USA Football Releases Flag Football Documentary

As flag football continues its rapid ascendance around the world, USA Football is capitalizing on the increased interest with the documentary “Champions Rising: USA Football’s National Team.”

The 90-minute film, produced by Duality Sports & Entertainment and directed by Mike Pacicco, premiered on USA Football’s YouTube channel today. The documentary chronicles the journey of the U.S. National Teams from making the squad to the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Lahti, Finland.

“This is an opportunity for us to share how this team comes together and all that goes into building a national team that will compete in World Championships, World Games and the Olympics,” said USA Football CEO Scott Hallenbeck. “There’s this incredible momentum and excitement for flag football right now leading up to the Olympics. But there’s not necessarily a lot of understanding of the sport.”

Champions Rising follows the journey of men’s and women’s players as they compete to make the team during the World Championships tryouts in Charlotte in May 2024.

The documentary has a HBO’s Hard Knocks feeling to it, specifically during meetings when players find out if they’ve made the team. The coaches must decide which 12 players will make the final roster, which results in emotional responses from all involved.

Finding the Best of the Best

USA Football’s selection process has come a long way over the past decade as flag football and the national governing body have grown together.

“Back in 2018, there was largely just a bunch of adult amateur teams that were playing. So we would go out and identify the best athletes or just pick a team and say, ‘you can represent us,’” Hallenbeck said. “There just wasn’t a level of sophistication, maturity really anywhere in the sport.

“That’s when all of us collectively, as member federations and the International Federation, got very serious about the Olympics and started to focus on how to actually put high performance development plans in place.”

One of the main taglines for flag football is that it’s a sport anybody can play regardless of gender, age, previous experience or nationality.

That’s on full display in the documentary, specifically on the women’s side with three women competing for two spots at quarterback on the national team. Vanita Krouch, 43, has been playing flag football for nearly 20 years and is considered one of the best in the world at her position as she’s battling 30-year-old Lacey Abell, who’s played for 16 years, and 17-year-old prodigy Maci Joncich, who’s beginning her flag journey.

“That just speaks to where the development of the sport is,” Hallenbeck said. “There are 14 states now that already have girls’ flag as a varsity sport and that will scale quickly, as well as NCAA. All the tiers within that vertical structure of development for girls to women’s flag is happening faster than anything I’ve seen.”

The rosters are made up of athletes with different backgrounds. Many of the men’s players are former Division I football players. The women’s side features a variety of sports including basketball, volleyball, track and soccer.

“We have to always be cognizant of where our next best athlete is coming from,” Hallenbeck said. “Because the other big part of this is what is called ‘talent transfer’ in the Olympic movement. They’re coming to football from all these other sports because it’s an opportunity that they haven’t had before.”

2028 Olympic Team Selection Draws Nearer

The documentary dives into the psyche of the men’s players as they await the decision of whether or not NFL players will be eligible for Team USA when flag makes its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.

Quarterback Darrell “Hoosh” Doucette made headlines last year when he said he was a better fit for 2028 than Patrick Mahomes. A defensive player in the documentary mentions he’s better than the Dallas Cowboys’ Micah Parsons.

“In fairness to those guys, it’s all about context,” Hallenbeck said. “What they were talking about are the nuances in the game of flag. Particularly Hoosh — he recognizes Patrick Mahomes as a truly elite quarterback in tackle football. And Hoosh is that equivalent in flag. He is the one who’s really led flag football even before national teams and opportunities to compete on world stages and been exceptional at it.”

USA Football is working closely with the NFL, both Commissioner Roger Goodell and team owners, as the league will ultimately decide whether their players will be eligible to play in the Olympics. If NFL players are deemed eligible, Hallenbeck says it will take time for interested players to adjust from tackle to flag.

“That’s the fundamental point here — most people think of ‘football’ and just naturally default to tackle football. And this literally is a different sport,” he said. “Half the field size, obviously fewer players and no contact is a significant fundamental difference.

“NFL players are clearly elite athletic specimens and can unequivocally make the transition to flag. It’s simply a matter of time. And that’s what we have to learn as the leaders who put this team together.”

However, there are plenty of international competitions for USA Football between now and 2028. This documentary will help shed a light on not only the selection process, but what athletes go through as they work to represent Team USA.

“Until you experience it, you really can’t thoroughly understand it,” Hallenbeck said. “We’re pulling the curtain back and making sure people really understand what this sport is about. Team USA flag football winning the gold medal is the outcome that every person involved is committed to.”