The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Youth Flag Football League (BYFFL) season returned this past weekend at the Thomas A Robinson national stadium.

The season opening was one of the more successful starts for the league with over 100 boys and girls registered for the flag football season.

Day one saw this year’s participants engage in drills across six training stations to teach them various skills ahead of the actual start of gameplay in three weeks.

Jayson Clarke, programme director of BYFFL, said that opening day was a success.

“Day one was fabulous. We had an awesome turnout, over 100 kids showed up for opening day and it was very encouraging to see the numbers and growth of what we will achieve this season,” Clarke said.

Another bright spot from this past Saturday was the number of girls that have signed up for the youth flag football season. “There has been a huge uptick in our female registration. We are very happy that we have a lot of young girls that have registered in our programme, primarily between the ages of six and 10,” he said.

He added that it was great to see they are now reaching the young ladies because that means the interest is there and parents are becoming more aware of the benefits of young girls playing flag football.

With the first three weeks designated for training and assessment of the players’ skill levels, they focused on agility drills, defensive back skills, athleticism (jumping and footwork), and quarterback skills.

“Next week we are looking forward to some drills and assessment of the kids that takes place over the first three weeks of the season and getting registration sorted out as quickly as possible to get them ready for the games,” he said.

Registration for the BYFFL will remain open until next week Saturday.

For interested individuals, the registration fee is $175 which includes a full sporting uniform and sports insurance coverage.

For more information contact byffl242@gmail.com

The co-ed league will form 15-20 teams after training and conditioning of players wraps up after week three.

The BYFFL is looking to build on the success of previous seasons and compete in more tournaments internationally this year.

“This season so far has started as our most successful season in terms of numbers and so we are looking forward to a great season,” Clarke said.