Waist flag football is on fire, and this sport requires high physical fitness for players.

The way to stop an attack in flag football is to tear off the flag of the bearer. Photo courtesy of respondents

On a football field in Shilibao, Chaoyang District, there are often young men and women playing flag football games, and the happy scene attracts many people who come to play football to stop and watch.

Like Frisbee, with the spread of social media, the minority event of waist flag football has been "out of the circle" since last year. Nowadays, people can be seen playing on weekends and holidays.

When Zheng Chen, a player, first came into contact with the flag football, only seven or eight people around him could play it. Now there are dozens of offline activities every day. As a veteran fan of flag football, he felt that the sport was getting hotter and hotter.

When he was in high school, Zheng Chen inadvertently learned that the flag football did not collide, but was a sport for entertainment with friends. So, he fell in love with this new sport and has been playing it since high school and college.

Waist flag rugby originated in the United States. Compared with rugby, it is forbidden to hug or push people. The defender can be regarded as a successful defense by tearing off a waist flag worn by the attacking player with the ball. This is a non-impact sport.

In the flag football game, the two teams alternately attack the other team’s territory and hit the other team’s touchdown zone to score. In the game, the football can’t land when attacking, and the player with the ball can’t be pulled off by the opponent, otherwise it will be considered as an attack failure.

The flag football game is usually played on a field 70 yards long and 25 yards wide (about 64 meters ×23 meters). According to the rules, the attacker can get 6 points after touchdown, and there is also a chance to get 1 or 2 additional points.

Most matches are required to last for 24 minutes, with 12 minutes in the first half and 12 minutes in the second half. If one side takes the lead in reaching 28 points, the game will end immediately. There are also invitational matches (warm-up matches) with a duration of 48 minutes, with 24 minutes in the first half and 24 minutes in the second half. If the first team leads by 35 points, the game will end immediately.

In terms of the number of participants, the most is the five-person system, that is, five people to five people. According to different situations, there are also 8 people to 8 people, 6 people to 6 people and 4 people to 4 people.

In Zheng Chen’s impression, there are very few people playing flag football around before 2021, and it is not easy to get eight or nine people to play a game every weekend.

Zheng Chen recalled that even if he "grabbed" the venue at that time, sometimes the game "died" because a friend was unexpectedly absent. What he didn’t expect was that from May to June last year, some people took the initiative to learn about the sport from them, and some people asked how to sign up.

Like Frisbee, many flag football activities are organized offline through community. According to the person in charge of a flag football community, since the second half of last year, they have made five WeChat groups with a total number of nearly 2,000 people, and tickets for offline activities will be snapped up within half an hour.

In February of this year, Zheng Chen and two other friends established the flag football community. Now, their community will arrange five or six activities every week, and each time 30 places will be robbed in a short time.

For example, Zheng Chen said that they rented a standard football field some time ago. At that time, the number of participants reached 70, and there were still many players who wanted to "enter the back door" because they could not sign up. Zheng Chen revealed that some players will transfer tickets in the community because they are temporarily unable to participate. Players who fail to sign up can only rely on this opportunity to "catch up". Even, many players in Changping and Mentougou will go to Shilibao Football Stadium to participate in activities.

The competition for flag football is fierce, and the amount of exercise is also great. Photo courtesy of respondents

equipment

"Xiaobai" has a threshold for advancement, and the investment needs three or four thousand yuan.

Although there are more and more participants in flag football, most of them are "little white" players.

Compared with football, the participation threshold of flag football is much lower. However, this sport still has certain requirements for the physical conditions of the participants, such as learning how to catch the ball, having a sense of running, having a certain physical fitness, and being highly focused on the court … Zheng Chen said that many novices may not be so focused, and some technical movements are not up to standard. If the ball is not well caught and the technical movements are deformed in the game, there will be hidden dangers of injury.

"Xiaobai" players or players who want to advance from "Xiaobai" must invest in equipment and skill training. According to Zheng Chen, they will arrange at least one hour of warm-up and training time at a time. If most "Little White" players take part in it seriously, they can reach the advanced stage from entry to entry in about three times. In the advanced group, after attending five or six activities, you can basically participate in the competition and even perform on the court.

Of course, in addition to training, there must be necessary equipment. Zheng Chen suggested that in order to ensure safety, braces must be worn during the flag football game, and appropriate gloves and football shoes must be available. Rugby shoes are divided according to foot type, technology, spikes, etc. Zheng Chen suggested that you must consult professional players if you want to buy such equipment.

According to Zheng Chen, at present, the professional football shoes on the domestic market are basically around 1000 yuan, and the ordinary ones are also 500 to 600 yuan, and the gloves are basically 300 to 400 yuan. In addition, tickets for flag football offline activities are at 120-200 yuan. Coupled with other expenses such as transportation and replenishment, according to Zheng Chen’s suggestion, a novice rugby player with waist flag needs 3,000 to 4,000 yuan for basic investment.

Beijing News reporter Wang Jisong

Editor Han Shuangming

Proofread Wang Xin