Flag football returns: grueling five week season commences

It seems that GCSU students are ready for some flag football.
Flag football, one of the most popular intramural sports on campus, began its new season on Monday.  The league will have three divisions with teams that are comprised of men, women, or both in a co-ed division. 
The turnout for the captains’ meeting on September 6, in which students registered to play flag football, was high nearly filling the Dogwood Conference Room in the Student Activities Center to capacity.
The season began on September 11 and will have a five-week regular season as nearly 60 teams over the three divisions compete to advance to the playoffs. 
After the regular season is over, one week of playoffs will occur in a single elimination tournament to determine the champion in each of the three divisions.
The popularity of flag football is not just limited to the GCSU intramural program. More than 50,000 students play flag football on college campuses across the country.
“It (flag football) is nationally known,” said Joel Sanderson, Coordinator of Intramural and Recreational Sports. “It’s not just this campus, it’s everywhere.”
The biggest reason for the nationwide popularity of the sport is that football is one of the most popular sports in the country. Over 17 million people attended games of the National Football League and its championship game, the Super Bowl, last year. The Super Bowl is also traditionally the most watched television program every year.
“We see how popular the NFL and college football is in the United States today and (that) is why flag football is popular,” said Sanderson.
While the popularity of football, in general, is a big reason for the demand in flag football, the lack of a varsity football team at GCSU is another reason for such a high turnout among students.
“(GCSU doesn’t) have a football team,” said Jason Hughes, junior special education major. “So a lot of people like to get out and have a little competition.”
    With no football in the Peach Belt Conference, GCSU students look toward flag football as a way to have some competition during football season.
“I play with a sorority; so it’s fun to play against the other sororities and have that competitive spirit,” said Dana Tyler, sophomore exercise science major.
While Sanderson wants the participants of the flag football program to enjoy themselves, he also aims to promote good sportsmanship among the players.
Officials will grade the teams on a sportsmanship ratio of 0.0-4.0 during the game. 
If players receive unsportsmanlike penalties during the game, their teams’ ratio will go down. A team will not advance to the playoffs, that take place after the five week regular season, if they have a ratio of less than 3.0.
Sanderson’s justification is that flag football is just a game and a way for the students to have fun.
“We (GCSU students) are playing for a T-shirt,” said Sanderson, “We shouldn’t play for blood.”
Even though Sanderson is happy with the high turnout, he just wants students to enjoy the flag football program.
“I hope the students come out and have a good time and are able to enhance their college life outside the classroom,” said Sanderson.   

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 15 2006. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry