TAMPA, Fla. — The Robinson High School flag football team has done some pretty notable stuff: They’ve won six state championships in a row and starred in a Nike commercial.
Experts say they’ve set the standard for successful flag football programs in the Sunshine State.
Now they’re playing for a seventh straight state championship Friday night in Jacksonville, and players say using the Tampa Bay Bucs training facility ranks up there with their list of accomplishments.
“Almost all the cool and super cool things we’ve done, it hasn’t really been in the aspect of a game that matters though,” head coach Joshua Saunders said.
Robinson traded in their home field advantage for a little Buc-field advantage. When their high school field was torn up during construction for a new turf field, the Knights were homeless.
That’s when the Bucs reached out and offered their indoor facility. And it wasn’t just any games the Knights were playing — they hosted the regional semifinal and finals on the very field Tom Brady used to play on. At stake was a spot in the Class 1A state championship game.
Tampa Bay has been the epicenter for flag football for a while — from 2017 through last season, a Bay Area team has won the Class 1A and 2A state titles every year. The Bucs got on board with their support early on in the form of an annual scholarship and preseason tournament they host at their facility. Saunders says having the backing of an NFL team make this sport that much more legitimate.
“The Bucs were doing this way before, with girls flag football, before everybody else was,” he said. “So it’s been a real big push by the league and NFL to increase girls flag football and that’s great around the country. But the Bucs have always been on top of this.”
“They’re not doing it because they’re girls,” Saunders added. “They’re doing it because they’re players and it’s a sport that they’re behind. So the novelty of what they’e done has worn off but yet they are still pushing the envelope.”
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.
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