Blidworth primary school pupils competing in NFL Flag National Championship for trip to Las Vegas

The NFL Flag National Championship, which is taking place in Loughborough on June 29, is the final stage of the year’s Flag Football competition, with Blidworth Oaks Primary School being one of 12 primary school teams competing for the Championship title.

Blidworth Oaks Primary School have had an exciting tournament so far coming through two rounds of qualifying to reach their first national finals, having only entered the programme in February 2022.

Jodi Ince, head of school, said: “Our PE Leader and I have followed NFL for many years and so, when reviewing our curriculum recently trying to widen the experiences for our children, we decided to include American Football on our PE timetable for our children in Year 5 and Year 6.

"Dan Brickles, PE Leader, then researched training for himself to ensure he had the skills to deliver it to a high standard.

"It was through this training, ran by the NFL Flag team, that we found out about the flag version of the game and the tournament.

"The NFL Flag programme was extremely supportive in terms of providing resources, access to friendly representatives as well as clear teaching materials that gave step by step teaching plans that would not take an NFL expert to deliver them.

“When we attended the regional tournament, we were fully expecting to use the experience as learning for future teaching, we certainly did not expect to find ourselves at the National finals.

"NFL as a sport, along with speed, strength agility and stamina, requires a different set of tactical skills which I think has both fascinated and challenged our children.”

Blidworth Oaks Primary School is one of 300 schools now playing Flag Football, a non-contact version of American Football, with 20,000 children involved in regional competitions.

Both boys and girls also play the game together, with 53 per cent of participants being female, providing a fully inclusive experience.