What happens when youth sports meets NFL media day at Pro Bowl Games?

Posted by author February 2, 2025 Sports

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We all want our kids to be stars.

Sure, they often share those aspirations with us. But sometimes the reward they get from sports is so much simpler.

“I think it’s just fun to play with others, and especially with people who are close to you,” Ethan Taylor, a young flag football player from Great Britain, said while participating in the NFL’s Pro Bowl Games last week.

“You can just have a laugh, and sometimes you can get competitive. If you win, you celebrate loads. If you lose, you still celebrate if you had a good time … “

He paused. “But you’re a little sad,” he said.

His coaches, and two of his teammates who surrounded him during an interview session, chuckled.

What if we asked our kids, before their biggest games of the season, for a prediction? What if we asked them, before a national audience, why they play sports?

What if we put them on a world stage, like we will do with professional players this week leading up to the Super Bowl?

If you are 12 and under, and your team qualified for the International Flag Championships in Orlando, Florida, you got to experience your own media day.

“What have your friends made of this and how jealous are they of you for being out in Orlando when we’re here in the freezing cold of London?” BBC reporter Phil Parry asked Great Britain’s players.

“Yeah, it’s absolutely hilarious,” said Douglas Timms, the team’s quarterback, swinging casually in his desk chair during a zoom interview.

“I have an older sister. As the young sibling, you have to be the total bugger. You have to push for the favorite child spot. So this has definitely, like, raised my ranking.”

“I have an older sister as well, and she really wanted to come, but I obviously said no, because I want to be alone,” his teammate, Leia Bond chimed in from his left.

For the first time, the NFL had kids participate in media availabilities ahead of its U12 flag football tournament, in which coed teams from 13 countries competed last week. It concludes with Sunday’s final between Canada and Japan.

USA TODAY Sports sat in on some of the media sessions, which gave the young athletes a chance to tell everyone about their team, their sports experiences and aspirations, and whatever else was on their mind (including how their parents act at games).

The experience reminds us how listening to our kids – and hearing how our actions affect them – can be instructive.

Coach Steve: Five bold perspectives for sports parents in 2025

Why do your kids play sports? Maybe you should ask them

Your son or daughter will likely tell you they play sports not for the wins, but for the feeling they get in trying to achieve them.

“You get to play with boys but also connect with the girls that are on your team and you get to make plays that nobody really thought you were capable of doing, and that really makes me proud,” says Leah Kozubek, an 11-year-old rusher for Team Canada.

The flag football movement, which has 20 million participants in more than 100 countries, is built on a premise that anyone, of any skill level, can not only be on a team, but contribute to its overall success.

The pleasure kids derive from flag football, or any sport, shouldn’t change whether they’re in a recreational game or moving through rounds of tournament play like the U12 flag football teams had to do to reach Orlando.

“It’s just another way to have a fun runaround with your mates and laugh over silly things,” says Timms, great Britain’s quarterback, says of playing flag football.

On the sidelines, maybe you’re the mom or dad who yanks at your hair after every call that goes against your child. Or you’re the coach who berates a referee over it. Sometimes we forget sports is our kids’ experience to create, not ours.

We can get worked up over how our son or daughter performs on the field. But have you ever wondered what’s going through his or her mind while they’re playing, or listening to you from the stands? Here’s your chance:

Coach Steve: Winning doesn’t rank high on kids’ list of fun factors. Just ask Andre Agassi

‘The beauty of inclusion’: What flag football teaches us about sports

NFL FLAG Football is contested in a rectangular space about one third the size of a traditional football field. A pass clock and rules that restrict the quarterback’s running forces him or her to push the ball downfield.

A kid’s effort to find the ball within the fast pace and smaller confines is often as valuable as his or her athleticism.

“Once you get on there, and you actually absorb what we’re trying to coach, anybody can make it,” says Eliel Bastien, a coach for Team Canada. “And as long as you give your 100% we’ll use you on the field.”

Flag is perhaps fastest growing among girls, who can now play it in 14 states (and counting) as a sanctioned high school varsity sport and in nearly 20 more as part of pilot programs.

This weekend, the NFL also hosted a showcase among the top U.S. girls high school flag football athletes from teams featured in the USA TODAY Super 25 flag football rankings.

Each coed team competing in the in the 12U international flag championships has at least two girls. Many have more.

“The beauty of flag football is inclusivity, so it doesn’t matter your size, it doesn’t matter your background, it doesn’t matter your gender,” says Jamil Springer, the head coach of Team Canada. “Flag Football is a game for everybody, and I think tournaments like this is a great representation, because you have Germany, Brazil, France, Japan, China, places that I don’t think some of these kids even know exist, and this is their first time interacting or even knowing that that there’s something outside of Canada.

“So I can say, as a parent, as a coach and as an organizer, there’s nothing that beats this tournament. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for these kids, and I think they’ll remember it when they’re old like us.”

We asked Team Canada why they work so well together (and love speaking to the media):

Canada’s Flag Football members on what they love about their teammates

Members of Team Canada talk to Steve Borelli on what they love about their teammates. Canada is playing in the NFL Flag International Championship at the Pro Bowl Games.

A situation is never that bad when you’re playing sports. In fact, you can always laugh about it.

Springer says he can “definitely foresee someone …. maybe several people” on his Montreal-based team playing flag football for Canada in the Olympics at some point. The sport debuts as an Olympic sports at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“But this team, by far, is the most interesting because (of) their sense of humor,” he says of teams he has brought to this tournament. “There’s never a dull moment, even though we’ve had some tough games in Canada, at the nationals, even the regionals.

“I think that their sense of humor is the reason why they kind of get through the tough moments and they persevere, because they just laugh at every single thing possible, which is frustrating as a coach, but in the long run, we want them to enjoy this experience. We want them to come back from this experience saying they had a time of their life, and it’s important that they stay light and they laugh at the face of adversity, essentially.”

As adults, we can take ourselves too seriously. Kids are much less likely to do so.

Sometimes, we need to follow their lead, like when Great Britain’s team was asked about their ambitions for the tournament.

“To be honest, I don’t have the highest ambitions,” said Taylor, the backup quarterback said.

His head coach, Bobby Behzadi, patted the player’s head and smiled before Taylor could continue much further.

“I’m just gonna join in,” Behzaid said. “I think what we try to manage those expectations. And I think the outcome of this tournament is not gonna be judging what’s success for us.

“We look at this team, and we know how much they’ve progressed, and the goal is that they go back, and in two years time, we look at this team and they’re all still playing.”

Now Timms, his quarterback, had something to add.

“I just have a question,” he said, raising his index finger and flashing a grin. “Does this go out to any countries, because if it does, we’re definitely gonna win.”

Contributing: Christine Conetta

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.

Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@usatoday.com