New flag football league to launch at NewPointe
NewPointe Community Church, through its Armor Sports program, partnered with the NFL to launch a recreational flag football league in Tuscarawas County. Games will start Aug. 12.
It’s no secret football is growing in popularity, especially at the youth level.
But with what’s now known about head injuries suffered during the contact version of football, some parents are looking for a less risky way to introduce their children to the sport.
NewPointe Community Church — located in Cambridge, Canton, Coshocton, Dover, Millersburg and Wooster — provided parents that opportunity through its Armor Sports program by partnering with the NFL to launch a recreational flag football league in Tuscarawas County.
“As a whole church, we’re looking for ways that we can invest in our community and make an impact, and we realize that a sports program is a great way to invest in others even if we get nothing in return for it,” said Kyle Alt, director of design and communications at NewPointe. “It’s just a way for us to show that we care about the community. (Starting a sports program) was just a great way to be tangible about our mission as a church, which is to invest in others and do good in their lives.”
Armor Sports was founded in 2012 and relaunched in 2022. The program currently offers basketball, cheer, flag football and soccer.
Starting a youth sports program was important to NewPointe’s executive team, especially Lead Pastor Dwight Mason, who grew up playing sports.
“Dwight just understands how sports are kind of the great connector of people,” said Ryan Bowland, Armor Sports director. “It teaches invaluable life lessons. We say internally in Armor, and we’re a little biased, obviously, but we say there aren’t too many things in life that you could do as a youngster that help prepare you for adulthood more than sports because of everything that comes with that — working as a team, overcoming adversity, becoming goal-oriented, learning to respect authority and a coach or an administrator.
“There are so many great things that we can do as a league, as a ministry, to invest in the next generation. And that’s why we wanted to get into sports.”
Registration is closed for the flag football league, which will run Aug. 12 through Oct. 5. Games will be played on Saturdays on the Armor Sports Complex fields, located behind NewPointe Church’s Dover campus.
The league — open to boys and girls in kindergarten through sixth grade — features six divisions. Bowland said they had about 175 children sign up to participate.
Partnering with the NFL for its league was a no-brainer for Armor Sports.
“The brand of the NFL right now has never been so strong, in my opinion, as a consumer, as a sports enthusiast, as a sports director,” Bowland said. “What the NFL Flag program offers, the resources they offer to train referees, to order uniforms, everything that they give you as a league to support you, I should say as a league operator, is fantastic. We’ve done some other partnerships. I would say that NFL Flag has separated themselves in the shared youth sports space of supporting their league operators that I’ve seen second to none.
“For us, the mission of NFL Flag, which is about inclusivity and all age levels in both genders, male and female, and the way they set up their rules directly coincides with what we believe in Armor about keeping kids playing sports because of what it teaches them.”
Last summer Armor Sports signed an agreement with Positive Coaching Alliance, a nonprofit national organization that supports youth sports organizations in creating positive youth sports environments. Bowland said that partnership has made a big impact on Armor’s coaches.
“Positive Coaching Alliance comes in right before every season and spends two hours training our volunteer coaches on their style of coaching, how to approach and get the most out of athletes, how to understand a young athlete’s emotional tank, how to connect best with those athletes and those parents,” Bowland said. “They provide support throughout the season. They provide online training for coaches to go in and learn more if they want. They have been tremendous.”
Visit www.armorsports.org to learn more about Armor Sports and the other sports it offers.