February 22, 2024 • 30 mins
Community DC Host Dennis Glasgow visits with the Executive Director for Flag Star Football , Carl Ehrlich. This DMV Flag Football League has both Boys, Girls' and Co-ed Teams to join. Plus, Spring and Summer camps.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:04):
Good morning, and welcome to anotheredition of Community DC. I'm your host
Dennis Glasgow. This morning, weget a chance, for the first time
ever on this program to talk aboutyouth flag football in the DMV how to
get involved in what it's doing forthe community. I'll be speaking with Carl
Erlek. He is the executive directorfor the Flag Star Football Foundation. If
you're a parent or a guardian andyou have your child or team that you
(00:27):
want them to be a part ofsomething pretty cool, this is the interview
for you over the next thirty minutes. Here's my conversation with Carl. I
hope you enjoy it as much asI did. Good morning, Carl,
Good morning Danz. How you doing. I'm great. It's great to talk
to you. You know, I'vegot a huge sports background, so when
I found out about Flag Star Football, I said, good, I get
to talk about sports. I getto talk to some great nonprofits, which
(00:50):
I know that that's also what thisshow is about. It's community, but
also with you, it's about youth, it's about family, it's about sports.
And I'm so excited to talk aboutyou because, probably like a lot
of other people in the DMV,Carl I didn't know about Flag Star Football,
and after being introduced to you,getting on the website, I'm so
excited that you do with your teamwhat you do because it's about sports,
(01:11):
it's about family, it's about athletics, getting out, get some fresh air,
competition, winning and losing doesn't matter, but just being out there and
competing, which I love. Sobefore we talk about flag Star Football and
we're going to get everybody educated onwhat it is. Spring sign ups are
right around the corner. It's reallycool, folks. But if you,
Carl, could give a little contextto all our listeners that are being introduced
(01:33):
to you the first time, aboutwhere you're from, where you grew up.
What did you do before you startedFlag Star Football? Yeah? Great,
Well, I'm originally from Bethesda,Maryland, and I think maybe most
importantly to note, I was abaseball guy growing up. I just lived,
lived and breeding baseball all the time. My dad was a baseball guy.
Where a baseball family, and soI grew up playing baseball, playing
(01:56):
sports, and I didn't actually startedplaying football until high school. So I
went to Walt Wooman High School inBethesda. I played football at Harvard.
I ended up being the one hundredand thirty sixth captain on the Harvard football
team. And I was a bubbleguy. You know, I was like,
was I going to make an NFLteam? I was at least going
to go out to a tryout,but just for where I was when I
(02:16):
graduated in two thousand and nine,I went right out. I played a
league, a season of professional footballin Spain, and then hung up the
cleats and put on the whistle.Hey, well, listen, there's not
a lot of people that got toplay at the level that you did,
so it's pretty special to do that. Now, where do you line up
with the Ryan Fitzpatrick years who playedin the IVY leagues as well? Did
(02:38):
he play way before you? Yeah? So Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Harvard football
claim to fame. Yes, heis. Also Tommy Lee Jones is a
Harvard football player. See, Idid not know that. It's a lot
of good Harvard football history. Theforward pass was first executed in the Harvard
football stadium. I did know thatRyan Fitzpatrick. I met him on my
(03:00):
official visit. So he was asenior at Harvard when I was a senior
in high school, and so Icame into Harvard the year that he was
leaving, but obviously his lore.I mean, I always say, if
you had a good campaign manager,he could get on a stage for one
of these presidential debates. You know, that guy's universally beloved. He really
is. He's a smart guy.And if anybody's ever watching him on an
(03:20):
Amazon with Thursday Night Football and whathe did to elongate his career as a
starter, backup starter, it's reallyan incredible story. So I just wanted
to bring that up because I knowthat he was famous for Harvard football,
and I wasn't sure where you crosswith him, but that's really cool that
you played at that level. Well, listen, let's do this flag star
football. There's going to be alot of people that are going to be
introduced to it and we're going totalk all about it, and folks,
(03:42):
I want you to intently listen becauseif you got kids or families and you
want to be part of something special, this is the interview the next thirty
minutes to listen to on Community DC. But Carl, I always like to
talk to our guest about the impetus, the idea, that epiphany that you
had. You're obviously a sports guy, but your baseball guy about starting Flagstar
Football? Where did the idea comefrom over a decade ago? Yeah,
(04:04):
so flags are football, and flagfootball in general represented just a fresh start
for us. I love and I'mso grateful for all of my coaches.
I think there is also something oldschool about the old school tackle football model,
and I still love to tagle football, I watch football, watch the
Super Bowl. But flag football gaveus a fresh start from the rules,
(04:27):
from the structure, and also theculture around the sport. So the idea
for Flagstar most broadly was how dowe make football fun and accessible and productive
for as many kids as possible.Okay, so you want to start a
league, and we've talked about thison all the different kind of shows that
I host about starting your own business, and especially a league because that means
(04:48):
kids and parents and refs and coaches. It's intense, folks. There's a
lot of planning behind doing it,and Carl will get into that. But
with all that said, did youknow what you we were up against a
decade ago when you came up withthe idea saying, you know, I
got this good idea to start aleague, but now I've got to do
abcdef all the way to Z.What was that like of putting everything together?
(05:11):
Yeah, one foot in front ofthe other, right, you know,
none of us ever really know wherewe're going to be five ten years
from now. And I think whatwe do as an organization as we sat
quarterly objectives for ourselves and then wejust sprint after these little things. So
at the beginning, you know,it was standing outside grocery stores, standing
outside pools and community centers, mywife and I hand Matt flyers and just
(05:32):
you know, begging people to cometo a promo day. You know,
we always say that the first one'sfree, and if we can just get
them to the field to meet ourcoaches, to feel our culture, to
see our program, then we hadan idea that we could convert them into
players. So it was really oneperson at a time, one person at
a time. And when we finallygot a chance to show people what we
(05:53):
were about had their first season,you know, we were just very lucky
to be in a good position wherefight football. At the time that we
started, this really wasn't you know, as ubiquitous as it was now.
We started in mcclaim, Virginia,and we had parents driving over from Northwest
DC. They're saying, Hey,we really don't have this over here,
you know, I should start thisover here. And then we were in
Northwest and we thought, you know, like we should go down in like
(06:15):
cap Hill, right and make likea league in the city that's successful to
everybody. And so we just hadthe same core product, which was once
a week, positive, fun,inclusive flag football programming, and then we
just recreated that model on different towns. Now, well, I love that.
And you know the other thing thatas I listened to you tell that
story, you would think there wouldbe a lot of flag football leagues,
(06:39):
but there was a hole in theindustry that you found. Your timing was
right and you chose the right businessplan. So it's very exciting that you
came up with that over a decadeago. So let's do this for people.
If you were to give a thirtythousand foot view about what flag star
football is explaining to him, let'sdo that. Let's start. Let's start
right there. I would say,most broadly, flag star football is a
(07:00):
community for everyone. It's a communityfor the kids and for the parents.
It's also community for the coaches andthe referees and everyone is coming with the
goal of getting better, having fun. It's for k to twelfth graders,
boys and girls, football die hardsand kids that have never tried the sport
before. So it's a wide netthat we're casting and welcoming people with open
(07:24):
arms. You know, a lotof our listeners might not know this,
Carl, I know you would knowthis, But the NFL over the years
and their Pro Bowl has become anevent where it wasn't much of a game
because nobody wanted to hit each other. YadA, YadA, YadA. I
get all that, and it's turnedinto now a flag football game that they
actually play at the Pro Bowl,which I think is fun and I think
they have a good time with it. People could still get hurt, but
(07:44):
the least it's a lot less andinvasive when it comes to smacking somebody.
After our nice eighteen week season.So with all that said, you must
be elated that the NFL's kind ofadopted flag football. Is a cool thing.
And you've been doing this for adecade now, so the synergy finally
matching up with the NFL. It'stoo good to be true. To give
me true. You know. Also, a flag just got added to the
Olympic. Yeah, that's right,funny, right, So things are exploding
(08:07):
for flag football, and that's great. You know, I love flag football.
I also love pick a ball,I love volleyball. I love a
lot of different sports, you know, And I think that we always remind
our staff. You know, flagfootball is the vehicle by which that we
are sharing our values, you know. So it just so happens that we're
playing flag and it is awesome andserendipitous that flag is so popular now,
(08:30):
you know. But we're using flagas an entry point to share and teach
values of teamwork, resilience, youknow, dealing with adversity, and so
it's great that that vehicle is nowis now you know, the most popular
model. All right, I thinkwe probably got a lot of the tension
of parents that have kids. Sowe need to talk about a lot of
different things here, and I've gota lot of questions for you. So
(08:50):
let's talk about criteria who can bein this league and then we'll get into
what months you're active and all thosekinds of things. But the criteria for
playing in this flag football league andFlag Star Football, what is that?
Yeah? So we have leagues nowif you're inside the Beltway, you're near
one of our leagues. We haveleagues in DC mail in Virginia, and
(09:11):
you know, ninety percent of ourplayers play in what we'd call recreational league.
It's once a week, they come, they practice right before their game,
and it's you know, easy doesthat. We always joke that we're
you know, people's second sports choice. Often they play baseball, you know,
on a travel team they play withus once a week. They play
basketball, and a travel team theyplay with us once a week. So
ninety percent of kids are coming tous just for rerect league programs. And
(09:35):
I think the most important thing Iwould know is it really is an ecosystem
for everyone. So we've never turneda kid away because you couldn't afford it.
We have a super robust scholarship program. And also, you know,
in addition to socioeconomic diversity, wealso see a lot of neurodiversity. You
know, we see kids that arejust different types of kids, right we
would say athletes and bookworms. Wehave a lot of kids with different you
(09:58):
know, learning disabilities, and thereare different specialized education programs. And I
pride ourselves on being a place whereeverybody can lace up, put the flag
on, be part of the team. All right. So when it comes
to boys and girls, how doesthat work and what are the age ranges
that they can play in the league? Yeah, exactly, so most froudly
we have leagues for kindergarteners through twelfthgraders, girls flat, and all leagues
(10:20):
are technically co ed, you know. I think in our co ed leagues
we probably see five percent of thekids or girls. We also have three
specific girls leagues now, one inNorthern Virginia, one in DC BETESDA,
and one in cap Hill. AndI think girls flag is a super exciting
possibility, you know, potentiality inthe future. It's added to the Olympics,
(10:43):
it's becoming a high school sport,and so it's been slow going in
the beginning a little bit. Butwe have a robust and dedicated and super
fun and funny group of girls thatare playing in our girls league too.
All right, So how often doyou played during the season and how does
all that work when it comes tospring through the rest of the year,
how many games do they play?Tell us a little bit about all that.
(11:07):
Yeah, so typically an eight weekseason. The spring season, we'll
running registration for it now. Butthe spring season runs April, beginning of
April the beginning of June, andthose are two big seasons of spring and
fall. We also have a lotof summer camp programming. And you know,
one of the positive things that cameout of COVID was we kind of
grinded down and beared down and arenow prepared to be outside in the tepid
(11:33):
mid Atlantic Winner. So we haveyou know, thirteen hundred fourteen hundred kids
playing with us outside in the Winnerright now, which is great. Okay.
So yeah, the spring league comingup. Are there any other leagues
later in the year or is itjust spring spring summer camps? And then
we have a fall league as well. Okay, we see people come in
and out, you know, likewe're we're never preaching specialty or specialization.
(11:54):
You know, some people play withus in the spring, take the fall
off, come back in the spring. So you know, where ever it
fits in people's schedule is great.Okay. So we talk about you know,
coaches and parents and referees. There'sa lot for you to organize.
How do you get everybody together?How does all of that work? We
have an awesome set of coaches.You know, I think at every level
(12:15):
of all the different concentric circles ofthis program, we just have great like
minded people. So we have afull time team of ten that does all
the administrative things and they are justwonderful standard bearers for the program. And
we use our alumni and our coachesto kind of share the culture, share
the values with new coaches. Soyou know, if anyone here is listening
(12:37):
is one of those leaders or potentialleaders, or knows one of those leaders.
You know, our staff go fromhigh school referees to you know,
we lovingly call them our old menreferees, you know, but they spend
the whole age gambit. They're alldifferent walks of life, but they are
just fun, supportive leaders. Ithink I highlight especially our referees. You
(13:00):
know, we're so used to beatingup and we watch the NFL and watch
coaches slam their headsats and scream atthe referees. Our referees are you know,
we call them co teachers. Right, They're helping build the culture,
they're helping build up the kids,and so when people get out there,
it's just a really great, warmcommunity of supported leaders. Well that's great
to hear, Carl, I'd likeyou to address something and this could be
(13:22):
a conversation for you and I offlineand for many many hours about where you
sports has gone over the years,especially when it comes to parents. And
I'm talking about misbehaving parents and justgetting on a line and we see it
on TikTok all the time and onYouTube videos. And I have a twenty
one year old and she played sportsfrom chewing when she was seven right through
high school. I went to allour events and I was a pretty quiet
(13:43):
parent except for cheering. But likeyou, I've seen the worst of the
worst out there, and those peoplebecome viral. So with all that said,
you've got these great coaches that areon your team, You've got these
wonderful referees. What's the deal aboutkeeping parents in check? And I realized
that there's always going to be thatone parent out there that's going to be
an outlier and anomaly that's causing aproblem. But how do you make sure
the parents are there to enjoy theirchild and make sure that everybody behaves Because
(14:09):
we see this too much of itin today's competitive landscape, that everybody just
going nuts out there, and itjust happens to be a simple flag football
game. How do you deal withit? Yeah? Yeah, Well,
look, the first thing I'd sayis that ninety nine points something percent of
our parents are wonderful, like minded, community minded people, you know.
And so it's like the nature ofvirality or online social media that we see
(14:31):
these outliers and we see these peoplechasing the referees around the field. But
I would say, by and large, I've had an incredibly heartening, warm
experience with parents just being bought intothe culture, you know. And I
think we treat it like a footballprogram, you know. We treat our
leagues like we're all a team.And I think my job as head coach
is to voice the expectation for theculture and the behavioral expectations, you know,
(14:56):
and like aim towards our ideal,and when we slip on that,
we just have clear and direct communicationwith these parents. Now, I think
the one thing I'd say, andthis kind of goes beyond sports and it
goes into humanity, is the parentsthat I've seen that have behaved the worst,
the people that I've seen that justare doing things that I say,
we cannot abide this in the ecosystem. You know, those parents nineteen times
(15:22):
out of twenty have something terrible goingon in their lives, you know,
and we don't know what's going on, and we see how it's manifested in
one bad day or one bad outburst, right, and a bad event that
just doesn't represent who they are.And I think it's really I see,
we see the full scope of humanityhere, you know, And it's really
taught my team and I a lotof empathy because you don't know when what
(15:45):
people are going through in life,and it's almost always the case that someone
has an outburst like this, they'resorry, they're embarrassed, and they end
up being, you know, anawesome flag bear for us down the road.
Well, I'm glad that you talkedabout all that, and I think
something all so you're alluding to isculture. And it sounds like between you,
your coaches, and your team members, you brought a sense of culture
(16:06):
and everybody's here to have fun.Sure, we can be competitive, but
you just have to watch your stepas a parent and make sure you enjoy
your time out there with your childor your young person. Yeah. Yeah,
we always say that the best thingyou could say to your kid in
the car is how was it?You know, or don't say anything else.
They don't want to talk about it. But it's like letting the kid
guide the experience and letting the kidlead the experience is so important, you
(16:30):
know. We see and it isby nature humans, you know, reaction,
they see it, call they don'tagree with to say something or ah
or gas, but things like that, you know. But it is like
this observation bias where the parents arevery much part of the kid's experience,
right, And so I think that'swhy we really look for their buy in
to help set the tone because aslong as there's no distracting thing, you
(16:53):
know, the kids just there tohave a good, good time, and
they're resilient, they'll get past things. So you talked about the DMV and
all the different leagues for spring andthen of course in summer in the camp
and then also in fall. Whatkind of fields are you playing on?
What kind of access do you havefor all the games we're playing on any
and every rectangular piece of grass orturf we can find. We're super lucky
(17:15):
to have really consistent field partners.So some of them are schools, some
of them are counting fields, someof them are private schools. But you
know, the advantage of being herefor a long time and establishing ourselves as
part of the community is we haveconsistent field partners. And never in my
life that I imagine that I wouldbe so in tune with what rain or
snow does to a grass field,you know, but it's like that's our
(17:38):
life. That's our life. Youknow. Our lives are fields and leaders.
And if we have good fields,consistent fields, and great leaders,
you know, I think the kidswill come. Carl, we talked about
a couple of different buckets that youoffered. I do want to talk about
the scholarship program in just a littlebit because I know that's important and then
a really big deal and very coolwhen I read about it early this morning
before interview. Well, when itcomes to cost, whether it's being in
(18:02):
the spring league, depending on theages and the type of team, and
then also your camps and also downin the fall, how much does everything
cost, or maybe just give aballpark what parents can expect. Yeah,
So we have two different coaching options. We have a parent coach option,
where you know, a parent volunteerleads the team. We also have what
we call pro coach option, whichis one of our guys that we interview
(18:22):
higher train and coaches the team.I think on average players paying two hundred
dollars for a season. Although Ireally really really want to underscore that with
we are always around to work withpeople. You know, we want the
leagues to reflect the community, andso we have never ever turned a kid
away because they could, you know, afford the registration face. Tell me
a little bit about feedback, becauseI'm sure you get a lot from parents
(18:45):
and the referees and the coaches soyou can get better. And also if
you need any issues to handle,you do that too. But when it
comes to feedback, and let's startwith the parents first, I imagine that
if everybody's having a good experience,they're happy that their kid can get out
there, get some fresh air,participate and compete. But tell us a
little bit about parent feedback that you'vegot over the last couple of years.
(19:06):
Yeah, so it rinses the wholegambit, you know. But I think
one of our core tenants is,you know, our standards of performance and
the same rules that we have forthe kids are the same rules that we
hold ourselves to. So we're askingthe kids to be coachable, and similarly,
we have to be coachable as well, right, so we like our
out go out of our way toget feedback from the parents that we want
(19:27):
the feedback. You know, Myworst case scenario is a kid's having a
bad time, parents having a badtime, something's going wrong and we don't
hear about it, you know.So we try to practice embodying, being
very open to feedback, and thenwe just practice radical candor. There's a
great book, big your name isKim Scott wrote a book called Radical Candor,
and that's just clear, compassionate directcommunication. And our parents give it
(19:52):
to us. We give it toour parents. It's how we coach with
our kids. The same thing forour staff as well. So we are
constantly iterating, incorporating feedback, andyou know, just like the kids,
try and improve. So, Carl, health and safety always a big deal
in sports. I know you knowthat being a former athlete. So when
it comes to hydration, making surethat there are snacks, and also I
(20:12):
want to talk about injuries too,because unfortunately that happens from time to time.
How has all that happened behind thescenes and what happened to that games?
Yeah, so our field managers onevery field we have, we'll have
at least somebody who's you know,Red Cross First Aid certified. We've been
very lucky, you know, knockon wood to avoid very serious injuries.
But as far as sports, kidsare going to bump, kids going to
(20:33):
scrape things, kids are gonna getcut or break things, we have pretty
low incident rates. You know.I think the hot topic and everything is
concussion right now, and like youknow, the concussions education information is everywhere,
you know, but I think wejust try to be sparn about it.
You know. Our line is alwaysif there's any kind of risk or
any kind of concern from anybody,just take the kid out, you know.
(20:56):
And I think that's an important lessonto learn. We're trying to keeach.
We are trying to teach the kid'stoughness, right, and we are
trying to teach them resilience, andwe're trying to teach them how to push
through things. And part of beinga kid is learning what you can push
through and what you can't push through. You know, you bump your knee,
you skin your knee, You canplay right, there's a hard collision,
you get up you feel okay,it's okay, you can play,
(21:18):
but when it comes to concussion things, you know, we're really careful.
Just take a kid out of thegame. You know, we always say
live to see another day, liveto see the other game. You know,
take it out, rest, gohome, monitor, see a doctor,
see you next week. Well,I like how you feel about that,
because not only does everybody want tocompete out there, but you know,
as well as I do, playingat a high level of sports,
that there are so many life lessonsthat come out of sports, especially football,
(21:44):
that it's a lot of fun thatway, and sometimes you don't realize
that you're learning life lessons as you'replaying. In yeah, one hundred percent.
You know, football was originally youknow, football used to be a
very dangerous sport in the early nineteenhundreds, people were dying on the field,
you know. In the president stepthen he said football is a worthy
undertaking for our young men because weneed them to be tough, right,
And we changed football to make itsafer because at that time we needed our
(22:07):
men to be ready for war,right, We needed our young men to
go out and stab people in foxholes. You know, that's not what we
need of our kids anymore. Whatwe need out of our kids is the
ability to work across diverse teams towardsa common goal. And so we're trying
to use flag as a vehicle forteaching connection, teaching, teamwork, teaching,
(22:29):
pushing through adversity, and really kindof uniting as a team for a
common mission. In just a moment, I want to talk to you about
the RJ. Hartman Leadership Award,because I know that's a really big deal,
but I also want to talk toyou about financial aid and also scholarships,
and I was I was really pleasantlysurprised to see that on your website.
But once again, if there arehardshets out there, you try and
help out different families, And thatwas really cool. Could you expand on
(22:52):
that a little bit more. Yeah, So, if anyone you know here
is looking for financial aid or needsfinancially aid, you will find that anywhere
on any Flagstar website. Webbage willalways find a link in a way to
fill out a financial aid form.We live in a super diverse area.
That is the beauty and the superpowerof where we live is that it's a
super diverse community and we're just committedto making our league reflect that community.
(23:17):
So you know, we've always saidwe give our scholarships to anybody who need
it, you know, and asa nonprofit, that's been a battle of
late. We did an awesome jobramping up our community programs. Last year
we had over a thousand scholarships thatwe provided to kids, and with that
also becomes you know, big administrativehurdles. But again that's where I would
just preach. You know, everyonetalks about these nightmare sports parents in the
(23:40):
suburbs and you know, affluenza andthings like that. We've just seen super
kind, super generous parents and it'sour parents in the league that are also
driving our scholarship fundraising to make itpossible for all kids to play. And
folks, this is another reason whywe had carl On and Flagstar Football.
They are a nonprofit, so that'sa really big deal. And I like
to you to talk about a littlewhen it comes to money, because I'm
(24:03):
sure with corporate sponsorship and leaders inthe community, even parents donating, can
you tell us how you're funded andhow it works for you right now?
Yeah, so all of our scholarshipsare funded, you know, really through
corporate sponsors and our parents themselves,and people check out they have in any
one of our programs, you know, they have an opportunity to click a
(24:25):
box that donate to the Fix.Our foundation. We see corporate sponsors and
you know, we put them onjerseys and we put them on emails.
But it's also just like I thinkthey're doing it just for the sake of
access and inclusion. So it's it'sbeen really special to see that come together.
Is there anybody you want to namethat is a corporate sponsor just to
give them a shout out? Youdon't have to, but if you want
(24:45):
to partners that you just want toacknowledge that they're pretty special to you,
you can do that. Yes,absolutely well, Look, so many of
our board members have stepped up ina massive way to help with this initiative.
So like Arjenia Rang and a RankFoundation, Sorry, Setlift Mortgage,
NFM Lending, Affordable long Care.There's so many sponts of Assault line.
(25:08):
We have a million sponsors that arelike you know, parents have run businesses
that have also pitched in. Wealso put them on our emails and we're
tiresly trying to put them in frontof people it's impossible for them to see
the real ROI to sponsoring teams,but it's really been a cool kind of
you know, cross fertilization of theprogram. Very cool. Well, listen,
let's talk about the RJ. HartmanLeadership Award. What is that?
(25:32):
So? R J Hartman is oneof my best friends. I grew up
with them. We went to middleschool, high school together at my wedding,
and RJ had a really unfair setof circumstances in his life. There's
a lot of kind of tragedy andtrauma in his life he was working to
overcome. And while he was workingto overcome that, he was also coaching
at Flagstar. And I saw RJ, you know, on the side dealing
(25:56):
with really big, heavy issues.And then every time he came out to
the field, it's like he leftthose in his car, he left those
behind, and he gave the absolutebest of himself to these kids into the
community. And so tragically, Imean r J. On Sunday in April
and two thousand and one, RJcame out and he's coaching a team and
(26:19):
he led them to just one ofthe greatest comebacks in Flag Star history.
You know, one of the parentscame up to them on the sideline after
the game and he said, theonly question left is who's going to play
you in the movie? Now.It was like just one of the most
unbelievable games in Flag Star history,and twenty four hours he passed away.
Wow, And in his wake therewas just, I mean, so much
(26:41):
heartache, so much loss in ourcommunity. But you know, there's so
many things about RJ that we wantedto capture and celebrate, but especially his
ability to just give of himself tothe kids, to give of himself to
the community, and kind of overcomingpersonal sets of adversity in that give.
And so that's what's celebrated in theRJ Harmon Leadership Award is our coaches who
(27:03):
are going through. Like I saidearlier, you never know what people are
going through in life, and peopleare going through terrible loss or financial adversity.
There are any number of things thatpeople are going through that they overcome
and giving them themselves, and sothat's what's captured when we give out that
award each year. Well, Carl, thanks for sharing that. I know
that's a real personal thing, eventhough it's on the website and very emotional.
(27:23):
So thank you for that. AndI think it's a testament to not
only the person that he was,but also people that receive it. And
I think that's very cool. SoI'm glad that's up there. We only
have a couple of minutes left andI want to give the floor to you.
I know we've talked about a lot, but if you can do a
pitch job once again about what flagsour football is when you do it,
how much it costs, and howparents and their kids from pre k all
(27:47):
the way up to high school levelcould be a part of this. The
floor is yours, Carl. Okay, great, Well by the floor for
a moment, I would just saythat's play it simple. Our website is
Flagstar Football dot com or flag StartFoundation dot org. And if you go
to our website you can see allof our programs, spin programs, summer
programs, rec leagues, elite leagues, and Kada twelfth grade boys or girls.
(28:10):
You will find a welcoming, warmleague home here. The thing I
would say most broadly for all ofhumanity is we found this cool thing.
It's called the prisoner's dilemma, butwe found this strategy through economists on how
to maximize social outcomes. And thethree tenants of maximizing social outcomes work,
(28:30):
be kind, be provocable, andbe forgiving. And I think that's what
we try to live by right wherewe start by being kind. If you
want the best in others, youput the best of yourself out there,
and that's often what you get inthe world when something debates from that expectation,
when someone behaves selfishly, behaves rudely, you need to be provokable.
You need to be able to putyour foot in the ground and say we
(28:52):
cannot abide that. Here, hereare the guidelines for being here. If
you want to be a part ofthe community, got to get on board.
And then after that be forgiving andgo back to being kind. And
so what we're doing is flag football, but really I think what we're doing
at its most basic level is communitybuilding and value teaching. And so it's
all about the community for us.If people are interested in flag football,
(29:12):
more importantly, if people are interestedin just being part of a warm,
welcoming, productive community, you know, we would welcome any and everybody from
players, parents, volunteers, coaches, referees. Let's get it going,
yeah, Stanning, Carl Give thatwebsite one more time to everybody. Yeah.
So you can find all of ourprogram at Flagstarffootball dot com, especially
(29:36):
scholarship programming. If you want toapply for financial aid, if you want
to become a donor, you cango to Flagstar Foundation dot org. Both
those will lead you to all ofour programs. Carl, I really appreciate
your valuable time. Continue success.It's a real big deal that you've been
doing this for over a decade withso many good people, families and kids.
Continue success, and thanks again forjoining us on community DC. I
(29:57):
appreciate so much for having me Dennis, thanks much,
Good morning, and welcome to anotheredition of Community DC. I'm your host
Dennis Glasgow. This morning, weget a chance, for the first time
ever on this program to talk aboutyouth flag football in the DMV how to
get involved in what it's doing forthe community. I'll be speaking with Carl
Erlek. He is the executive directorfor the Flag Star Football Foundation. If
you're a parent or a guardian andyou have your child or team that you
(00:27):
want them to be a part ofsomething pretty cool, this is the interview
for you over the next thirty minutes. Here's my conversation with Carl. I
hope you enjoy it as much asI did. Good morning, Carl,
Good morning Danz. How you doing. I'm great. It's great to talk
to you. You know, I'vegot a huge sports background, so when
I found out about Flag Star Football, I said, good, I get
to talk about sports. I getto talk to some great nonprofits, which
(00:50):
I know that that's also what thisshow is about. It's community, but
also with you, it's about youth, it's about family, it's about sports.
And I'm so excited to talk aboutyou because, probably like a lot
of other people in the DMV,Carl I didn't know about Flag Star Football,
and after being introduced to you,getting on the website, I'm so
excited that you do with your teamwhat you do because it's about sports,
(01:11):
it's about family, it's about athletics, getting out, get some fresh air,
competition, winning and losing doesn't matter, but just being out there and
competing, which I love. Sobefore we talk about flag Star Football and
we're going to get everybody educated onwhat it is. Spring sign ups are
right around the corner. It's reallycool, folks. But if you,
Carl, could give a little contextto all our listeners that are being introduced
(01:33):
to you the first time, aboutwhere you're from, where you grew up.
What did you do before you startedFlag Star Football? Yeah? Great,
Well, I'm originally from Bethesda,Maryland, and I think maybe most
importantly to note, I was abaseball guy growing up. I just lived,
lived and breeding baseball all the time. My dad was a baseball guy.
Where a baseball family, and soI grew up playing baseball, playing
(01:56):
sports, and I didn't actually startedplaying football until high school. So I
went to Walt Wooman High School inBethesda. I played football at Harvard.
I ended up being the one hundredand thirty sixth captain on the Harvard football
team. And I was a bubbleguy. You know, I was like,
was I going to make an NFLteam? I was at least going
to go out to a tryout,but just for where I was when I
(02:16):
graduated in two thousand and nine,I went right out. I played a
league, a season of professional footballin Spain, and then hung up the
cleats and put on the whistle.Hey, well, listen, there's not
a lot of people that got toplay at the level that you did,
so it's pretty special to do that. Now, where do you line up
with the Ryan Fitzpatrick years who playedin the IVY leagues as well? Did
(02:38):
he play way before you? Yeah? So Ryan Fitzpatrick is the Harvard football
claim to fame. Yes, heis. Also Tommy Lee Jones is a
Harvard football player. See, Idid not know that. It's a lot
of good Harvard football history. Theforward pass was first executed in the Harvard
football stadium. I did know thatRyan Fitzpatrick. I met him on my
(03:00):
official visit. So he was asenior at Harvard when I was a senior
in high school, and so Icame into Harvard the year that he was
leaving, but obviously his lore.I mean, I always say, if
you had a good campaign manager,he could get on a stage for one
of these presidential debates. You know, that guy's universally beloved. He really
is. He's a smart guy.And if anybody's ever watching him on an
(03:20):
Amazon with Thursday Night Football and whathe did to elongate his career as a
starter, backup starter, it's reallyan incredible story. So I just wanted
to bring that up because I knowthat he was famous for Harvard football,
and I wasn't sure where you crosswith him, but that's really cool that
you played at that level. Well, listen, let's do this flag star
football. There's going to be alot of people that are going to be
introduced to it and we're going totalk all about it, and folks,
(03:42):
I want you to intently listen becauseif you got kids or families and you
want to be part of something special, this is the interview the next thirty
minutes to listen to on Community DC. But Carl, I always like to
talk to our guest about the impetus, the idea, that epiphany that you
had. You're obviously a sports guy, but your baseball guy about starting Flagstar
Football? Where did the idea comefrom over a decade ago? Yeah,
(04:04):
so flags are football, and flagfootball in general represented just a fresh start
for us. I love and I'mso grateful for all of my coaches.
I think there is also something oldschool about the old school tackle football model,
and I still love to tagle football, I watch football, watch the
Super Bowl. But flag football gaveus a fresh start from the rules,
(04:27):
from the structure, and also theculture around the sport. So the idea
for Flagstar most broadly was how dowe make football fun and accessible and productive
for as many kids as possible.Okay, so you want to start a
league, and we've talked about thison all the different kind of shows that
I host about starting your own business, and especially a league because that means
(04:48):
kids and parents and refs and coaches. It's intense, folks. There's a
lot of planning behind doing it,and Carl will get into that. But
with all that said, did youknow what you we were up against a
decade ago when you came up withthe idea saying, you know, I
got this good idea to start aleague, but now I've got to do
abcdef all the way to Z.What was that like of putting everything together?
(05:11):
Yeah, one foot in front ofthe other, right, you know,
none of us ever really know wherewe're going to be five ten years
from now. And I think whatwe do as an organization as we sat
quarterly objectives for ourselves and then wejust sprint after these little things. So
at the beginning, you know,it was standing outside grocery stores, standing
outside pools and community centers, mywife and I hand Matt flyers and just
(05:32):
you know, begging people to cometo a promo day. You know,
we always say that the first one'sfree, and if we can just get
them to the field to meet ourcoaches, to feel our culture, to
see our program, then we hadan idea that we could convert them into
players. So it was really oneperson at a time, one person at
a time. And when we finallygot a chance to show people what we
(05:53):
were about had their first season,you know, we were just very lucky
to be in a good position wherefight football. At the time that we
started, this really wasn't you know, as ubiquitous as it was now.
We started in mcclaim, Virginia,and we had parents driving over from Northwest
DC. They're saying, Hey,we really don't have this over here,
you know, I should start thisover here. And then we were in
Northwest and we thought, you know, like we should go down in like
(06:15):
cap Hill, right and make likea league in the city that's successful to
everybody. And so we just hadthe same core product, which was once
a week, positive, fun,inclusive flag football programming, and then we
just recreated that model on different towns. Now, well, I love that.
And you know the other thing thatas I listened to you tell that
story, you would think there wouldbe a lot of flag football leagues,
(06:39):
but there was a hole in theindustry that you found. Your timing was
right and you chose the right businessplan. So it's very exciting that you
came up with that over a decadeago. So let's do this for people.
If you were to give a thirtythousand foot view about what flag star
football is explaining to him, let'sdo that. Let's start. Let's start
right there. I would say,most broadly, flag star football is a
(07:00):
community for everyone. It's a communityfor the kids and for the parents.
It's also community for the coaches andthe referees and everyone is coming with the
goal of getting better, having fun. It's for k to twelfth graders,
boys and girls, football die hardsand kids that have never tried the sport
before. So it's a wide netthat we're casting and welcoming people with open
(07:24):
arms. You know, a lotof our listeners might not know this,
Carl, I know you would knowthis, But the NFL over the years
and their Pro Bowl has become anevent where it wasn't much of a game
because nobody wanted to hit each other. YadA, YadA, YadA. I
get all that, and it's turnedinto now a flag football game that they
actually play at the Pro Bowl,which I think is fun and I think
they have a good time with it. People could still get hurt, but
(07:44):
the least it's a lot less andinvasive when it comes to smacking somebody.
After our nice eighteen week season.So with all that said, you must
be elated that the NFL's kind ofadopted flag football. Is a cool thing.
And you've been doing this for adecade now, so the synergy finally
matching up with the NFL. It'stoo good to be true. To give
me true. You know. Also, a flag just got added to the
Olympic. Yeah, that's right,funny, right, So things are exploding
(08:07):
for flag football, and that's great. You know, I love flag football.
I also love pick a ball,I love volleyball. I love a
lot of different sports, you know, And I think that we always remind
our staff. You know, flagfootball is the vehicle by which that we
are sharing our values, you know. So it just so happens that we're
playing flag and it is awesome andserendipitous that flag is so popular now,
(08:30):
you know. But we're using flagas an entry point to share and teach
values of teamwork, resilience, youknow, dealing with adversity, and so
it's great that that vehicle is nowis now you know, the most popular
model. All right, I thinkwe probably got a lot of the tension
of parents that have kids. Sowe need to talk about a lot of
different things here, and I've gota lot of questions for you. So
(08:50):
let's talk about criteria who can bein this league and then we'll get into
what months you're active and all thosekinds of things. But the criteria for
playing in this flag football league andFlag Star Football, what is that?
Yeah? So we have leagues nowif you're inside the Beltway, you're near
one of our leagues. We haveleagues in DC mail in Virginia, and
(09:11):
you know, ninety percent of ourplayers play in what we'd call recreational league.
It's once a week, they come, they practice right before their game,
and it's you know, easy doesthat. We always joke that we're
you know, people's second sports choice. Often they play baseball, you know,
on a travel team they play withus once a week. They play
basketball, and a travel team theyplay with us once a week. So
ninety percent of kids are coming tous just for rerect league programs. And
(09:35):
I think the most important thing Iwould know is it really is an ecosystem
for everyone. So we've never turneda kid away because you couldn't afford it.
We have a super robust scholarship program. And also, you know,
in addition to socioeconomic diversity, wealso see a lot of neurodiversity. You
know, we see kids that arejust different types of kids, right we
would say athletes and bookworms. Wehave a lot of kids with different you
(09:58):
know, learning disabilities, and thereare different specialized education programs. And I
pride ourselves on being a place whereeverybody can lace up, put the flag
on, be part of the team. All right. So when it comes
to boys and girls, how doesthat work and what are the age ranges
that they can play in the league? Yeah, exactly, so most froudly
we have leagues for kindergarteners through twelfthgraders, girls flat, and all leagues
(10:20):
are technically co ed, you know. I think in our co ed leagues
we probably see five percent of thekids or girls. We also have three
specific girls leagues now, one inNorthern Virginia, one in DC BETESDA,
and one in cap Hill. AndI think girls flag is a super exciting
possibility, you know, potentiality inthe future. It's added to the Olympics,
(10:43):
it's becoming a high school sport,and so it's been slow going in
the beginning a little bit. Butwe have a robust and dedicated and super
fun and funny group of girls thatare playing in our girls league too.
All right, So how often doyou played during the season and how does
all that work when it comes tospring through the rest of the year,
how many games do they play?Tell us a little bit about all that.
(11:07):
Yeah, so typically an eight weekseason. The spring season, we'll
running registration for it now. Butthe spring season runs April, beginning of
April the beginning of June, andthose are two big seasons of spring and
fall. We also have a lotof summer camp programming. And you know,
one of the positive things that cameout of COVID was we kind of
grinded down and beared down and arenow prepared to be outside in the tepid
(11:33):
mid Atlantic Winner. So we haveyou know, thirteen hundred fourteen hundred kids
playing with us outside in the Winnerright now, which is great. Okay.
So yeah, the spring league comingup. Are there any other leagues
later in the year or is itjust spring spring summer camps? And then
we have a fall league as well. Okay, we see people come in
and out, you know, likewe're we're never preaching specialty or specialization.
(11:54):
You know, some people play withus in the spring, take the fall
off, come back in the spring. So you know, where ever it
fits in people's schedule is great.Okay. So we talk about you know,
coaches and parents and referees. There'sa lot for you to organize.
How do you get everybody together?How does all of that work? We
have an awesome set of coaches.You know, I think at every level
(12:15):
of all the different concentric circles ofthis program, we just have great like
minded people. So we have afull time team of ten that does all
the administrative things and they are justwonderful standard bearers for the program. And
we use our alumni and our coachesto kind of share the culture, share
the values with new coaches. Soyou know, if anyone here is listening
(12:37):
is one of those leaders or potentialleaders, or knows one of those leaders.
You know, our staff go fromhigh school referees to you know,
we lovingly call them our old menreferees, you know, but they spend
the whole age gambit. They're alldifferent walks of life, but they are
just fun, supportive leaders. Ithink I highlight especially our referees. You
(13:00):
know, we're so used to beatingup and we watch the NFL and watch
coaches slam their headsats and scream atthe referees. Our referees are you know,
we call them co teachers. Right, They're helping build the culture,
they're helping build up the kids,and so when people get out there,
it's just a really great, warmcommunity of supported leaders. Well that's great
to hear, Carl, I'd likeyou to address something and this could be
(13:22):
a conversation for you and I offlineand for many many hours about where you
sports has gone over the years,especially when it comes to parents. And
I'm talking about misbehaving parents and justgetting on a line and we see it
on TikTok all the time and onYouTube videos. And I have a twenty
one year old and she played sportsfrom chewing when she was seven right through
high school. I went to allour events and I was a pretty quiet
(13:43):
parent except for cheering. But likeyou, I've seen the worst of the
worst out there, and those peoplebecome viral. So with all that said,
you've got these great coaches that areon your team, You've got these
wonderful referees. What's the deal aboutkeeping parents in check? And I realized
that there's always going to be thatone parent out there that's going to be
an outlier and anomaly that's causing aproblem. But how do you make sure
the parents are there to enjoy theirchild and make sure that everybody behaves Because
(14:09):
we see this too much of itin today's competitive landscape, that everybody just
going nuts out there, and itjust happens to be a simple flag football
game. How do you deal withit? Yeah? Yeah, Well,
look, the first thing I'd sayis that ninety nine points something percent of
our parents are wonderful, like minded, community minded people, you know.
And so it's like the nature ofvirality or online social media that we see
(14:31):
these outliers and we see these peoplechasing the referees around the field. But
I would say, by and large, I've had an incredibly heartening, warm
experience with parents just being bought intothe culture, you know. And I
think we treat it like a footballprogram, you know. We treat our
leagues like we're all a team.And I think my job as head coach
is to voice the expectation for theculture and the behavioral expectations, you know,
(14:56):
and like aim towards our ideal,and when we slip on that,
we just have clear and direct communicationwith these parents. Now, I think
the one thing I'd say, andthis kind of goes beyond sports and it
goes into humanity, is the parentsthat I've seen that have behaved the worst,
the people that I've seen that justare doing things that I say,
we cannot abide this in the ecosystem. You know, those parents nineteen times
(15:22):
out of twenty have something terrible goingon in their lives, you know,
and we don't know what's going on, and we see how it's manifested in
one bad day or one bad outburst, right, and a bad event that
just doesn't represent who they are.And I think it's really I see,
we see the full scope of humanityhere, you know, And it's really
taught my team and I a lotof empathy because you don't know when what
(15:45):
people are going through in life,and it's almost always the case that someone
has an outburst like this, they'resorry, they're embarrassed, and they end
up being, you know, anawesome flag bear for us down the road.
Well, I'm glad that you talkedabout all that, and I think
something all so you're alluding to isculture. And it sounds like between you,
your coaches, and your team members, you brought a sense of culture
(16:06):
and everybody's here to have fun.Sure, we can be competitive, but
you just have to watch your stepas a parent and make sure you enjoy
your time out there with your childor your young person. Yeah. Yeah,
we always say that the best thingyou could say to your kid in
the car is how was it?You know, or don't say anything else.
They don't want to talk about it. But it's like letting the kid
guide the experience and letting the kidlead the experience is so important, you
(16:30):
know. We see and it isby nature humans, you know, reaction,
they see it, call they don'tagree with to say something or ah
or gas, but things like that, you know. But it is like
this observation bias where the parents arevery much part of the kid's experience,
right, And so I think that'swhy we really look for their buy in
to help set the tone because aslong as there's no distracting thing, you
(16:53):
know, the kids just there tohave a good, good time, and
they're resilient, they'll get past things. So you talked about the DMV and
all the different leagues for spring andthen of course in summer in the camp
and then also in fall. Whatkind of fields are you playing on?
What kind of access do you havefor all the games we're playing on any
and every rectangular piece of grass orturf we can find. We're super lucky
(17:15):
to have really consistent field partners.So some of them are schools, some
of them are counting fields, someof them are private schools. But you
know, the advantage of being herefor a long time and establishing ourselves as
part of the community is we haveconsistent field partners. And never in my
life that I imagine that I wouldbe so in tune with what rain or
snow does to a grass field,you know, but it's like that's our
(17:38):
life. That's our life. Youknow. Our lives are fields and leaders.
And if we have good fields,consistent fields, and great leaders,
you know, I think the kidswill come. Carl, we talked about
a couple of different buckets that youoffered. I do want to talk about
the scholarship program in just a littlebit because I know that's important and then
a really big deal and very coolwhen I read about it early this morning
before interview. Well, when itcomes to cost, whether it's being in
(18:02):
the spring league, depending on theages and the type of team, and
then also your camps and also downin the fall, how much does everything
cost, or maybe just give aballpark what parents can expect. Yeah,
So we have two different coaching options. We have a parent coach option,
where you know, a parent volunteerleads the team. We also have what
we call pro coach option, whichis one of our guys that we interview
(18:22):
higher train and coaches the team.I think on average players paying two hundred
dollars for a season. Although Ireally really really want to underscore that with
we are always around to work withpeople. You know, we want the
leagues to reflect the community, andso we have never ever turned a kid
away because they could, you know, afford the registration face. Tell me
a little bit about feedback, becauseI'm sure you get a lot from parents
(18:45):
and the referees and the coaches soyou can get better. And also if
you need any issues to handle,you do that too. But when it
comes to feedback, and let's startwith the parents first, I imagine that
if everybody's having a good experience,they're happy that their kid can get out
there, get some fresh air,participate and compete. But tell us a
little bit about parent feedback that you'vegot over the last couple of years.
(19:06):
Yeah, so it rinses the wholegambit, you know. But I think
one of our core tenants is,you know, our standards of performance and
the same rules that we have forthe kids are the same rules that we
hold ourselves to. So we're askingthe kids to be coachable, and similarly,
we have to be coachable as well, right, so we like our
out go out of our way toget feedback from the parents that we want
(19:27):
the feedback. You know, Myworst case scenario is a kid's having a
bad time, parents having a badtime, something's going wrong and we don't
hear about it, you know.So we try to practice embodying, being
very open to feedback, and thenwe just practice radical candor. There's a
great book, big your name isKim Scott wrote a book called Radical Candor,
and that's just clear, compassionate directcommunication. And our parents give it
(19:52):
to us. We give it toour parents. It's how we coach with
our kids. The same thing forour staff as well. So we are
constantly iterating, incorporating feedback, andyou know, just like the kids,
try and improve. So, Carl, health and safety always a big deal
in sports. I know you knowthat being a former athlete. So when
it comes to hydration, making surethat there are snacks, and also I
(20:12):
want to talk about injuries too,because unfortunately that happens from time to time.
How has all that happened behind thescenes and what happened to that games?
Yeah, so our field managers onevery field we have, we'll have
at least somebody who's you know,Red Cross First Aid certified. We've been
very lucky, you know, knockon wood to avoid very serious injuries.
But as far as sports, kidsare going to bump, kids going to
(20:33):
scrape things, kids are gonna getcut or break things, we have pretty
low incident rates. You know.I think the hot topic and everything is
concussion right now, and like youknow, the concussions education information is everywhere,
you know, but I think wejust try to be sparn about it.
You know. Our line is alwaysif there's any kind of risk or
any kind of concern from anybody,just take the kid out, you know.
(20:56):
And I think that's an important lessonto learn. We're trying to keeach.
We are trying to teach the kid'stoughness, right, and we are
trying to teach them resilience, andwe're trying to teach them how to push
through things. And part of beinga kid is learning what you can push
through and what you can't push through. You know, you bump your knee,
you skin your knee, You canplay right, there's a hard collision,
you get up you feel okay,it's okay, you can play,
(21:18):
but when it comes to concussion things, you know, we're really careful.
Just take a kid out of thegame. You know, we always say
live to see another day, liveto see the other game. You know,
take it out, rest, gohome, monitor, see a doctor,
see you next week. Well,I like how you feel about that,
because not only does everybody want tocompete out there, but you know,
as well as I do, playingat a high level of sports,
that there are so many life lessonsthat come out of sports, especially football,
(21:44):
that it's a lot of fun thatway, and sometimes you don't realize
that you're learning life lessons as you'replaying. In yeah, one hundred percent.
You know, football was originally youknow, football used to be a
very dangerous sport in the early nineteenhundreds, people were dying on the field,
you know. In the president stepthen he said football is a worthy
undertaking for our young men because weneed them to be tough, right,
And we changed football to make itsafer because at that time we needed our
(22:07):
men to be ready for war,right, We needed our young men to
go out and stab people in foxholes. You know, that's not what we
need of our kids anymore. Whatwe need out of our kids is the
ability to work across diverse teams towardsa common goal. And so we're trying
to use flag as a vehicle forteaching connection, teaching, teamwork, teaching,
(22:29):
pushing through adversity, and really kindof uniting as a team for a
common mission. In just a moment, I want to talk to you about
the RJ. Hartman Leadership Award,because I know that's a really big deal,
but I also want to talk toyou about financial aid and also scholarships,
and I was I was really pleasantlysurprised to see that on your website.
But once again, if there arehardshets out there, you try and
help out different families, And thatwas really cool. Could you expand on
(22:52):
that a little bit more. Yeah, So, if anyone you know here
is looking for financial aid or needsfinancially aid, you will find that anywhere
on any Flagstar website. Webbage willalways find a link in a way to
fill out a financial aid form.We live in a super diverse area.
That is the beauty and the superpowerof where we live is that it's a
super diverse community and we're just committedto making our league reflect that community.
(23:17):
So you know, we've always saidwe give our scholarships to anybody who need
it, you know, and asa nonprofit, that's been a battle of
late. We did an awesome jobramping up our community programs. Last year
we had over a thousand scholarships thatwe provided to kids, and with that
also becomes you know, big administrativehurdles. But again that's where I would
just preach. You know, everyonetalks about these nightmare sports parents in the
(23:40):
suburbs and you know, affluenza andthings like that. We've just seen super
kind, super generous parents and it'sour parents in the league that are also
driving our scholarship fundraising to make itpossible for all kids to play. And
folks, this is another reason whywe had carl On and Flagstar Football.
They are a nonprofit, so that'sa really big deal. And I like
to you to talk about a littlewhen it comes to money, because I'm
(24:03):
sure with corporate sponsorship and leaders inthe community, even parents donating, can
you tell us how you're funded andhow it works for you right now?
Yeah, so all of our scholarshipsare funded, you know, really through
corporate sponsors and our parents themselves,and people check out they have in any
one of our programs, you know, they have an opportunity to click a
(24:25):
box that donate to the Fix.Our foundation. We see corporate sponsors and
you know, we put them onjerseys and we put them on emails.
But it's also just like I thinkthey're doing it just for the sake of
access and inclusion. So it's it'sbeen really special to see that come together.
Is there anybody you want to namethat is a corporate sponsor just to
give them a shout out? Youdon't have to, but if you want
(24:45):
to partners that you just want toacknowledge that they're pretty special to you,
you can do that. Yes,absolutely well, Look, so many of
our board members have stepped up ina massive way to help with this initiative.
So like Arjenia Rang and a RankFoundation, Sorry, Setlift Mortgage,
NFM Lending, Affordable long Care.There's so many sponts of Assault line.
(25:08):
We have a million sponsors that arelike you know, parents have run businesses
that have also pitched in. Wealso put them on our emails and we're
tiresly trying to put them in frontof people it's impossible for them to see
the real ROI to sponsoring teams,but it's really been a cool kind of
you know, cross fertilization of theprogram. Very cool. Well, listen,
let's talk about the RJ. HartmanLeadership Award. What is that?
(25:32):
So? R J Hartman is oneof my best friends. I grew up
with them. We went to middleschool, high school together at my wedding,
and RJ had a really unfair setof circumstances in his life. There's
a lot of kind of tragedy andtrauma in his life he was working to
overcome. And while he was workingto overcome that, he was also coaching
at Flagstar. And I saw RJ, you know, on the side dealing
(25:56):
with really big, heavy issues.And then every time he came out to
the field, it's like he leftthose in his car, he left those
behind, and he gave the absolutebest of himself to these kids into the
community. And so tragically, Imean r J. On Sunday in April
and two thousand and one, RJcame out and he's coaching a team and
(26:19):
he led them to just one ofthe greatest comebacks in Flag Star history.
You know, one of the parentscame up to them on the sideline after
the game and he said, theonly question left is who's going to play
you in the movie? Now.It was like just one of the most
unbelievable games in Flag Star history,and twenty four hours he passed away.
Wow, And in his wake therewas just, I mean, so much
(26:41):
heartache, so much loss in ourcommunity. But you know, there's so
many things about RJ that we wantedto capture and celebrate, but especially his
ability to just give of himself tothe kids, to give of himself to
the community, and kind of overcomingpersonal sets of adversity in that give.
And so that's what's celebrated in theRJ Harmon Leadership Award is our coaches who
(27:03):
are going through. Like I saidearlier, you never know what people are
going through in life, and peopleare going through terrible loss or financial adversity.
There are any number of things thatpeople are going through that they overcome
and giving them themselves, and sothat's what's captured when we give out that
award each year. Well, Carl, thanks for sharing that. I know
that's a real personal thing, eventhough it's on the website and very emotional.
(27:23):
So thank you for that. AndI think it's a testament to not
only the person that he was,but also people that receive it. And
I think that's very cool. SoI'm glad that's up there. We only
have a couple of minutes left andI want to give the floor to you.
I know we've talked about a lot, but if you can do a
pitch job once again about what flagsour football is when you do it,
how much it costs, and howparents and their kids from pre k all
(27:47):
the way up to high school levelcould be a part of this. The
floor is yours, Carl. Okay, great, Well by the floor for
a moment, I would just saythat's play it simple. Our website is
Flagstar Football dot com or flag StartFoundation dot org. And if you go
to our website you can see allof our programs, spin programs, summer
programs, rec leagues, elite leagues, and Kada twelfth grade boys or girls.
(28:10):
You will find a welcoming, warmleague home here. The thing I
would say most broadly for all ofhumanity is we found this cool thing.
It's called the prisoner's dilemma, butwe found this strategy through economists on how
to maximize social outcomes. And thethree tenants of maximizing social outcomes work,
(28:30):
be kind, be provocable, andbe forgiving. And I think that's what
we try to live by right wherewe start by being kind. If you
want the best in others, youput the best of yourself out there,
and that's often what you get inthe world when something debates from that expectation,
when someone behaves selfishly, behaves rudely, you need to be provokable.
You need to be able to putyour foot in the ground and say we
(28:52):
cannot abide that. Here, hereare the guidelines for being here. If
you want to be a part ofthe community, got to get on board.
And then after that be forgiving andgo back to being kind. And
so what we're doing is flag football, but really I think what we're doing
at its most basic level is communitybuilding and value teaching. And so it's
all about the community for us.If people are interested in flag football,
(29:12):
more importantly, if people are interestedin just being part of a warm,
welcoming, productive community, you know, we would welcome any and everybody from
players, parents, volunteers, coaches, referees. Let's get it going,
yeah, Stanning, Carl Give thatwebsite one more time to everybody. Yeah.
So you can find all of ourprogram at Flagstarffootball dot com, especially
(29:36):
scholarship programming. If you want toapply for financial aid, if you want
to become a donor, you cango to Flagstar Foundation dot org. Both
those will lead you to all ofour programs. Carl, I really appreciate
your valuable time. Continue success.It's a real big deal that you've been
doing this for over a decade withso many good people, families and kids.
Continue success, and thanks again forjoining us on community DC. I
(29:57):
appreciate so much for having me Dennis, thanks much,
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