Flag football tournament touches down in Henderson

By Jared Harmon

Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2009 | 11:58 p.m.

Flags will be flying at Anthem Hills Park on Saturday and Sunday.

FlagMag.com, a Web site for flag and touch football players around the world, will host its Flag Football National Tournament in Henderson for the fourth year.

Created in 1998, FlagMag.com has been running the national tournament since 2005 and has seen it grow with each year. Organization President Jim Zimolka said the event should draw 30 to 40 teams.

"We started out real small and grew to 20 teams last year," Zimolka said. "Now we're expecting up to 40 and we're getting teams from all across the country and outside the U.S. We've had strong word of mouth to help us grow. Teams travel a great deal to get here."

The tournament offers divisions for virtually every type of participant including three divisions each for eight-man contact teams, seven-man no contact and four-man no contact as well as youth divisions for ages 18, 16, 14, 12 and 10, and an over-35 division.

"(Henderson) has been a successful venue for us because it's close to Las Vegas and it's a venue everyone likes to play in," Zimolka said. "We get great weather. When people aren't playing they can use Las Vegas's great amenities and there's affordable air travel."

The winning team in each division will receive $1,000 to be used for the 10th Annual World Cup of Flag Football scheduled April 30 to May 3 in Rosarito, Mexico.

Jared Harmon can be reached at 990-8922 or [email protected].