MIDDLEBURG - Football fans who didn't get enough of Friday night lights got a second dose of fast football on Saturday at the Clay County Regional Recreation Park when the United Flag Football League showcased their athletes with a day of 4 v 4 and 5 v 5 clashes.
"When we challenged the NFL pros to play our UFFL guys, we had to entice them with a $10,000 challenge before they agreed," said UFFL Director Norm McLean, a former coach at powerhouse Cocoa High in south Florida and a former NFL player himself. "Our guys (UFFL) are great flag football players and the NFL guys have their own skill sets that are not near what our guys can do. It's a different game. We beat the NFL guys four times."
For McLean, who ushered in the UFFL, teams from Jacksonville, Orlando, Citrus, and South Florida traveled to Clay County to compete.
"We got athletes out here that played or still play semi-pro, pro football, ex-Olympians, and college football players," said McLean, noting another tournament going on in Tempe, Arizona with a national championship tournament coming to Kissimmee. "The national championships in January will have 450 teams at the Northeast Regional Park in Davenport."
McLean commented that the draw to play flag football comes from the underlying instinct to still want to play football.
"I played in college, played some NFL, started playing flag football which led to coaching, then refereeing and now this, being tournament director around the country since 2008 it has grown that big and very quickly," said McLean, who was part of getting girls flag football in Florida. "Florida and Texas dominate as far as state talent. We have a USA men's national team and are working on making it an Olympic sport. The girls have an Olympic squad."
Two national team players; Velton Brown, 28, from Lake Nona High Orlando, and Jamie Kennedy, 27, from Blanche Ely High in Pompano Beach, were two Florida players who have played UFFL ball for nearly a decade.
"This is the place to be," said Brown. "We love football and this is a much safer, faster game."
The differences between the NFL game and the UFFL game come down to the pure athleticism on the field of the flag football athletes.
"You get a guy who plays flag football, he has to be fast on his feet, have great body control in close quarters and still have the ball skills of an NFL guy," said Brown. "And you don't get hit. It's a much faster game."
On the field, a few local athletes were competing including Ethan Kay, 30, football at Clay High; Sean Jones, 28, Oakleaf basketball, and Chris D'Iaddorio, Oakleaf baseball, plus, from Sandalwood, track and football star, and now a Team USA member Laval Davis.
"I'm the quarterback with Sean and Chris catching passes," said Kay, who got himself, Jones and D'Iaddorio together in 2013. "It's great exercise, outside in the sun, fellowship with athletes and some good traveling. We've been to Texas, Charlotte and Chicago, all over."