These have been some exciting times recently with the Pittsburgh Flag Football League with a lot of coverage being given via www.playfootball.com courtesy of the NFL and USA Football. To say that we anticipated some growth in interest in the NFL Flag program would be an understatement from what the actual result has been. As it currently stands, the Youth League is on pace to set record high participation numbers and we thought it might be interesting to share some of that data with PFFL followers.

Below are 2 sets of interactive charts outlining what schools are currently touting the most youth players registered for the upcoming spring season. Over the years we have seen a wide array of youth players from all parts of the city and surrounding areas and these numbers indicate a larger geographic reach coupled with higher amounts of school loyalty. To be exact, just over 39% of the current youth players are comprised from only seven schools.  

As a league, what we have found is that many (not all) youth players find a degree of comfort in seeing a familiar face during an activity even if they are not on the same team. Even though flag football is not a new sport, it is still relatively new to the Western Pennsylvania area for many young players. Fostering interest in the youth league will be paramount in the continued growth of our community of young athletes and the sport as whole.

Congratulations to the players and parents of Community Day School for holding the top spot!