Darrell Doucette didn’t imply any disrespect. All of the U.S. flag soccer star needed to do in an interview that went extra viral than any of his quite a few highlights was to struggle for his sport.
So when he informed TMZ in 2024 that he’s “better than Patrick Mahomes” at flag soccer for his IQ of the game, the widely soft-spoken Doucette wasn’t attempting to difficulty any challenges. Watch the two-time world champion throw touchdowns, catch them, snap the ball and play protection all in the identical recreation and it’s clear he prefers to let his recreation communicate.
“It wasn’t about me vs. them,” mentioned Doucette, who is understood within the flag soccer world by his nickname “Housh.” “It was about flag football, putting eyes on this game.”
With preparations ramping up for the 2028 Olympics, flag soccer simply needs its respect.
Respect for the game that’s now not only a youngster’s stepping stone to sort out soccer.
Respect for its established gamers who’ve already gained each match there’s and have eyes for extra.
U.S. extensive receiver Isabella “Izzy” Geraci runs with the ball throughout a recreation towards Australia on the USA Soccer Summer season Collection at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
“It’s not your mom’s flag football anymore,” mentioned Callie Brownson, USA Soccer’s senior director of excessive efficiency and nationwide workforce operations.
Flag soccer has graduated out of backyards and into the Olympics, the place the game will debut in L.A. Greater than 750 athletes from 10 nations from the youth stage to senior nationwide groups gathered at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park final weekend to preview the Olympic future at USA Soccer’s Summer season Collection, the place the U.S. males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups performed friendlies towards Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan.
The game’s development domestically and internationally got here partially by way of main funding from the NFL, and the league might play a significant position within the Olympics: NFL gamers are allowed to take part in Olympic competitors. Buffalo Payments quarterback Josh Allen was among the many NFL stars who instantly took discover because the NFL most dear participant mentioned he would “absolutely love” to play if given the chance.
“So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us together as one teaching each other.”
— Darrell Doucette, flag soccer star, about NFL gamers doubtlessly competing within the sport on the 2028 L.A. Olympics
Doucette beloved listening to the dialog. The New Orleans native grew up enjoying the game when seemingly nobody else bothered to care. To listen to NFL gamers taking an curiosity now? It looks like all he ever needed.
“We’re welcoming those guys,” Doucette mentioned. “We don’t have no issue with it. We just want a fair opportunity. We want those guys to come out and learn because there’s things that we’re going to need to teach them … and there’s things that they can teach us. They can teach us how to run routes and how to cover and do other different things. So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us together as one teaching each other.”
U.S. extensive receiver Ja’Deion Excessive evades an Australian defender in the course of the USA Soccer “Summer Series” at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
Olympic flag soccer is performed with 5 gamers per facet on a 50-by-25-yard area. Groups have 4 downs to achieve midfield and 4 extra to attain from inside midfield. The essential tenants of offensive soccer stay the identical from its sort out counterpart: throw, catch, run.
However gamers don’t juke the identical means their sort out counterparts can, extensive receiver Ja’Deion Excessive mentioned. When the previous Texas Tech receiver was studying the game, he was surprised when defenders nonetheless pulled his flag after what he believed have been his finest strikes. He needed to study flag soccer’s distinctive hip dips and flips to maintain his flags away from defenders.
The adjustment on protection may very well be much more troublesome. Defenders can not hinder an opposing participant’s ahead progress. The NFL’s most mundane hand-check would draw a penalty in flag soccer.
“The athletic ability [of an NFL player], I’m not questioning,” mentioned defensive again Mike Daniels, a former cornerback at West Virginia. “But the IQ aspect, the speed of the game is completely different.”
USA Soccer, the governing physique of U.S. flag soccer liable for choosing the nationwide workforce, has not outlined how NFL gamers will match into the tryout course of for the 2028 Olympic cycle. However with the Video games scheduled for July 14-July 30, the one-week flag competitors might overlap with the start of NFL coaching camps. Even preparations to study the brand new sport and observe its distinctive schemes would take useful offseason time away from NFL gamers.
U.S. extensive receiver Laval Davis, left, makes an attempt to catch a go as an Australian participant defends in the course of the USA Soccer Summer season Collection on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley was able to burst into patriotic music on the point out of representing the US within the Olympics, however when reminded that he might need to overlook a part of coaching camp for it, he backed off instantly. He spoke instantly right into a video digicam to guarantee Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh that the job that pays him $5.4 million on a four-year rookie contract is all he wants.
USA Soccer has remained in touch with the NFL about learn how to combine professionals, mentioned Brownson, who labored for the Cleveland Browns for 5 seasons, together with three because the assistant extensive receivers coach. With the Video games nonetheless three years away, USA Soccer is concentrated on holding doorways open to all prospects and providing instructional alternatives for potential gamers to turn out to be conversant in flag soccer.
“The cool thing about our process is when you come out to trials, there is no name on the back of your jersey,” Brownson mentioned. “You get a number and you have the same opportunity to try out as the person next to you. … We’ll just be excited to have the best team that we could but I always do and will always stand up for who we currently field.
“They’re the best flag football players in the world, both men and women, and they deserve their flowers, too.”
The U.S. males’s nationwide workforce is the five-time defending Worldwide Federation of American Soccer (IFAF) world champions. Since Doucette made his nationwide workforce debut in 2020, the U.S. males are undefeated in worldwide tournaments with gold medals at two world championships (2021, 2024), the 2022 World Video games and the 2023 continental championship.
U.S. extensive receiver Amber Clark-Robinson scores a landing towards Australia on the USA Soccer Summer season Collection at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Instances)
Led by quarterback Vanita Krouch, the ladies’s workforce is 33-1 within the final six years. The U.S. ladies have gained three consecutive IFAF world championships and the 2023 continental title whereas ending second on the 2022 World Video games.
Krouch has turn out to be a world flag soccer star after a four-year basketball profession at Southern Methodist. Inspecting expertise transfers from different sports activities has helped strengthen the USA Soccer athlete pipeline because the group researches one of the best qualities for flag soccer.
Baseball and softball gamers who can whip passes from odd arm angles can thrive in a recreation that options a number of quarterbacks. The U.S. nationwide groups have former basketball, soccer and monitor and area stars.
The game values agility and elusiveness. Whereas the NFL’s 40-yard sprint is the premier check for velocity, it might be much less useful in flag soccer, Brownson mentioned. The right flag soccer participant combines that straight-line velocity with quickness.
“There’s such an art and a craft and a different style of dance that we do,” Krouch mentioned. “I say tackle football is like hip hop, krump dancing. … We ballet dance. It’s finesse, it’s clean, it’s creative.”
The quarterback served as an offensive coordinator within the 2023 NFL Professional Bowl, the primary model of the All-Star recreation to characteristic a flag soccer format. Main the NFC workforce to victory, Krouch beloved sharing flag soccer’s distinctive route mixtures. She seen how the NFL’s finest confirmed their respect for her sport by enthusiastically studying the totally different nuances.
The Professional Bowl expertise was considered one of many surreal moments for Krouch in her practically two-decade profession of enjoying flag soccer. From enjoying in an area league, the 44-year-old has turn out to be a multi-time gold medalist. She by no means thought this sport she generally teaches in her elementary bodily training courses might turn out to be this huge.
U.S. defensive again Laneah Bryan, left, tries to tug a flag off an Australian participant in the course of the USA Soccer Summer season Collection on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Instances)
The announcement that flag soccer would formally debut within the 2028 Olympics introduced it to even larger heights. No query Krouch needs to play within the Video games.
However the competitors at tryouts yearly will get 10 occasions more durable, two-time nationwide workforce member Ashlea Klam mentioned. The 19-year-old performs flag soccer on a scholarship for NAIA-level Keiser College and acknowledges nobody is assured a spot every year because the expertise pool grows. It will likely be much more troublesome to make the 10-person Olympic roster.
As every year’s tryouts get extra aggressive, Doucette sees his hope for the game coming true. He is aware of the higher prospects are an indication that extra individuals are taking note of flag soccer. If in three years at BMO Stadium, the eyes are fixated on one other quarterback main the US on the Olympics, Doucette will think about that also mission completed.
“No matter if I’m a part of the team or not, I will still be around the game,” Doucette mentioned. “That’s my goal is still to be there, in general, no matter if I’m playing or watching.”
