Flag Football

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Lanay Montgomery Pan ENGL 101-45 3 October 2012 Flag Instead of Pads When most people think of football they automatically think of shoulder pads, rib pads, jock strap, tight spandex pants and hardnosed guys. Well this article will focus on the Flag side of football where one does not have to be very tough and able to take a hard hit to run with a football. On the campus of West Virginia University there are a number of intramural sports played and flag football happens to be one of them. I decided I was going to take a little interest in this sport and find out more information about the background and the rules of the game. The only background I have with flag football is watching my younger brother play when he was eight years…show more content…
Flag football has been around for as long as tackle. However the first organized league started in the 1930’s and soon developed in the 1940’s as a recreational sport for military personnel. Soon after flag football began as a recreational sport in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Flag football was based off of softball league format. The national flag football league birthplace was St. Louis, Missouri. The first league was known as the National Touch Football League. The National Touch Football League began in the 1960’s and has played a national championship ever since 1971. This league also introduced the first standardized rulebook and a Hall of Fame. The college intramural game in the 1960’s and 1970’s consisted of a seven-man game with contact, which is completely different from today’s non-contact game. In 1999, the Professional Flag Football League played the first ever professional flag football travel schedule with teams in Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, Toledo, and Indianapolis. The league was not successful but perhaps a try to unite the league will happen in the near…show more content…
When I went to watch the flag intramural team at West Virginia University I was able to learn about the rules and received more insight from one of the players in the league. While interviewing player Kenny Gibson from the Club Boys team I learned the intramural sport is taken very seriously and the majority of the players that come out to play are committed to flag football. Kenny is one of those players that are committed and he said he has been playing since he was about eight years old. His team is pretty close and has good chemistry but it is not because of team bonding activities. According to Kenny “Everyone on our team is on different schedule and has priorities therefore we don’t have time for anything but practice.” During practice I noticed even though they do not bond outside of required times they seemed to communicate well. We also talked about what they had to do in order to win flag football games and Kenny mentioned they had to go over their opposing team’s scouting report and their defensive schemes. He told me about some of their defensive plays they often use during games most of which consist of blocking on the line, blitzing, and guarding the outside routes. Because they are known for their defensive skills they often rely on their defense to win

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