(Regina Youth Flag Football League/Submitted)
Flag football is an immensely popular sport that appeals to a growing number of people of all ages.
With there being so many leagues across North America, it came as quite a shock to Mike Thomas when the Regina Youth Flag Football League was named league of the year by NFL Flag.
Thomas, the convenor of the Regina league and Football Saskatchewan’s director of operations, was in Atlanta on Saturday for the NFL Flag Summit.
“I was very surprised but very humbled and thankful to have been the recipient of this award,” Thomas told Jamie Nye on Monday’s Green Zone. “Just with all the work that everybody does, it was a very neat and surreal opportunity and (it was) great to be recognized on that stage.”
(Regina Youth Flag Football League/Submitted)
Thomas said the operation has more than 600 volunteer coaches, more than 100 officials and around 10 support staff members.
The Regina Youth Flag Football League offers programs for kids as young as four years of age all the way up to kids as old as 17.
Thomas credited the staff and volunteers for helping to foster the league’s growth as well as its award recognition.
“Some of the things that (we) as an organization have looked at from a foundational standpoint is just understanding what’s the purpose of what we’re doing,” Thomas said.
“It’s to be able to provide football to all people — boys or girls, teenagers, young teens or adolescents that are wanting to be a part of something.”
The Regina league faced some stiff competition for the award. Other operations considered included those run by former NFL quarterback Matt Leinart and Miami Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill.
“For us, being where we are (with) our population and just everything we do, it was not (something) that we ever expected to be honest,” Thomas said.
Voting was done by those in attendance at the summit.
Thomas spoke in two sessions at the summit, including a panel discussion.
“It was great because I was, again, the lone Canadian out there talking about the international market (and) how things can work, which I think resonated with some other people,” Thomas said.
“And then the second session I spoke in was for senior operators, so people who had been having leagues for five-plus years and also had numbers above a certain level.”
Thomas gave a breakdown of how the Regina Youth Flag Football League operates to an audience of about 65 people in what he described as a pretty packed room.
Thomas said the presentation was met with applause, and several people approached him afterwards to pick his brain about the promotion of his league.
“It was very humbling. I was very taken aback by it,” he said.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
