Antiguan Born – By Neto Baptiste
Antiguan Born Based Coach
The fast-growing sport of flag football is about to hit the shores of Antigua with Antiguan-born, US-based coach and former player, Zikoma Richards, set to lead the charge.
Flag football is a popular sport where players pull flags from a belt around their opponent’s waist instead of tackling, thus reducing the chance of injuries.
Speaking on Observer Radio’s Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Richards said the flag football is popular amongst young players and their parents due to the low risk and low cost of participating.
“A lot of parents don’t want their kids to play tackle football because of the devastating injuries, the concussions and stuff like that. And flag football is not just safer, it’s a lot cheaper because you don’t have to buy helmets; you don’t have to buy shoulder pads, gloves, cleats and all that. So it’s not just cheaper. It’s a lot safer as well, too and a lot more kids are able to play flag because it’s more versatile for them to be able to play that form of football versus the regular American form of football. So it opens a lot more doors to more people,” he said.
Richards boasts over 20 years of playing football, competing nationally in flag football, coaching high school football, including Junior Varsity at Archbishop Stepinac High School in New York.
Ricards has joined forces with another Antiguan living in the US, Carlene Spencer-Callwood, founder of the non-profit Audrey Spencer Foundation to bring the initiative to Antigua.
Callwood, whose foundation runs an annual summer camp here, explained that she had thought of a similar initiative but reached out to Richards after coming across a promotional flyer online.
“Last year, after the camp, the kids didn’t have anything to do. It’s a one week camp and I was like, why not try flag football? My nephew plays for the Commandos in Maryland and so I was going to ask my nephew to come on down and show it. Then a friend of mine shared Zikoma’s flyer on Facebook and he was trying to do the same thing, too. So, we just got in contact and we’re like, you know what? Let’s do this,” she said.
The programme will target children between the ages of 8 and 15 years and interested individuals can call 268-736-5805 for more information.
Flag football will make its official Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Gamesin Los Angeles, featuring both men’s and women’s tournaments with five-player non-contact format.
