By Martin Couch
For the past six years, the Bryant Boys and Girls Club has offered youth flag football and it has grown from 85 members last year to 130 for this season.
Led by Boys and Girls Club athletic director Chad Knight, a former Bryant Hornet who graduated in 2008, this year's league features 10 first through third grade teams and 5 fourth through sixth grade teams.[more]
"We split it into two divisions," Knight said. "It's a passing league where every player is eligible to catch a pass. We make it so everyone can play. There is no rushing the quarterback, but the quarterback has six seconds to throw the ball once it is snapped and there is no tackling."
The league will start its season on Sept. 25 and play games on Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Bryant Hornets practice fields for eight consecutive weeks.
"The first five weeks are the regular season and the last three weeks are the playoffs," Knight said. "For the Super Bowl, we play at Hornet Stadium where the kids get to run through the tunnel and get their names called out. It's a big deal."
Knight has been the Boys and Girls Club AD for two years and attends the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He’s majoring in education and health sciences with the goal of one day becoming a basketball coach. He said that there are still a few spots available in the first through third grade teams, but the fourth and sixth grade teams are at capacity.
"We also have National Football League flags and jerseys sent by the NFL Flag Football League program," Knight said. "We have 15 different teams wearing 15 different NFL jerseys and we've divided up the younger group (first through third) to NFC and AFC to make it more fun and the winner of those two divisions will meet in the Super Bowl."
Knight also mentioned that in the future at the Boys and Girls Club, there will be basketball leagues, an adult kickball league and, next year, an adult flag football league could be a possibility.
For more information about the flag football league or any of the other youth leagues, go by visit the new Boys and Girls Club facility located at Bishop Park.
