Football wristband template
Numbered play-call inserts cut to the windows real wrist coaches have, a page of them at a time, ready to print. Write your calls in and cut along the guides, or open the same insert in Playmaker and type them instead.
Free, no account, nothing to install. Varsity insert, 24 numbered calls, US Letter. Edit opens the football wristband maker on the same varsity insert.
How to use this template
Pick the insert that fits your band
The varsity insert fits the standard high school and adult wrist coach window. The youth insert fits the smaller bands sold for players around nine to twelve. If you are not sure, measure the clear window on the band and compare.
Print it at actual size
Choose 100 percent or actual size, and switch off fit to page. The bar at the foot of the sheet is exactly 50 mm long, so check it with a ruler before you cut anything.
Write a call on each numbered row
Put your most important plays first, so they sit nearest the top where the quarterback looks first. A fine felt tip stays readable; a ballpoint smudges less in the rain.
Cut along the guides and slide it in
The crop marks at the corners show where each insert ends. Card stock lasts a season, and a strip of clear packing tape over the face keeps it dry.
Download the template
- Varsity insert, 24 numbered callsUS Letter · PDF · 6 KB
- Varsity insert, 24 numbered callsA4 · PDF · 6 KB
- Youth insert, 16 numbered callsUS Letter · PDF · 5 KB
- Youth insert, 16 numbered callsA4 · PDF · 6 KB
Would rather type than write? The free football wristband maker makes the same sheet from what you type.
A wristband is a numbered list
The insert behind the window of a quarterback's wrist coach is not a playbook. It is a list. The coach on the sideline shouts a number, the quarterback finds that row, and every player wearing the same card reads the same call. That is why this template is numbered rows and nothing else: no diagrams, no boxes for formation and motion, nothing that makes the row harder to find in the two seconds before the snap.
The varsity insert holds twenty-four rows in two columns, and the youth insert sixteen, at a size a player can still read with the band on their forearm. Each sheet prints as many copies of the same insert as fit on the page, because every player who wears a band wants the same card.
Sized from the manufacturers' own templates
The two insert sizes are the ones the wristband makers publish for their own bands. The varsity size is four and three-quarter inches by two and three-quarters, a figure two different manufacturers arrived at on their own, which is about as close to a standard as this market has. The youth size is smaller and squarer, for the bands sold to younger players. If your band is a different size, the football wristband maker has every measured size in one list, including the flag band and the large adult window.
Writing it by hand, or typing it
The printable template is for the coach who wants a pen and a piece of paper tonight. It works, and plenty of good teams have run their whole season off a handwritten card.
Typing it has three advantages, and that is what the edit button is for. The wristband maker works out the biggest type that fits however many calls you have, so twelve calls print large and sixty print small but readable. It prints the coach's call sheet from the same list, so the number on the wrist and the number on your sheet can never disagree. And next week you change two plays instead of writing the card again. It is free and it needs no account.
If you play flag rather than tackle, the flag football wristband template is the same idea on a flag band, with a set of formation cards as well. The coach's half of the system is the football call sheet template, sorted by down and distance.
Common questions
What size is a football wristband insert?
There is no single size, which is why there are two templates here. The varsity insert most bands take is four and three-quarter inches by two and three-quarters. Youth bands are smaller, about four and a half inches by two and a quarter. Measure the clear window on your band and pick the template that matches.
How many plays fit on a wristband?
This template has twenty-four numbered rows on the varsity insert and sixteen on the youth one, which is a size a player can read on the run. If you need more, the football wristband maker fits up to sixty calls on one varsity insert by setting the type smaller, and tells you the type size before you print.
Why does my printed insert not fit the band?
Almost always because the printer scaled the page. Print at 100 percent or actual size with fit to page switched off, then measure the bar at the foot of the sheet. It is exactly 50 millimetres long when the page printed at the right size.
Is this football wristband template really free?
Yes. The PDF is free to download and print as often as you like, with no account and no email address. It carries a small Playmaker mark in the corner of each insert.
Can I use it for flag football?
You can, but a flag band usually has a squarer window. There is a flag football wristband template with an insert sized for flag bands and a set of flag formation cards to go with it.
More free printable templates
Fill it in on screen instead
The free football wristband maker opens on this template. Type instead of writing, print as many copies as you need, and change it next week without starting again.
Edit this in PlaymakerPage updated · All templates