The Burlington Parks, Recreation & Waterfront will be following the Vermont Principals’ Association (VPA) guidelines and offering Flag Football this fall for all youth in grades 2-8.

After several conversations and meetings with coaches, families, school administrators and city officials, the Parks, Recreation & Waterfront Department has decided to offer Flag Football for all three divisions (Grades 2-8) for the fall 2018 season. Previous to this season, Burlington youth in grades 5-8 played tackle. This decision has not been an easy one. Due to the combining of the SBHS and BHS High School Football Programs, we are encouraging families wishing to continue to play tackle football at the Grades 5-8 level to register to play in South Burlington. Conversely, we will be encouraging South Burlington families wishing to play flag football to register for our Burlington program. We have also received permission from the Northern VT Youth Football League for Burlington players wishing to continue playing tackle to be eligible to play for any local team of their choosing.

Since last fall, the Vermont Principals’ Association has been requiring all school-run youth football programs to switch to flag football through grade 8. There are several programs being offered in Addison, Washington, Windsor and Rutland Counties. Our recreation superintendent, Gary Rogers, has been in contact with their league scheduler and attended a league informational meeting in Rutland in April. We will be scheduling games with these communities.

We are hopeful we will grow interest in youth football by offering both a tackle and flag option to Burlington and South Burlington families.  We hope to see you on the Grid Iron this fall.

Click here to register!