, I really like Milky Ways, and second, I feel like they're like a tall, like chocolate bar.
SPEAKER_00You seem to be going with height on this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And um I feel like they're sticky in the inside. They could like rip their head off and grab the ball with that hook and put the head back on, and nobody's getting the football.
SPEAKER_00Margo, have you ever had a Milky Way head? Is it you know is the head the best part? Or is the feet the best part? Have you ever had a Milky Way?
SPEAKER_01I've had a Milky Way.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, have you ever had a Milky Way head? Is that the first bite or the last bite? Which one is it?
SPEAKER_01First bite first bites the head. All right, the other bites the other edge.
SPEAKER_00So then like the feet are the last bite, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Holy cow. All right. Well, I went with a Kit Kat. You figure, you know, perfect for quick breaks and like down the field, you know, kind of go with the height thing again. So I don't know. So wide receiver two, Finn, what would you have for that?
SPEAKER_01Uh Hershey chocolate bar.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01They're tall.
SPEAKER_00Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01So tall, but I realized this is a flag football team, not a basketball team.
SPEAKER_00You realize that, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I feel like they're tall and they have like a lot of things to aim at, so like it's hard to miss them.
SPEAKER_00Oh boy. Um, Aunt Lacey will like that one. She's a big Hershey advocate. A Hershey bar. What would you have chosen?
SPEAKER_01I don't know.
SPEAKER_00Well, you can't be, you know, making fun of a chocolate bar if you don't have anything back up. Um, I went with an atomic fireball. Do you guys know what those are? A what? The atomic fireballs. They're like those little red-hot cinnamon candies.
SPEAKER_01Finley's atomic footballs?
SPEAKER_00Finley's atomic football. And uh, these are those atomic fireballs. They're like those red-hot cinnamony sour balls. I figured, you know, could burn past defenders, burned your mouth a little bit. I was taking that.
SPEAKER_01That's your cheat code. I did my cheat code. My quarterback.
SPEAKER_00So, what would your center be then?
SPEAKER_01My center is a Hershey kiss.
SPEAKER_00Oh my goodness. They're not very tall.
SPEAKER_01No, they're small, okay?
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And um, I feel like they could quickly like get out of the way. And I feel like how small they are when they catch the ball. They are so low to the ground. All the whole defend tall, all the tall defenders are gonna miss their flag because they have to like duck down. Almost doing the dip, but on defense.
SPEAKER_00And it's kind of funny if you think about it. The Hershey Kiss has that little tag that comes out of the top. It's almost like a flag. Yeah, so like I don't know if that's good or bad. It's kind of like something else you can grab at.
SPEAKER_01Oh boy. It's gonna be shirtless.
SPEAKER_00It's gonna be all kinds of chocolate all over the place out there.
SPEAKER_01It's gonna be melting.
SPEAKER_00I went with a center. Um, for my center, I just went with jelly beans. I figured, you know, they could absorb hits and bounce back, kind of a big juicy jelly bean with a big old belly bounce. Jelly belly thing around.
SPEAKER_01So no jelly belly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, jelly bellies, jelly bean, anything like that. You guys have a specific flavor jelly bean that you like? No, that's what's your favorite jelly bean? You like the black ones?
SPEAKER_01Ew, no.
SPEAKER_00Those black licorice ones. No, they're not my favorite either.
SPEAKER_01I like the red and the blue.
SPEAKER_00Red and blue, just like the sour patch kits. Anything red or blue, you guys are down. Yeah, red, white, blue. Go USA, right? Okay, well, Maggie, who do you think um, based off of the uh absolute silliness and and having no understanding of it, who do you think is gonna win? You're still gonna choose team Axelado?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm I'm seriously rooting for her team.
SPEAKER_00You're rooting for her team. All right, well, we're gonna play it out here. We're gonna head over to Girl Dad Arena and uh see what happens. So honestly, just want to thank Marg for joining us here. She's one of my favorite players that we have, super coachable kid. She comes out to a couple practices that she's not even on the team of, and she just has a really great attitude, really great time. Margo, thanks for joining us here today. And yeah, we're gonna play out the game here and see how it goes. So everybody stay tuned. Thank you. Coach Axolato calls Tails, which is a signature trademark at this point. And of course, Tails never fails, except when it's heads, but that's roughly only 50% of the time. Team Axolato starts the game with the ball on our own 20-yard line, four plays across midfield, three to score after that, one-point conversions only. Let's get this sugar rush battle started. Starting lineups come out. Just quick recap. Team Axolato has quarterback as Sour Strips, running back Sour Patch Kids, Milky Way WR1, Chocolate Bar receiver two, and Chocolate Kiss center. Team Al has Payday as his quarterback, Twizzler is a running back, Kit Cat is wide receiver one, atomic fireball is wide receiver two, and Jelly Beans. Axolato's opening drive, they start the ball off. Sour strip drop back and hit chocolate bar on a quick slant. Chocolate bar says smooth like melted chocolate. Defense is getting toasted like the almonds I don't have. For a gain of sevens, that was a real treat. On play two, Sour Patch Kid takes the handoff and bounces outside. Twizzler dives but misses the flag. Sour Patch Kid quips from sour to sweet in one sweet move. Twizzler mentions you patch that hole up quick for a gain of nine. On play three, Sour Strip throws deep Milky Way skies for it, orbiting defenders like it's nothing. She comes down with it and crosses the midfield for a first down. For a first down on first down, a few patrons. Sour strip throws deep Milky Way skies for it, orbiting the defenders like it's nothing. Atomic Fireball comments, she's in another galaxy for a gain of 11. They cross midfield on third down. On first down, a few patrons dressed up as oopaloopas in the front row go wild. Now in scoring territory, Team Axelato huddles up on the sideline play. Sour strip rolls out, finds Hershey Kiss, leaking out for a gain of five. Sealed with a kiss almost, says Chocolate Kiss. Sour Patch Kid powers up the middle. Jelly Bean tries to wrap up, but she dodges him. No sour grapes here, just sweet six yards. Jelly Beans quips my legs turned into jelly on that one. Gain of six. It's third and goal. Sour strip fakes the handoff, throws through fade to Milky Way in the corner. She toes the line. Touchdown. Milky Way touchdown. Out of this world. 6-0, Team Axolato. One point conversion is good. As Sour Strip hits chocolate bar in the flat. 7-0 team Axolotto. Al starts the ball in their first drive. Payday hands the Twizzler. He twists through traffic. Twistler quips. Twist and shout. Can't catch this licorice lightning for a gain of eight. On play two. Payday drops back, looks around. Atomic fireball runs a slant. Sour strip almost picks it, but he's gone. Atomic fireball heating up the field. Fireballing it for a gain of 18 and crosses midfield. Payday throws the Kit Kat on a curl. Giving a break of the defense's back. A gain of seven for Kit Kat. Play four. Al decides to go for it. Twizzler takes the pitch and stretches for the flop high line. Flag pulled, but he's in. First down. On the next play, Payday takes a step back, fires deep down the sideline to Twizzler, who stretches deep, twists up in the air, catches it, stretches for a touchdown. Twizzler. Sweet as candy. They go for a one-point conversion, and Payday connects with Jelly Beans. Good 7-7 score after each team has one possession. Sour strip steps back behind the line, looks over the field, throws, and it's almost picked by Kick Cat. Kick Cat says, almost broke that one off. On play two, Sour Patch can take the handoff, runs left. Atomic Fireball chases her down for a short gain. Atomic Fireball says, You're on fire, but I'm the real fireball for a gain of four. On play three. Sour strip scrambles. Buys time. Hits Milky Way again for 32 yards and crosses midfield. Milky Way is on another dimension. Another first down for Milky Way. Axelato enters the scoring bar. Choclibar runs a slant. Big gain to the eight-yard line. Choclibar says, I'm melting the coverage tonight. The next play. Sour Strip tries a quick pass, but Twizzler tips it. Incomplete. Third and goal. Sourpatch Kid takes the handoff and powers in. Touchdown. Sour Patch Kid with a sweet finish. One-point conversion again. Team Axelado goes up 14 to 7. Team Al starts the second drive. They answer right back with a couple plays. On play one, Payday fires it to atomic fireball for nine yards. On play two, Twizzler takes a delayed handoff from Payday and twists for 26 more yards and crosses midfield. Twizzler twirling past everybody like a candy cane tornado. Twizzler is having a great game today. On play three in the red zone. Direct snap, the fireball. Fireball sweeps and throws it back to Payday behind the line of scrimmage who keeps it on herself for keeps it himself for a designed run. Gain of seven. Big play. Payday cashing it in. It's now second and goal from the scoring side. Kit Kat, which breaks off into two pieces. Confuse the confectionary secondary. And the left bar gets open in the corner of the end zone. Payday delivers a dime. Touchdown. Kit Kat broke off a piece in that end zone. One-point conversion's good. Whistle blows. It's tied. 14-14 at the half. We have a special treat for you today as the Tootsie Rolling Stones are performing a halftime show. They open up with their chart-toppy banger, pay it black licorice. They follow up with Brown Sugar Rush and Sympathy for the Devil's Food Cake and finally end with a melody of Beast of Butterfinger and the coup de grade. Jumping jelly bean flash, and the crowd goes wild. Sugar sparkles in the air like fireworks. Second half is delayed momentarily from all the sprinkles that fell from the sky. The team has to brush them off the field. Team Al starts with the ball. Two short gains later, and a Twizzler sweep gets them inside the no-run zone. Wise old Al analyzes his option and decides to go for it. And his hunch pays off. Jelly Bean, who has been quiet to this point, rolls out to the right. Payday throws another dime and sticks right to Jelly Bean's sticky surface. First down, Team Al. On the next play, a cosmic battle unfolds. Atomic fireball burns Milky Way on a post round. Touchdown. Fireball just lit up the scoreboard. Conversion's good. 21-14. Team Al's gamble pays off. Coach Axelata with her patented smile. She always seems to wear, looks on calmly on the first play. Sour strip zips a slant the chocolate kiss bar for six yards. On play two, Sour Patch Kid bounces backwards for a delayed reverse and makes Jelly Bean whiff. Jelly legs more like a jelly fail as Sour Patch Kid runs for a huge gain. On play three, the defense swats it. Now Txolado has the same decision. Punt or go for it. She calmly looks at her playbook and decides she's gonna go for it. Her decision pays off with again another huge completion to Milky Way. She crosses midfield and plenty more as she gets down to the 10-yard line. Inside the scoring zone. Chocolate bar runs a smooth and creamy route and jukes out Kit Kat again, snapping it into two and catches a beauty from Sour Strip. Chocolate Bar has been a smooth operator. Chocolate never misses. On play six of the drive, Sour Strip throws a dart to the corner. Milky Way again for the touchdown. Two for me. What a galactic domination by Milky Way. The conversion is good. 21-21. The game tension builds throughout the stadium. Coach Al's team starts with the ball on their own 20. They push hard. On play one, Payday throws the Kit Kat for eight yards. On play two, Twizzler twists for 11. On play three, fireball makes a leaping catch but falls just short of midfield. Coach Al again pressed with decision to punt or go for it, decides to press his luck further. Has Payday roll out to the left, looking for atomic fireball, but gets blitzed and pressured by Sour Patch Kid, who pulls Payday's flag right as he releases the ball. Both teams look at the referee who calls to play a sack. A huge play. Payday pronounces, I know I'm nuts, but that was such a bad play call by Coach Al, who molts his own feathers in anger, but the play stands. Axolato ball with two minutes left and three plays to score. Axolato knows that this game will end in a tie or go into an overtime. She wisely runs the ball in the first two plays, draining the clock down to 20 seconds left and calls timeout. Axolato goes deep into her playbook and she calls a doozy. Sour patch kid explodes off the line like a wonk evader through a glass roof of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory. Runs a perfectly executed whip route. Sour strip ropes one on a line to her, and she easily catches the ball with not a defender near her. Time expires and team Axolotto wins 27-21 in this sugar sensation game. Team Axolotto came, they played, they took the candy. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep coaching, keep cheering, keep flying the flag. This is Girl Dad Flag, and we are out.