Active Together - NFL Flag Football Pilot Event

On the 16^th of June, Active Together piloted an NFL Flag Football event in partnership with NFL Flag UK at Loughborough College.

10 Secondary Schools from across the county attended the event and had a great day of Flag Football, making it the largest regional event!

NFL Flag is a non-contact version of football which can be played anywhere and by anyone. Many schools in attendance had recently completed some CPD training and had taken this learning back to implement programmes into schools, whether it be during the PE curriculum or an extra-curricular club. The tournament was an opportunity for those pupils involved to demonstrate their progression, not only in the sport itself but also their engagement in physical activity and development as individuals. Potentially, this was an opportunity they may not have been able to access otherwise.

During the morning, teams played preliminary rounds against other schools in their group, before the afternoon progressed to finals and semi-finals. The atmosphere was incredible throughout, helped by support from NFL academy players based at Loughborough University, who had come along to offer coaching assistance and moral support!

Feedback from staff and pupils was extremely positive, all had clearly enjoyed the day and were keen to continue playing Flag Football. We are hoping to build on the success of this pilot event by building this into our Leicester-shire & Rutland School Games offer.

In a final that went deep into overtime, Long Field Academy eventually overcame Wreake Valley, and were invited to the National Finals at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. We wish them the very best of luck!

A big thank you to Jared Gray and his team from NFL Flag UK for all their hard work in helping to put together such a well-received day, as well as the academy players from Loughborough University. Many thanks also to Loughborough College for hosting us. Thank you to all the staff and pupils from the following schools for being involved; Long Field Academy, Orchard Mead, Robert Smyth, Leicester College, Rushey Mead, Castle Mead, Brookvale, Wreake Valley and New College.

Any schools wishing to feedback on their experience of the day can contact Matt Hackfath (Sport Development Officer at Active Together) via m.hackfath@active-together.org.

To view pictures of the event, visit our Facebook photo album.