What age division will my child play in?

Marin Heat fields:

• All-boys: 13U, 12U, 11U, 10U

• All-girls: 14U, 13U, 12U, 10U

During Marin Heat practices, age divisions will blend to some degree. For example, we currently have our 11Us and 12Us boys scrimmage together.

In tournaments, organizers usually group age divisions by birth year, but some tournaments use a cut-off date (e.g. August 1). As a participant in tournaments, Marin Heat does not control tournament age divisions.

Do you field all-girls teams or are girls required to play on co-ed teams?

Marin Heat girls play on all-girls teams against all-girls teams in all-girls tournament brackets. At this time, we have no plans to field co-ed teams. At practices, girls will practice primarily with girls but may occasionally and optionally practice-scrimmage with boys.

How are teams structured?

Tournaments generally require a minimum of 5 players per team. Our goal is to have 7-8 players attend tournaments for each team so that we can rest and rotate players on/off the bench and ensure athletes get enough playing time.

When, where, and how often are practices?

Practices are once per week for 90 minutes. As we get closer to tournaments, we may schedule additional practices. We plan to have practices on Saturdays with times to vary based on field availability. We’ll publish times and locations on TeamSnap.

When, where, and how often are tournaments?

Marin Heat plans to enter one tournament every month from February to June (and potentially July). Tournaments are full-day and sometimes full-weekend events with multiple games and playoffs packed into a tight schedule. Games are timed in 10- or 12-minute halves, so they go quick. Tournament days are fast-paced with lots of action. If you haven’t been to a flag tournament before, you’re going to love it.

Marin Heat will prioritize local (Bay Area or Sacramento) tournaments but we will also travel to other cities on or near the west coast e.g. LA, Vegas, or Phoenix. This is, after all, a travel flag football club so some travel may be involved.

Are we required to attend every tournament?

While we expect players to attend as many practice sessions as possible, we are more flexible with tournaments. Attend whatever tournaments you choose. The bare minimum is 5 players (including a quarterback) per team, so if we cannot make that for a specific tournament, we cannot enter a team. If numbers are low, we may ask interested players and families in younger divisions to move up to an older division for that tournament - an awesome experience and bragging rights for those kids!

What is the cost?

While participation in tryouts is free, Marin Heat membership fees for the February to June season are $600. Players receive coaching and instruction, drippy tournament jerseys, and a practice jersey. The fee also helps cover field rental, insurance, etc. Because tournament attendance is not mandatory, travel tournament costs (registration, travel, and accommodation) are not included. A portion of the membership fee will be tax-deductible. More details to come on that.

Do you offer scholarships?

Marin Heat welcomes athletes from low-income families to participate in our scholarship program. Please email us to learn more.

Why does Marin Heat run tryouts? Doesn’t everyone get to play?

Travel tournaments are highly competitive so the quality of our teams must be high to ensure a great experience for our athletes. The worst experience for kids (and parents) is to get slammed every game after traveling 500 miles for a tournament. So we aim to keep the quality of teams high and tryouts are one way to help us do that.

Does my child need experience playing flag football?

No. If your child is athletic or has experience playing other fast-paced, high-coordination sports - basketball, lacrosse, etc - they will be able to learn and adapt to flag football quickly. Certainly, there will be a learning curve, but in our experience, good athletes adapt easily to flag. The primary skill to learn for athletes completely new to flag is catching the ball.

My child is a quarterback / running back / cornerback / receiver - can they play that position?

If your child has skills in a specific football position, awesome. We will run them in that position. We will also run them in every other position. Flag is different from tackle football. Tournament teams are so small that there are needs in every position and it is impossible to guarantee that athletes will play in their preferred position for the duration of a game, tournament, or season.

Is there any equipment I need to bring to tryouts, practices, tournaments?

Players are encouraged to bring cleats, shorts, and a mouthpiece. Mouthpieces are required in tournaments and we encourage them at practices. Please bring your water bottle. And don’t forget the most important piece of equipment: 100% effort!

How does Marin Heat run tryouts?

If you’ve watched the NFL combine, we run our tryouts in a similar format with timed events, drills, and skills tests. We’ve found that young athletes love the combine format - they love comparing times, beating the clock, and love the various challenges. Our tryout sessions will be run in three phases:

1. Speed and Agility: 40-yard dash, 5/10/5 agility drill

2. Running and Defense: Running Back drill, Flag-pulling challenge

3. Position Player Skills: Quarterback passing, Wide Receiver routes, Defensive Back coverage

When and where are the tryouts?

Tryouts for the 2025 season are complete, but we may be planning late tryouts for some athletes. Please register your athlete and we’ll keep you in the loop.

What happens after tryouts?

After tryouts, coaches compile data, compare notes, form draft squads, and invite families to join. The late tryout evaluation process will continue until the end of January 2025, so please be patient.

We have 4 squads of players - senior boys, senior girls, junior boys, junior girls - who will practice together throughout the season. Each squad could be as compact as 10 players or as large as 40. Depends on the talent. Given the differences in age rules between tournaments, we will form age division-based teams from the 4 core squads on a tournament-by-tournament basis.