Darrell Doucette didn’t imply any disrespect. All of the U.S. flag soccer star wished 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 “higher than Patrick Mahomes” at flag soccer for his IQ of the game, the widely soft-spoken Doucette wasn’t attempting to challenge 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 thought within the flag soccer world by his nickname “Housh.” “It was about flag soccer, placing eyes on this recreation.”
With preparations ramping up for the 2028 Olympics, flag soccer simply desires 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 event there’s and have eyes for extra.
U.S. vast receiver Isabella “Izzy” Geraci runs with the ball throughout a recreation in opposition to Australia on the USA Soccer Summer time Collection at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
“It’s not your mother’s flag soccer anymore,” mentioned 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 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 time Collection, the place the U.S. males’s and ladies’s nationwide groups performed friendlies in opposition to Canada, Australia, Germany and Japan.
The game’s progress domestically and internationally got here partly by way of main funding from the NFL, and the league may 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 useful participant mentioned he would “completely love” to play if given the chance.
“So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us collectively as one educating one another.”
— Darrell Doucette, flag soccer star, about NFL gamers probably competing within the sport on the 2028 L.A. Olympics
Doucette beloved listening to the dialog. The New Orleans native grew up taking part in the game when seemingly nobody else bothered to care. To listen to NFL gamers taking an curiosity now? It seems like all he ever wished.
“We’re welcoming these guys,” Doucette mentioned. “We don’t haven’t any challenge with it. We simply desire a truthful alternative. We wish these guys to return out and study as a result of there’s issues that we’re going to wish to show them … and there’s issues that they will educate us. They will educate us the best way to run routes and the best way to cowl and do different various things. So it’s not us vs. them or them vs. us. It’s us collectively as one educating one another.”
U.S. vast receiver Ja’Deion Excessive evades an Australian defender through the USA Soccer “Summer time Collection” at Dignity Well being Sports activities Park on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
Olympic flag soccer is performed with 5 gamers per aspect on a 50-by-25-yard subject. Groups have 4 downs to achieve midfield and 4 extra to attain from inside midfield. The fundamental tenants of offensive soccer stay the identical from its deal with counterpart: throw, catch, run.
However gamers don’t juke the identical manner their deal with counterparts can, vast receiver Ja’Deion Excessive mentioned. 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 study flag soccer’s distinctive hip dips and flips to maintain his flags away from defenders.
The adjustment on protection could possibly 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 skill [of an NFL player], I’m not questioning,” mentioned defensive again Mike Daniels, a former cornerback at West Virginia. “However the IQ facet, the velocity of the sport is totally totally different.”
USA Soccer, the governing physique of U.S. flag soccer accountable 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 may overlap with the start of NFL coaching camps. Even preparations to study the brand new sport and apply its distinctive schemes would take worthwhile offseason time away from NFL gamers.
U.S. vast receiver Laval Davis, left, makes an attempt to catch a cross as an Australian participant defends through the USA Soccer Summer time Collection on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
Chargers linebacker Daiyan Henley was able to burst into patriotic track on the point out of representing america within the Olympics, however when reminded that he may need to overlook a part of coaching camp for it, he backed off instantly. He spoke instantly 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, mentioned 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 targeted on conserving doorways open to all prospects and providing academic alternatives for potential gamers to change into aware of flag soccer.
“The cool factor about our course of is while you come out to trials, there isn’t a identify on the again of your jersey,” Brownson mentioned. “You get a quantity and you’ve got the identical alternative to check out because the particular person subsequent to you. … We’ll simply be excited to have the most effective staff that we may however I at all times do and can at all times get up for who we at the moment subject.
“They’re the most effective flag soccer gamers on the earth, each women and men, they usually 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 in opposition to Australia on the USA Soccer Summer time Collection 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. ladies have gained three consecutive IFAF world championships and the 2023 continental title whereas ending second on the 2022 World Video games.
Krouch has change into a global 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 most effective 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 subject stars.
The game values agility and elusiveness. Whereas the NFL’s 40-yard sprint is the premier take a look at for velocity, it could be much less worthwhile in flag soccer, Brownson mentioned. The proper flag soccer participant combines that straight-line velocity with quickness.
“There’s such an artwork and a craft and a distinct fashion of dance that we do,” Krouch mentioned. “I say deal with soccer is like hip hop, krump dancing. … We ballet dance. It’s finesse, it’s clear, it’s artistic.”
The quarterback served as an offensive coordinator within the 2023 NFL Professional Bowl, the primary model of the All-Star recreation to function a flag soccer format. Main the NFC staff to victory, Krouch beloved sharing flag soccer’s distinctive route combos. 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 one in every of many surreal moments for Krouch in her almost two-decade profession of taking part in flag soccer. From taking part in in a neighborhood league, the 44-year-old has change into a multi-time gold medalist. She by no means thought this sport she generally teaches in her elementary bodily schooling courses may change into this large.
U.S. defensive again Laneah Bryan, left, tries to drag a flag off an Australian participant through the USA Soccer Summer time Collection on Sunday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
The announcement that flag soccer would formally debut within the 2028 Olympics introduced it to even higher heights. No query Krouch desires to play within the Video games.
However the competitors at tryouts yearly will get 10 occasions tougher, two-time nationwide staff 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 is going to 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 america on the Olympics, Doucette will think about that also mission completed.
“Regardless of if I’m part of the staff or not, I’ll nonetheless be across the recreation,” Doucette mentioned. “That’s my purpose continues to be to be there, on the whole, regardless of if I’m taking part in or watching.”
