Brett Kollmann says flag football can spark creativity in young players

In 2022, Project Play counted 277,000 more children ages 6 to 12 playing flag football than tackle. That shift helps explain Brett Kollmann's argument against the old idea that football development has to start with collision. He sees flag football as a place where young players learn to improvise, solve problems and find space, the same traits coaches often praise in soccer. Flag is moving through youth leagues, high schools, colleges and even the Olympic pipeline as the sport's entry point keeps widening.

Why Kollmann's point resonates now

Kollmann's pitch fits a larger shift in how youth football is being sold and organized: less contact early, more decision-making, more repetition, more room to experiment. The NFL's Play Football program put overall youth sports participation down 13% over the last decade while flag football participation grows, presenting flag as a flexible, inclusive way to learn football fundamentals before moving to tackle.

Flag football asks players to process space differently. Without pads and full-contact runs, quarterbacks must throw on time, receivers must separate quickly, and defenders have to read angles rather than deliver hits. Those are the exact conditions that can reward the kind of creativity Kollmann is talking about.

The youth numbers already point in that direction

Project Play's data sharpens the trend. Among kids in that age group who play regularly, flag has surpassed tackle in popularity. Its 2025 participation trends page says 14 states had already reached the federal 63% youth sports participation target for 2030, while flag football and boys volleyball were among the fastest-growing sports.

High school is where the change gets institutional

The clearest proof that flag football has moved beyond recreational status is at the high school level. The NFHS developed the first national rules book for flag football for the 2025-26 school year, a sign that the sport now needs consistent standards instead of piecemeal local versions. Its June 2025 membership map showed 16 states already sanctioning girls flag football, 18 more running independent or pilot programs, and six states showing interest.

By May 2026, 23 states sanctioned girls high school flag football, and North Carolina had become the 22nd state to offer it as an official high school sport.

USA Football continued to award Girls' Flag Grants in 2026 to expand participation.

College and Olympic status raise the stakes

The NCAA gave flag football another layer of legitimacy when it added the sport to its Emerging Sports for Women program in January 2026. The NCAA is projecting its first championship in 2028, which gives college programs a real target instead of a vague promise.

Flag football was added to the Los Angeles 2028 program in October 2023, and Olympics.com traces the sport's roots to World War II recreation for U.S. soldiers. The International Olympic Committee approved its inclusion, and USA Football will lead the U.S. national teams for Olympic competition.

What the creativity research supports

Kollmann's soccer comparison has support in sports science. A 2021 article in Frontiers in Psychology describes creativity as a highly discussed issue in team sports and cites FIFA guidance that places creativity at the nucleus of youth development. That lines up with what coaches in both sports have long observed: players improve faster when they are forced to read the game rather than follow a script.

A separate soccer creativity study found that informal, unorganized free play is positively associated with superior creative ability in soccer players. That finding does not prove flag football automatically produces the same results, but it does sharpen Kollmann's point. Games that let young athletes improvise, solve problems and make repeated decisions in open space are more likely to build the habits that show up later under pressure.

Why hybrid flag-plus-soccer training is gaining traction

The most interesting part of Kollmann's idea is not that flag football replaces soccer or vice versa. At the youth level, the two sports can reinforce each other. Soccer teaches spacing, scanning and off-ball movement. Flag football teaches route timing, leverage, quick reads and the ability to create separation without force. Together, they reward the same mental habits: see the field early, react fast, and make the next move before the play closes.

Hybrid training keeps attracting attention from coaches who care about skill transfer more than sport loyalty. A young athlete who plays both is getting repetitions in open space, under changing pressure, with different scoring and movement rules. In practical terms, that can mean better footwork, faster recognition and more comfort making decisions on the fly.