By Rick Cawley
For the Review
Spring football. That’s right…spring football. Like a lot of things we’ve come to treat as the new normal in the Covid era, it often takes some getting used to. A group of local parents came up with the idea of getting a start-up spring flag football league for youngsters approved through the NFL Flag Program.
Jeremy Morgan, the brainchild behind the endeavor, envisions that the league will present itself as a safe alternative to tackle football programs or a supplement to traditional spring sports opportunities for children. Morgan received the go-ahead from the NFL Flag people back in February to move forward with his plan to establish a local franchise. Morgan says that his motivation to get this underway is because “ I just want to serve the community in any way I can. I just love working with kids.”
The NFL Flag Program has been around for years but has never gained much traction in our area. Both the Roxborough Eagles and the Wissahickon Braves provide instruction and skill development in a more rough and tumble variation through their organizations each fall.
The NFL Flag version minimizes body contact and has a much more wide-open element to it with only 5 players per side on a relatively condensed field. The basic rules include no blocking or diving and all players are eligible receivers. The QB cannot run unless receiving a reverse handoff and has 7 seconds in which to release a pass downfield. The defense is allowed one rusher who must at least 7 yards off the ball when it is snapped unless the ball is handed off. The ball becomes dead on a fumble but interceptions are live plays even on an extra point try.
Although flag football may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it does offer some advantages for young children starting out. With fewer players on the field, each kid in the NFL Flag version becomes a “skill player” and a valuable asset to the success of a team and not lost in the shuffle as can happen with more traditional football programs. There are no “grunts” in NFL Flag.
The youngsters get an opportunity to develop the basic skills of throwing and catching in a fast moving game where more time is spent running up and down the field with less time spent drawing up and huddling for complicated play assignments.
The NFL Roxborough organizers, Jeremy Morgan and Omar Richburg, are hoping to field 3 age divisions ( 7 & under, 10 & under, and 14 & under) for the in-house league. At this time, there is a Roxborough group which would play its games at Pachella Field on Sunday afternoons. Players need not live in Roxborough to play in the league.
There is also an NFL East Falls group under the Roxborough umbrella being organized by Christine Shaw that would play its games at McDevitt Recreation Center, under the guiding hand of head honcho Tom McNicholas. Shaw is grateful for the opportunity to have the NFL franchise in the Falls and looks forward to mentoring the program there, saying that “I get just as much fun out of it, if not more, than the kids I’m coaching.”
Both of the neighborhood groups are still a work-in-progress as the organizers try to fill the age groups with enough players to support healthy levels for competition. The league brass would always have the option of mixing and matching age groups if registered numbers are uneven.
Like any sustaining sports organization, there is always a need to have caring parents stepping forward to coach the various teams. A little football experience helps, but the ability to create a nurturing environment is paramount in making kids feel emotionally supported regardless of the ups and downs on the field.
The league creates an opportunity for some high school or college students to make a few bucks as league referees. The rules and playing atmosphere are straightforward enough to allow even someone who doesn’t understand all the nuances of football jargon a chance to oversee action on the field in a safe and fair manner.
It wasn’t that long ago that eyebrows were raised at the notion of playing baseball and softball in the Fall. Hopefully, down the road, the image of Spring football will follow the same path to success and become a vital part of our community’s sports landscape.