When a team has in the region of 150 potential plays at their disposal, with audibles, motions and multiple options expanding a couple of dozen drawn up within a playbook, you might be forgiven for thinking someone along the lines of Bill Belichick is directing from the sidelines.

Arguably the greatest coach of all time, the hooded one has not found a new gig directing the fortunes of one of 12 international Flag Football teams participating at the NFL Pro Bowl this week. But the six-time Super Bowl winner has served as an inspiration for Tom Davies, who directs the fortunes of Lings Primary School, the team representing the UK in Orlando.

Now, don’t worry that Tom is blinding his kids with science. The youngsters from Northampton have learned and practiced a healthy 24 plays that their coaches trust them to improvise in game situations. A squad aged between ten and 12-years-old have translated that trust into the success saw them win the UK national championship to earn their Pro Bowl berth.

Along with defensive coordinator Marcel Baker, and under the watchful eye of GM/Head Coach and organizer of all things that will make the trip to Florida enjoyable, Anne Davies, Tom has orchestrated a team that has only lost one game since their formation.

“I’m a New England Patriots fan, I’ve watched American football from a very young age, and I’ve tried to learn as much as I can from different coaches, starting with the GOAT of course,” says Tom, a PE specialist at the school where his mom Anne is the department’s coordinator. “I had the opportunity to do an NFL flag teachers course and we always try and introduce different sports here at school. We do things like curling and archery, so flag football was something that we jumped in on.”

One of the keys to Lings’ success is the responsibility the coaches put in their players’ hands both on and off the field. The youngsters are avid NFL watchers, and it is they who often suggest experimenting with motions and crossing patterns discovered when watching UK television coverage of the sport or viewing social media clips.

“I’m not a coach who calls a play and then stands on the sideline shouting instructions on what they should change based on what I see in the moment,” explains Tom. “With our team, the coach calls a play that our players know and have practiced, and then they’re allowed to think for themselves.

“Defensively, we have a ‘bend don’t break’ philosophy, perhaps giving an opponent a few yards, but not allowing them to get big plays downfield.”

Now, about that playbook.

“During the year, we kind of mix and match,” explains Tom. “We start with about 24 plays and by the time we hit the NFL UK finals this year, most of the plays had four or five different calls and options and audibles in there.

“We’re very fortunate that our kids really study the plays. Our quarterback Alice is superb for knowing that playbook probably as well as I do, and our other captain Ryder, a receiver, knows it inside out, back to front and knows all the motions, all the different things. Actually, I could quite happily sit and say: ‘there’s the playbook guys, go and call it,’ because they know it so well.

“Part of our training in each session is 30 minutes’ worth of learning the plays. A lot of it is done to suit their needs, so they all stay in their positions, focus on their route, and they know their job.”

(That sounds a little bit like Bill Belichick right there! Know your job; do your job.)

“We’ve done a lot of theory as well, with them talking about different concepts, so not only to understand how the play looks, but actually what’s the purpose of it, what’s that route, who is the target and why,” adds Tom. “The more they do that, the better they get and hopefully when we go over to the Pro Bowl, they should know it all and be able to recite it all.”

Lings Primary School make their NFL Flag international debut in Orlando at 9.35am US ET on Friday against the Bulls from Hemingway School in Saltillo, Mexico. They then face Japan’s Nojima Sagamihara Rise from Tokyo (10.45am), and Australia’s Varsity College from the Gold Coast (11.55am) before the knockout stages on Saturday.