Matt Hill built an impressive flag football coaching resume in his hometown.
The Hamilton native coached a squad that won a provincial, national and world championship in New Orleans and coached Team Ontario to three national championships.
He was also involved in tackle football with the Canada Prep Football Academy, the Hamilton Ironmen and the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs varsity team before deciding to focus on flag football in Niagara.
“I couldn’t believe there was no flag football here,” Hill said. “It blew my mind and I decided that that was what we were going to do. We got started thinking one season a year and maybe a 100 kids and we are now getting to the 400-500 mark and it is year-round.
“With the support I have from coaches and volunteers, it is hard to take the foot off of the gas.”
In his first season with Niagara Youth Flag Football, Hill took six teams to Hamilton Flag Football’s final tournament and won two championships.
“From there we had a really big fall and then the pandemic came. We have exploded after the pandemic and we have been resilient going season to season and following the protocols.”
This year, Niagara Youth Flag Football competed in the 2021 NFL Flag Canadian Championships at the under-13 and lost in the semifinals to the winning team who will represent Canada at the Pro-Bowl in Las Vegas.
A number of players from that team were at Young’s Sportsplex last Friday as two Grade 7-8 teams and two Grade 5-6 teams, which include a few talented Grade 4 players, prepared for a tournament in Markham on Boxing Day.
One of the players taking part Friday night was 13-year-old Welland native Carson Casasanta. The Grade 8 student at Alexander Kuska, who will be heading to Notre Dame next fall, has been playing flag football for the past three years.
“I like football and the NFL, I don’t want to get hurt for hockey and I don’t want to go into tackle yet,” Casasanta said. “It is a lot of fun running routes and having a good time.”
The defenceman with the Niagara North Stars under-14 AAA team also loves how flag football is excellent cross training.
“It is like dryland training so it helps with my stamina and explosiveness. It make my legs bigger which is better for hockey.”
Hill, who works at Hotel Dieu Shaver Hospital as a recreational therapy assistant, loves working with Casasanta and other youth.
“By day, I am with the seniors and by night I am with the kids and it’s a nice balance. I love what I do.”
Hill has seen Niagara Youth Flag Football expand rapidly and the schedule he envisions is a regular house league season from mid-April to late June played outside, travel teams in the summer and then a competitive high school league and youth camps in the winter.
“We keep going and the kids want more and more and more.”
The organization ran three high school seasons last year, including two five-on-five leagues and then a full field seven-on-seven league with schools from Niagara and Hamilton.
“The high school thing kind of fell in my lap. I reached out to Myer coaches Dave Buchanan and Dan Pepe and they told me we needed to get something going for high school because there was no tackle football during the pandemic,” Hill said. “The next big thing will be solidifying our winter high school program. We can do our thing in the winter and not conflict with anything else.”
Hill credits the success of NYFF to his volunteers and coaches and the program itself.
“They are learning all the skills, they are having fun, it is very affordable (fall season was 10 weeks for $125) and we pride ourselves on having great coaches.”
Among Hill’s volunteers and coaches are: Brock sports management graduate Bryan Freve; current CFL players Daniel Peterman and Eric Mezzalira; former CFL Grey Cup champion and three-time CFL all-star Clifford Ivory, Alex and Gary Hill, Pepe, Buchanan, Nathan Greene, Matt Siscoe, Herdy Christian, Terrance Murray, Jeremy McLeod, Steve Lidstone, John Casasanta and student/athletes from the AN Myer football program.
“Mountainview Homes and Team Grande with Alex Hill have been amazing sponsors for our league from Day 1,” he said. “Moving forward we have a partnership with NFL Flag that will allow us to participate in highly competitive and fun tournaments in the States and give kids many exciting opportunities.”
Upcoming events for the organization includes a free girls clinic on Jan. 16.
“We have some super-talented girls and we would like to get even more girls playing,” he said.
