USFTL Nationals Tragedy

During the MLK weekend you can bet that the U. S. Flag & Touch league finals are held every year in Orlando. This is the 37th event gets bigger every year, from the midwest to the northeast and even into Canada, teams make their pilgrimage to the Nationals to compete for who is the best. This years event catered to 285 teams in different flag football formats and age divisions.

However lets take a step back and think what is flag football. In my opinion, it's a bunch of people or friends getting together and playing the game for passion. There is no need for tackle because we all did the physical thing in pop warner, high school or college. This is a game where the weekend warriors can come out, throw the pigskin around and relive those days by just pulling flags instead of tackling someone.

This weekend became a tragedy for one of those weekend warriors at the USFTL Nationals. One of the players on the New Orleans Hitmen team had taken a block or some people would consider, a cheap shot. The player laid there motionless, some say that there was CPR taking place to revive the man and some say not. However the severity of the injury there was no medical personnel on site to attend the injured player. It was approximately 20 minutes before the ambulance arrived to transport the injured player to the hospital. As teams would huddle together and say prayers for the injured warrior, the worst was yet to come. The injured player was taken to the local hospital and was rushed into the OR for spinal surgery. After a successful surgery was completed, family and friends came to learn that the injured player was on a ventilator and was suffering paralysis from the neck down.

News of the tragedy went rampant the next day during the tournament. Blame was being set on the event coordinator for not having medical personnel at such a large event and referees were getting the same attention because of not enforcing the rules that are cleary stated in the rule book concerning "contact." The finger pointing still continues today, however a player, father and husband still lays motionless in the hospital bed in Florida. Who will pay for his medical bills? His life style from here on out? Yeah, I know, we all sign the waiver form to play but then again McDonalds still continues to get sued for hot coffee with the warning labels. With such a large event, medical personnel should have been coordinated. There were several other minor injuries at the tournament in which medical personnel could have treated on site as well. One of the emergency room doctors at the local hospital was completely appalled to the fact that no medical personnel was on site. Alot of money was made at this event, 285 teams time a minimum of $250 a team.....you figure the math, a good portion of that money should have been weighed in this event.

Now, could this be the down fall of the USFTL? Some say yes, with a pending lawsuit. This lawsuit could border along the line of criminal negligence. I just know that there is a meltdown on the USFTL message boards discussing flag football issues of "contact." One thing is for sure the the community of flag football players are stepping up with prayers and donations to help out the injured player.

Lastly, the champions:

"A" Flag - DOMINION from Upper Marlboro, MD
"B" Flag - TIME OUT from Cleveland, Oh
"C" Flag - DOGS from Chicago, Ill
9-man Ineligible "A" Flag - HAWKS from Tampa, Fl
8-man Ineligible "B" Flag - ISP BULLS from Long Island, NY
7-man Screen Flag - PALMETTO BUGS from Greenville, SC
8-woman Contact Flag - DAWKSPORTS LADIES from Toronto, Canada
7-woman Screen Flag - VIKINGS from Montreal, Canada
CO-ED Flag - BUZZ KILL/MEAN MACHINE from Nashville, TN
35&Over 8-man Flag - LEGENDS IN ACTION from Cleveland,Oh
5on5 Flag - ROCKY TOP from Jax, Fl
4on4 "A" Flag - GOOSE CREW from Miami, Fl
4on4 "B" Flag - ESS from Miami, Fl
4on4 35&older Flag - GET A GRIP from Jax, Fl
Youth U15 Flag - MO STEEL from Miami, Fl
Youth U13 Flag - LONGHORNS from Houston, Tx

Jacksonville Beach Park&Rec League

I’ve spoken with one of the founding owners on this league in the past few days. Jimmy Wilkins, an East Carolina grad and a long time resident of Jacksonville brought his passion of the game to the Beach. He worked closely with Jax Beach Parks & Rec to form the league over 17 years ago. To this day, it has become one of the sought after leagues for players to be associated with.

The “Jax Beach League” is a winter league that operates in a 7v7 format. The season starts up in late November through mid-February and conducts single elimination playoffs at the end of the season. No matter what your record may be in the standings, every team is invited to the dance. Each team plays at least two games a week making it a 17-game season for league teams. Currently, there are 48 teams in the league with over 500 participants playing at the Beach. The teams are broken up into divisions; A, B, and C divisions. The A division is the most competitive and is comprised of 8 teams that is broken into two sub divisions, the AFC and NFC. The top three teams are Parlaid(9-0), R.J Gators(8-1), and MoonSpiders(7-3). The B division is also comprised of 8 teams that is broken up into two subdivision; ACC and SEC. The top three teams are BackinBlack(9-2), The Evolution(7-4), and Smart Guys(7-4). The C division is where it all begins. Whether you are a couch potato or reliving your high football days, C division can be your cup of tea. The C division is comprised of 32 teams that is broken up into four divisions; PAC10, PACK10, Big10 and Big12. I guess now I can see why the board committee named the B subdivisions, ACC and SEC, better conferences much like in college football. However that is another argument to discuss since I am a die-hard Buckeye. Anyway, the top four teams in C division are; PACK10-Motivation(10-1), Big12-Philly’s Finest(9-1), Big10-Joe’s Crab Shack(9-1), and Pac10-Touchdown Club(9-2). Good luck to all teams in the playoffs.

“There are some great rival games played in this league. You get the occasional trash talk but it’s all friendly in nature. Plus, some teams scout out the other teams for their next game. It’s a great league” said Jimmy Wilkins.

I also asked him if Flag Football is a growing sport in NE Florida. “I think so; Jacksonville has a huge following of players that still want to compete. We even had some “real” football players compete in some games; a notable Jacksonville Jaguar player, a couple of Gator WRs and some quality division 1 college QBs in Florida” said Wilkins.

So if you are looking for some great 7v7 competition, hit the beach league during the Fall/Winter season. Fields are located at Wingate Park off of South Penman rd.

Flag Football….Get Some!

New Sponsor

Well my travel team has a new sponsor, PostNET. The owner is great and she is also excited as well with the flag football team. All the players will meet the sponsor on her grand opening coming up Feb. The team is comprised of several players from different HS in the area; three from OPHS, two from MHS and one from BSHS. Three of the players I have coached during the NFL Youth Flag football season and one surprise player is a QB that played on JV at his local HS that went undefeated during their last season. So it should be very interesting for the upcoming tournament.

The research continues on the area adult/youth leagues. I interviewed one founder of the Jacksonville Beach Parks & Rec Flag Football league yesterday. The next Blog will detail that interview. A few more adult leagues have come onto my radar and they run the 4v4 style; JAXSPORTS and 4on4ofJax.

Sponsorship for Flag Football team

I have been out searching for sponsorships for youth flag football and let me tell you its is hard to compete against the regular sports teams such as football/softball/baseball. So for a sponsorship, I research the local companies in the area and targeted the ones I thought would be a good fit for flag football. So I made up a package of sort to give to the owners or management personnel who I was trying to sell the idea of a sponsorship. In this package I had wrote up a nice proposal explaining the idea of a sponsorship, the tournament that I was entering the team into and the benefits that a sponsor would receive. Also included was an invoice of the cost of jerseys, tournament fees and expenses, which were negotiable.

So I hit up a restaurant in the local area and sat down and sold the idea to the restaurant manager. After about 30 minute sales pitch, he said he was wrapped up into other league organizations that dealt with baseball/softball and couldn't fund "another" team in the local area. He did gave me some creative options to get funding. So I tried another place, a brand new postage/mail store. I think this place had only been opened for a week, but I went in anyway. So at first I asked the owner about sponsoring a youth team and right away she couldn't fund a team. Before turning back around, I explain to hear that it wasn't any major baseball/softball or football team with 15 players, I told hear it was about a traveling flag football team with only six players. That perked her ears and she then listen to the proposal. So after about 30 minutes we were discussing team uniforms and that she had a contact to get a better price. Everything is looking good, she explained to me that the grand opening is in two weeks and will have "Jaxson de Ville" out for her grand opening. I pitched also about having "her" sponsored flag football team at the event as well. Well leaving her work, I felt good about the sponsorship, I will have a definite answer come Tuesday.

Here is the NFL Youth Flag Football video

Area leagues

Over the next few weeks leading up to the Let-it-Fly tournament in Feb, I will scope out the adult/youth flag football leagues in the surrounding Jax area. This includes leagues in Duval, Clay and St Johns counties.

To start off, I will look at the Westside Flag Football league. This league is located on the westside of Jax. After talking with some of the coaches this is the second year of running a flag football league. The first year was growing pains, but I think they are headed in the right direction. I decided not to enroll my step-son into this league due to not enough interest in the U15 age bracket. Besides I think he is interested in the upcoming tourney.