Spring Break
Flag football expanding
James Mason
Issue date: 11/30/07 Section: Sports
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In the absence of a varsity football team, flag football is thriving at Drexel University.
This year, a record 94 teams signed up for play, including men's, women's and co-ed teams.
Flag football is a sport played by people of all levels, like tackle football. In fact, the biggest difference between the two is the fact that you don't tackle people in flag football. Instead, you must deflag, or remove an opponent's flag belt instead of bringing them down to the ground.
At Drexel, the flags are used to keep the contact between players at a low level. Most of Drexel's rules follow the guidelines created by the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), which has strict rules against contact. Many of the other rules are similar to high school or college football rules.
Drexel's flag football games are played primarily on Buckley Green, located at 33rd and Arch Streets. These games are six on six, and are open to all Drexel students, faculty and staff. Always a well-liked sport, flag football has never been as popular as it is now at Drexel.
Steve Koch, Drexel's associate athletic director and coordinator of intramurals, said population growth, marketing efforts, word of mouth and students' lifestyles were all reasons for the increase in participation.
However, the number of teams has exploded at a rate far greater than Drexel's rate of growth.
Koch joined Drexel in 1997 and ran his first flag football season in 1998. That season, 28 teams with 288 different students participated.
In comparison, last year, 93 teams with 842 different students participated, an increase of almost 300 percent.
"The students like to be active," he said. "They're committed to a healthy lifestyle. They're committed to rec play because of what it does for them. … We do an effective job of marketing; as a result, teams sign up. We really hit a lot of segments. I'm not surprised we get a lot of teams, because they know about intramural sports."
This year, a record 94 teams signed up for play, including men's, women's and co-ed teams.
Flag football is a sport played by people of all levels, like tackle football. In fact, the biggest difference between the two is the fact that you don't tackle people in flag football. Instead, you must deflag, or remove an opponent's flag belt instead of bringing them down to the ground.
At Drexel, the flags are used to keep the contact between players at a low level. Most of Drexel's rules follow the guidelines created by the National Intramural and Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), which has strict rules against contact. Many of the other rules are similar to high school or college football rules.
Drexel's flag football games are played primarily on Buckley Green, located at 33rd and Arch Streets. These games are six on six, and are open to all Drexel students, faculty and staff. Always a well-liked sport, flag football has never been as popular as it is now at Drexel.
Steve Koch, Drexel's associate athletic director and coordinator of intramurals, said population growth, marketing efforts, word of mouth and students' lifestyles were all reasons for the increase in participation.
However, the number of teams has exploded at a rate far greater than Drexel's rate of growth.
Koch joined Drexel in 1997 and ran his first flag football season in 1998. That season, 28 teams with 288 different students participated.
In comparison, last year, 93 teams with 842 different students participated, an increase of almost 300 percent.
"The students like to be active," he said. "They're committed to a healthy lifestyle. They're committed to rec play because of what it does for them. … We do an effective job of marketing; as a result, teams sign up. We really hit a lot of segments. I'm not surprised we get a lot of teams, because they know about intramural sports."
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