Caledon Flag Football League launches program at Humberview Secondary School

By Jim Stewart

The Caledon Flag Football League launched its program at Humberview Secondary School in Bolton on Saturday morning.

In pleasant mid-July conditions, over sixty avid flag football aspirants took the turf to take in the finer points of a sport being demonstrated at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. 

The field was filled with instructors—largely comprised of Humberview's Varsity Football players and Robert F. Hall's OFSAA-winning Varsity Girls Flag Football players. The teenage mentors inspired the kids to work on the skills required in the growing sport. Scrimmages ensued to test and demonstrate those skills.

After the inaugural morning session, the Humberview Huskies' instructional quintet of Head Coach Adrian Piscitelli, and four of his current and graduated players – David Durnford, Zein Alkatami, Grant Munich, and Charlie Mundy – gathered at Stacked for a post-launch brunch.

Each of the Huskies was impressed by the talented and fun-loving participants that gathered on their turf field.

Durnford, a Running Back with the Huskies, “really liked the turnout.”

“The best part of the workout was getting to meet the players for the first time.”

Alkatami, a Wide Receiver who graduated from Humberview in June and is heading to Western to study Medical Sciences, described the highlight of the inaugural session: “We had a scrimmage and they learned well even though it was hectic—everyone was smiling and happy when we finished the game.”

Munich, an Offensive Lineman with aspirations to play Guard for the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, was impressed by the young Flag Footballers' ability to concentrate on some complex drills: “It was great that the kids loved doing the drills, including the Octopus Drill. They looked good moving through the drills and they had lots of room to work, especially with the 14-16 year-old group.”

Mundy, who was a two-way player with the Huskies as both an Offensive Tackle and a Defensive Tackle, commented on the quality of athleticism he saw on the field: “A few of the kids were rep football players. It was clear that they had played football. The kids were from all over—Orangeville, Tottenham, Caledon East, Brampton, and Nobleton. There was a ten-year old who could really throw. When we told them that we were going to scrimmage, their eyes lit up.”

Coach Piscitelli expressed his gratitude towards his quartet of Huskies and the six Wolfpack players who served as on-field coaches to the sixty participants: “I couldn't have done this without them. It would have been very difficult. We have six female coaches from Hall's OFSAA championship team—Olivia, Abby, Piper, Isabella, Veronica, and Leah along with Coach Stephanie—who provided great instruction.  Brooke Ross—one of our recent graduates of Humberview and our Class Valedictorian—has been a sensational Director of Programming for us. As an OUA Flag Football player, she brings a special on-field presence. We were blown away by how the players enjoyed this morning's session. Brooke and I got great feedback from parents—they were so grateful we're running the program. One of the most satisfying things about today's session is how parents found us to enroll their kids in Flag Football. We did a door-to-door flyers campaign, did a social media campaign that had good results, too, but best of all was simple word of mouth. Many mentioned ‘That's why we came to you.'

Encouraged by the turnout and enthusiasm of the inaugural session, Coach Piscitelli noted that “We're starting Flag Football registration for the Fall which will run in Bolton on Saturday mornings from September 12 to October 24 and in Aurora will run Sunday mornings from September 13 to October 25.”