THUNDER BAY – Flag football is one of the world’s fastest growing sports.
One of five sports being added to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, the game has about 20 million devotees worldwide, including 2.4 million kids 17 and younger in the United States.
Add local high school Special Olympians to the list.
On Tuesday, Special Olympics Ontario representative and former CFL defensive back, Dondre Wright, brought flag football to the Lakehead University Hangar, introducing it to students from five local high schools.
Wright said flag football is one of three power sports that Special Olympics Ontario has been providing this year, a list that also includes handball and volleyball.
“We just wanted to come up here today, ultimately, to meet the teachers, cultivate relationships and to give athletes the opportunity to experience flag football,” Wright said.
In a lot of ways, introducing the sport is catching up with the times.
A unified sport, which means it’s played with special needs and mainstream athletes, it helps bring whole schools together through sport Weight said.
“Obviously flag football, there’s a lot of skills required, but it’s accommodating to meet the athletes where they’re at,” he said. “Even if it’s a fun game of duck, duck, goose, or it’s an actual competitive game, it’s very adaptive and we can accommodate athletes,” said Wright, who said he’s not sure if the pilot program will be conducted annually or not, but it’s something he could see Special Olympics Ontario supporting schools doing.
Dave Workman, a special needs teacher at Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute, said athletes currently participate in five sports each year, adding it makes sense to gauge interest in whether or not flag football might be a good fit as a school championship sport.
Workman said the students have a lot to learn about the rules-intensive game, and the concept is a bit different for kids more familiar with basketball or soccer, but changing things up can be a good thing.
“A lot of them follow football and are right into it. Others, this is their first kind of experience with flag football, or any kind of football,” Workman said.
“Today they’re having fun. I think that’s what it’s all about. It’s about introducing the sport and getting everybody hyped up on football. And it’s about learning something new. Special Olympics is more than just about sports. It’s about community, it’s about social networking. There are lots of these spin-off goals.”
