Bryce Lanser uses the flag football intramural sport to break up his Sunday nights in college. It feels like a great way to hang out with friends and be active on the cold fall nights in Michigan for him. 

“A lot of times, I’ll spend Sunday watching football or hanging out with friends but having this available to get together with a group and play flag football is a lot of fun,” Lanser said.

Lanser’s most memorable moment in the league is winning the flag football championship last year.

“We won the championship. So, that’s super fun to get the t-shirt and to end up winning,” Lanser said.

Colin Fussell described flag football as playing a type of “seven on seven” football game with the league being co-ed. There are only receivers and no true linemen. In order to ‘tackle’ a player you just have to rip their flag off the person’s waistband where the flags are attached.

“It’s fun. From playing it in high school, it’s such a joy to play and have fun in college,” Fussell said. “It’s one of those sports that you can just go out and play.” 

Similar to Fussell, Lane Whitcomb grew up playing football which eventually led her to playing flag football at NMU.

“I personally always grew up playing the sport and watching it,” Whitcomb said. “I love football. I can even name all 32 teams in the NFL.” 

Whitcomb found the experience more enjoyable due to the social aspect of the game with meeting new people.

“It’s a way to kind of hang out with my friends while at the same time being active,” Whitcomb said.

Lanser and Whitcomb said that the league has organized everything very well and everybody keeps a cool and collected demeanor when playing. 

“It never gets super intense, and it never gets crazy. It’s always just a bunch of people just looking to have a good time,” Lanser said.

The diversity and variety of people who come out to play also keeps Whitcomb coming back.

“They do well by getting a diverse group of folks out and keeping it lighthearted and fun,” Whitcomb said. 

Current players in the league hope to provide a winter league in the future to encourage more people to join and create a larger flag football community. Those interested in participating can sign up to play through NMU’s recreation website.

The group believes that the sport would benefit greatly from more participation from the students and are looking for ways to expand to more teams.

“Right now, we have like seven or eight teams in the league that like to play every night and show up regularly,” Lanser said. “But if that were twice as much, it would be fun because I know a lot of my friends at bigger colleges where it’s way more serious.”