Registration open for Cottonwood football offerings

Showtime Sportz will be bringing a girls’ flag football camp for ages 5 to 17 and a co-ed flag football tournament for ages 9 to 14 to Cottonwood on Saturday, Nov. 18. The events are open to all skill levels. Registration will end on Tuesday, Oct. 31. 

Girls’ Flag Football Camp 

The registration cost for the girls’ flag football camp is $15, which includes a shirt. The camp will takes place on Friday, Nov. 10, from 1 to 4 p.m. at Riverfront Park.

“Flag football is one of the fastest-growing sports today, with more than 20 million participants in 100 countries and counting,” the National Football League posted on its  website in June. “Flag sizzled in its debut at the World Games in 2022 and is in the mix as a potential Olympic sport. That’s real progress, with girls leading the charge. In America, around 474,000 young women between the ages of 6 and 17 played flag last year — a massive 63% increase from 2019. The surge in participation led Arizona, New York and California to sanction girls’ flag as a high school sport.”

This is the first time Showtime Sportz is offering this program. Owner Bruce Jurecki plans to conduct defense and offense drills with the goal of establishing an all-girls league.

“We’re also going to try to introduce adult women to coaching the game,” Jurecki said. “I want them to understand, ‘Hey, you can coach’ and teach them the game, get them involved, or they can be officials and help grow the game all around. So they can walk away with [an] understanding of what’s out there, and how to play the game to test their own skills against each other. I want them to understand what’s out there because they don’t see that here. There’s no vision here because nobody has created that yet for them.”

Those interested may simply show up during the clinic or contact Jurecki for more information because there is not a separate application for adults.

“While we’re at the camp, we’re going to have those adults to the side, educating them on coaching or refereeing or being involved in flag football,” Jurecki said.

Participants will be broken up into three-year age groups. Cleats or comfortable running shoes are recommended along with weather-appropriate clothing.

“Outside of skill development, [I want the girls to walk away with an] understanding that they can play and that they can play at a high level,” Jurecki said. “They just need the opportunity and the chance to feel it out so they can walk away and say, ‘Wow, that was fun and this game is a good time.’”

Mad Katz Tournament

The fifth annual Mad Katz flag football tournament will take place on Saturday, Nov. 18, at the Cottonwood Kids’ Park. Ages 9 to 11 will play in the morning and ages 12 to 14 will take the field later in the afternoon.

“Flag football is everything to me, it’s something I’ve been playing since 1998,” Jurecki said. “Mad Katz is actually my flag football team … We play quarterback for the kids. So kids sign up as individuals and then we place them on one of our teams … It’s a fun day [because] it’s all passing. It’s probably my favorite event period.”

Participants will play a minimum of four games that Saturday, a three-game round robin followed by a single elimination playoff. Additionally, there will be a 90-minute practice session that will take place in Cottonwood at a to-be-determined date and location.

“[The kids] get memories and awards,” Jurecki said. ”What’s cool about Mad Katz is if we as [the] adult quarterback throw an interception, the kid who made the interception will also get a medal and that medal says ‘You Can’t Pass on Me’ … We have to humble ourselves and go get that medal and give it to the kid. We have individual awards, too, like ‘What a Play!’ where they get a $20 Nike card if they have an amazing play on the field, and of course championship trophies.”

Each player must register individually, and team assignments will be determined through a draft process. Siblings within the same age group will automatically be assigned to the same team.

“I had a kid named Oliver, and bless his heart, we just could not get him to catch the ball,” Jurecki said of last fall’s tournament. “Then at the end of the playoff game to go to the championship, we threw him the ball and he took it all the way for a touchdown to win the game. Then he caught the two-point conversion to win the championship game. That was the most awesome thing ever because he struggled all tournament [and] couldn’t get open. Then to have those two plays to cap off the tournament was something special to him [and it was] exciting for all us watching.”

The registration cost for Mad Katz is $25 and includes a jersey. A mouth guard is required and cleats or good running shoes are recommended.

For more information and to register by Tuesday, Oct. 31 visit showtimesportz.com or contact Bruce Jurecki at (928) 254-8869.