Play in spring league begins in April
Anybody who snickered at the sight of NFL stars playing flag football at the Pro Bowl on Sunday might be wise to reconsider.
Players such as C.J. Stroud, Keenan Allen, Tyreek Hill, Jalen Hurts, CeeDee Lamb and Baker Mayfield didn’t appear to mind slinging the ball around a stadium in Orlando, Florida, in a no-contact environment for fans’ enjoyment in the run-up to the Super Bowl.
Dan McHugh, who has operated a youth flag football league in Lakeville since 2014, couldn’t help but notice. He also couldn’t help but notice when the International Olympic Committee last October approved men’s and women’s flag football for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. McHugh believes his NFL-affiliated league, which had 60 players in its first season and grew to more than 400 by 2023, is ready for the next step: an all-girls division.
“Our leagues have always been co-ed,” McHugh said, “but I think there’s a lot of potential for growth in girls flag football. There are a lot of girls who are football fans but haven’t had an outlet to play, and I think playing flag football helps with coordination for other sports.”
The Lakeville league is accepting registrations for its co-ed and girls flag programs at www.gameonsportsmn.com. There are five age divisions for the co-ed league, ranging from pre-kindergarten/kindergarten to grades 7-9. All-girls teams will be formed at the grades 3-4, 5-6 and 7-9 levels. Players from Lakeville and surrounding communities may participate.
“We think we can get 100 girls in the all-girls leagues,” McHugh said. “We’d like to have three teams in each age group.”
Communities throughout the metro area have embraced flag football as a way of introducing it to children who, for any number of reasons, might not have participated in the fully equipped, full-contact version of football. McHugh said there are tackle football players in Lakeville who started in the flag league. Elsewhere, the Rosemount High School football program, for example, operates boys and girls flag football leagues in the summer.
The Game On Sports league in Lakeville will run in the spring, with games beginning April 27 at Lakeville South High School. Regular-season games are on Saturdays, with a season-ending tournament June 21-22 (games will not be held the weekends of Memorial Day and Father’s Day).
McHugh said the Game On Sports league isn’t asking for a major commitment, recognizing athletes might have other sports interests in the spring. Flag football games will last about an hour.
Players also may sign up to be on teams with friends and neighbors. The league also will help players who need to be assigned to teams.
Games are 5-on-5 on a 70-yard field. There are no lineman, meaning all players on the field have an opportunity to touch the ball. Team rosters are eight to 12 players, depending on the division.
The Game On Sports league has a history with girls playing. “Not long ago, we had an all-girls team in the co-ed league,” McHugh said. “They were all on the same basketball team. They played football because they thought it would be fun and would keep them in shape for basketball.
“They were studs. One year they reached the championship game in their league. They played several years in different age divisions before the guys got too big and tall.”
The NFL, keenly aware that a significant percentage of its fanbase is female, has endorsed the flag football concept as a way of connecting fans to the game. Whether it’s a 260-pound defensive end sacking the quarterback or a fifth-grade girl making a tackle by pulling off an opponent’s waistband flag, football is football.
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