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 instructed TMZ in 2024 that he’s “better than Patrick Mahomes” at flag soccer for his IQ of the game, the commonly soft-spoken Doucette wasn’t making an attempt to problem any challenges. Watch the two-time world champion throw touchdowns, catch them, snap the ball and play protection all in the identical sport and it’s clear he prefers to let his sport communicate.
“It wasn’t about me vs. them,” stated 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 deal with soccer.
Respect for its established gamers who’ve already gained each match there’s and have eyes for extra.
U.S. vast receiver Isabella “Izzy” Geraci runs with the ball throughout a sport towards Australia on the USA Soccer Summer time Sequence at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
“It’s not your mom’s flag football anymore,” stated Callie Brownson, USA Soccer’s senior director of excessive efficiency and nationwide staff 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 international locations from the youth degree to senior nationwide groups gathered at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park final weekend to preview the Olympic future at USA Soccer’s Summer time Sequence, the place the U.S. males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups performed friendlies towards Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan.
The game’s progress domestically and internationally got here partially via main funding from the NFL, and the league might play a serious function 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 precious participant stated 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 probably competing within the sport on the 2028 L.A. Olympics
Doucette liked 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 seems like all he ever needed.
“We’re welcoming those guys,” Doucette stated. “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. vast 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 Occasions)
Olympic flag soccer is performed with 5 gamers per facet on a 50-by-25-yard subject. 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 deal with counterpart: throw, catch, run.
However gamers don’t juke the identical method their deal with counterparts can, vast receiver Ja’Deion Excessive stated. When the previous Texas Tech receiver was studying the game, he was shocked when defenders nonetheless pulled his flag after what he believed had been his finest strikes. He needed to be taught 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 tough. 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,” stated 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 deciding on the nationwide staff, 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 be taught the brand new sport and follow its distinctive schemes would take useful offseason time away from NFL gamers.
U.S. vast receiver Laval Davis, left, makes an attempt to catch a go as an Australian participant defends in the course of the USA Soccer Summer time Sequence on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley was able to burst into patriotic track 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 straight right into a video digital camera 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 the best way to combine professionals, stated Brownson, who labored for the Cleveland Browns for 5 seasons, together with three because the assistant vast receivers coach. With the Video games nonetheless three years away, USA Soccer is concentrated on conserving doorways open to all prospects and providing instructional alternatives for potential gamers to turn into acquainted with 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 stated. “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 staff is the five-time defending Worldwide Federation of American Soccer (IFAF) world champions. Since Doucette made his nationwide staff 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. vast receiver Amber Clark-Robinson scores a landing towards Australia on the USA Soccer Summer time Sequence at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Occasions)
Led by quarterback Vanita Krouch, the ladies’s staff is 33-1 within the final six years. The U.S. girls have gained three consecutive IFAF world championships and the 2023 continental title whereas ending second on the 2022 World Video games.
Krouch has turn into 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 the very best qualities for flag soccer.
Baseball and softball gamers who can whip passes from odd arm angles can thrive in a sport that options a number of quarterbacks. The U.S. nationwide groups have former basketball, soccer and monitor and subject 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 stated. 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 stated. “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 sport to characteristic a flag soccer format. Main the NFC staff to victory, Krouch liked sharing flag soccer’s distinctive route combos. She observed how the NFL’s finest confirmed their respect for her sport by enthusiastically studying the totally different nuances.
The Professional Bowl expertise was one in all many surreal moments for Krouch in her almost two-decade profession of enjoying flag soccer. From enjoying in a neighborhood league, the 44-year-old has turn into a multi-time gold medalist. She by no means thought this sport she typically teaches in her elementary bodily training courses might turn into 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 time Sequence on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
The announcement that flag soccer would formally debut within the 2028 Olympics introduced it to even better heights. No query Krouch needs to play within the Video games.
However the competitors at tryouts yearly will get 10 instances more durable, two-time nationwide staff member Ashlea Klam stated. 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. Will probably be much more tough 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 take into account that also mission achieved.
“No matter if I’m a part of the team or not, I will still be around the game,” Doucette stated. “That’s my goal is still to be there, in general, no matter if I’m playing or watching.”
