One of the joys of camping/RV life is going on a quest. In fact, our RV is labeled an Entegra Quest. We are often on a quest to take an adventure of a certain ilk. Some friends we have are on a quest of destinations. Whether it is state or national parks, certain trails of the old West or even going to all the Major League baseball parks and seeing games there. You can have a lot of fun and learn a lot from such quests. Recently, our quest took us to one of the major events of the National Football League—the NFL Flag Championships held at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Now, Canton is probably not the most famous of destinations, but this was a great expedition for many reasons.
Part of my job with the NFL is to observe and analyze what we call “tentpole” events such as the Flag Championships among other things. Flag football is among the fastest growing sports in the world, especially with young girls and women. While football long has been primarily a man’s sport, flag football has given women the opportunity to play the game and experience the unique benefits of football such as positive life skill development, teamwork, and resiliency. In Canton, over 10,000 young men and women from across the nation competed in a tournament to determine the National Champions of flag football in various age groups. Over 23,000 people attended during the four-day playoffs which were broadcast for the first time on ESPN. That, in of itself, was fun to watch and see the amazing athletes compete.
Behind the scenes, there are people who make the tournament work. RCX Sports, for example, organizes the tournament as a partner with the NFL. One of the guys who is really special is Tom LeNeve, who heads up and coordinates the officials. Tom not only has the responsibility of making sure all the referees are scheduled and coordinated, he himself referees games from 8:00 in the morning until they stop playing in the late afternoon. I don’t know how he does it. All day long in the hot sun, game after game. He told me he is inspired by the kids and energized by seeing how they compete at such a high level. Certainly, he has a front row seat. Another behind-the-scenes hero is Avis Roper, who makes sure the event is covered smoothly by the various news outlets—both locally and nationally. He works nonstop bringing people together.
To give you an idea of how popular flag football is among high school aged girls, there were over 200 girls at a clinic held by Massillon High School, home of the Tigers. Ohio is working on sanctioning flag as a girls’ varsity sport. These young women showed up and sent a message about how important playing football is to them. After the clinic, where former NFL players gave coaching tips, they had a flag tournament. It was a great experience to see the enthusiasm and, quite frankly, the athleticism of these young ladies. Seeing all these young athletes restores my hope in America—they’re good kids learning good values. The good book says to train up a child in the way he should go. What I saw in Canton does just that. And at the end of each day, I would return “home” to my sister-and-brother-in-law’s back yard where they set up a small RV park for family where the sunsets across Portage Lakes and ends another day of RV adventure.
