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Westford Flag Football League History & Mission
Westford’s flag football program has been an official NFL Flag Football organization since it was founded in 2004 by Mike Mendes. The league was started with the strong support of the Westford Recreation Department. The original and continuing mission of the league is to offer local youths a fun alternative to contact football, and operates with the philosophy that “everyone plays” and is given an equal chance to participate.
In the first season (2004), there were approximately sixty 9 to 11 year old kids playing on six teams. In 2005, the league grew to 160 players with 100 in the 9-11 age division and 60 in a new 12-14 age division. The league has continued to grow since those initial years. In 2008, over 300 players formed sixteen 9-11 age teams and fourteen 12-14 age teams, and over 60 parents help coach these teams.
Westford’s flag football league has grown in other ways over our short history, including:
- Teenagers have been involved in refereeing our games since 2006, and we now only use teen refs for our games. Of course, they like the pay, but it also provides them and others an excellent learning and growth opportunity.
- In 2007, the league entered a 12-14 age boys team to play in NFL’s Flag Football New England tournament, and they won! This team then competed in the national tournament in Orlando Florida with the NFL picking up all travel and lodging expenses. Last year, after try-outs, many practices and a couple practice games with teams from other towns, our league entered four teams into the NFL Flag Football New England tournament; a 9-11 age boys’ team, a 12-14 age girls’ team and two 12-14 age boys’ teams. The girl’s team came within a few seconds and points of winning the free trip to the national tournament in Florida.
- The league become completely independent from Westford’s Recreation Department in 2008 by joining the non-profit organization named Friends of Westford Recreation.
The primary goals of this league are to provide participants with a safe and fun team sport in which each feels welcomed. NFL’s flag football rules and our own policies serve to promote player growth and equal participation. The league expects that all players will have a positive experience each season, and during the course of the season that every player will experience the thrill of making a good play, whether a good run, pass or catch, an interception, or a defensive flagging. The league understands and encourages its coaches and parents to consider winning as secondary goals. We hope that promoting and encouraging all participants (parents, coaches, refs, and players) in good sportsmanship will indoctrinate them to a new way of thinking of how youth sports should operate. Knowing that most of the players will not remember the scores of their games in the distant future, but they may remember a TD or PAT scored, a pass thrown, a defensive play, or a coach who made the experience enjoyable. This is what is most important for us to remember every time we are with our kids on the ball field.
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