“If you’re in the league,” a voice bellowed across the field, “get over here!”
So began the 2011 Navy touch football league pre-season Tuesday, as a quick huddle to explain the rules kicked off the first series of scrimmages in a three-evening jamboree this week.
Following the Jamboree, the season will begin next week, giving Navy personnel, families, and veterans the chance to play a favorite sport without the pads and helmets, and without the potential injuries.
“It stretches beyond the field,” said David Sitarski, coach of Team Michigan. named for the USS Michigan, “you’re out there with your command so you are really just hanging out and having some fun with the guys you work with.”
While some teams chose to use the name of their vessels or commands, the lineup also includes teams with names like The Takers, Lou Blue Foo, The Illegal Motions, and The Secret Squirrels.
Daniel Dean, coach of another creatively named team – Swab ‘Em and Stick ‘Em, a team of medical personnel – explained the game succinctly. “Basically, it’s like regular football, but with flags.”
In the game, each player wears a belt from which three colored flags hang, and that attaches via velcro in front. Instead of tackling, players only have to grab an opponent’s flag and tear the belt off to ‘down’ him or her. There’s the inevitable brush or bump, but throughout the scrimmage the referees could be heard reminding the players that it was a no-contact sport.
The priority in the preseason, Dean said, is to take it easy, familiarize everybody with the rules, and make sure no one gets hurt.
“It’s good, friendly competition,” said Robert Rayon, coach of the HSB Heavy Hitters. “They really do a good job of keeping it friendly.”
“It’s one of the coolest things we’re allowed to do,” said Greg Hurst, who said that because of deployment schedules he often misses the opportunity to take part in other team sports. Hurst said he also played in South Carolina, where his team won its league’s championship.
The jamboree, said Hurst, “gives everybody plenty of time to just kind of check each other out, see who plays hard, see who plays rough or what.”
The Navy also holds tryouts for its own official flag football team, which will compete with the Army later in the year. That championship, however, is different from the base league’s, and players have to try out for it seperately.
After the preseason, which lasts only a week, the league will divide evenly into two divisions. The top eight teams will then play a championship to end the season.
