National Basketball Association. National Hockey League. Major League Baseball. Premier League. National Football League. All of these sports have a grand number of spectators around the nation- and around the world. Even if you aren’t a big sports fan, you still know what NBA 2K means, that Tom Brady is the indisputable GOAT of the NFL and that New York takes their MLB Yankees pride seriously. In one way or another, sports have touched all of our lives. Some of us more than others. Whether it’s sitting with your family every Sunday to watch the big football game or actually playing it yourself.
One sport that you don’t see highly televised is flag football. Flag football is essentially the same as regular football. There are two teams, composed of ten players per team. Depending on the league it can be five-man, six-man, seven-man, or nine-man playing in the game. The most common being five-man games. Every player has a belt around their waist with two flags attached to the belt. The athletes play the game with regular football rules, just without the physical contact aspect of the game. Depending on the athlete, one can sign up for contact or non-contact flag football. The main difference between the two is that contact allows tactics such as block, stiff arm, and press. Non-contact does not allow these tactics, the only way to stop your opponent from advancing is to pull their flag.
Many may believe that flag football isn’t a real sport because of the main thing: the flags. When one thinks of football, people think of the tackling and all of the physical aspects of the sport. However, that shouldn’t be the only thing that makes a sport a “real” sport. What should make a sport a “real sport” should be a player’s dedication and skills to the game. Which are all things that are on display at a flag football game. The main mechanism to just grab a flag can be somewhat more difficult to do than to just tackle a player. Since the player has to match the opponent’s speed and have their hand-eye coordination right so they may grab the flag and rip it out of the belt to stop their opponent.
What many outside of the flag football world don’t know is that one has to work just as hard as an NFL player when it comes to improving one’s skill. A player has to put in similar hours of training and dedication to the sport to see positive results. Another positive is the friendship and networking one gains from being a part of this community. Depending on the league, an athlete can receive rewards such as money, rings, plaques, etc. These rewards can be enticing for a person just beginning their flag football journey. With the implementation of these rewards, it allows the person to want to be a better player truly. A similarity that flag football has with regular football is that one has to have true skills for their potential to be seen by others. It’s pretty easy to get started in flag football, however, it’s hard to master. There are many leagues around Massachusetts, which can make the sign-up process easy. However, to be recruited to teams that are dedicated and that consistently win is easier said than done.
Some things that have been done to make this sport more popular is to have more people playing. This sport can be started in a person’s young life. Since parents don’t want their kids involved with tackle football, due to the risk of serious injury, flag football is a great alternative for a person who still wants to play football, but with less risk. The diversity in flag football surpasses what is seen in the NFL. In Massachusetts, there are countless Co-ed leagues that allow both men and women to play together due to the lack of physical contact. There are also women’s divisions that encourage people to be more involved with the sport. With the founding of the American Flag Football League in 2016, there have been leaps in making flag football a more well-known sport.