U.S. holds player trials on path to defending IFAF World Title

| American Football | 02/28/2024

The reigning IFAF Flag Football World and Americas continental champions in both the men’s and women’s games will take a step towards the defense of those crowns in North Carolina at the beginning of March.

The site of those continental triumphs this past summer – the United States Performance Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte – will play host to the U.S. National Team Trials from March 1-3 as USA Football begins assembling rosters for the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championship.

Last year, the U.S. Men’s and Women’s Flag National Teams won gold medals in Charlotte at the first-ever IFAF Americas Continental Flag Football Championship and will head to Lahti in Finland to take on the rest of the world from August 22-30. Both teams will defend gold medals won at the 2021 IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Israel.

The best flag football players – 60 men and 60 women – from across the United States will participate in athletic testing and practice sessions with the hope of advancing to National Team Training Camps held on Charlotte’s campus in June and July. Only 18 men and 18 women will advance from Trials to Training Camp before the final 12-athlete rosters are selected ahead of this summer’s IFAF Flag Football World Championships.

This past year marked a period of unprecedented exposure and success for flag football as the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) added flag football to the Olympic program for the 2028 summer games in Los Angeles.

In addition to returning athletes who won gold medals at the world and continental levels, such as men’s quarterback Darrell ‘Housh’ Doucette, many participants in Charlotte are hoping to earn a place on the flight to Finland and make their U.S. National Team debuts.

In the women’s tryouts, newcomers include Isabella Geraci, a former USC Upstate (Spartanburg, S.C.) basketball player, and Haley Van Voorhis, who in 2023, became the first female non-kicker to participate in an NCAA game when seeing game action for Shenandoa University in Virginia

In the men’s tryouts, J Johnson, Jr., a former NC State and St. Augustine (Raleigh, N.C.) track and field athlete, and former Naval Academy tackle football quarterback Tago Ta’amilo will aim to earn selection.

Photo: USA Football

Michael Preston (@PRMikePreston) is currently working with IFAF in a PR capacity. He recently covered Super Bowl LVII as a member of the NFL PR team as he has done for 20+ years. He has held communications positions with NFL Europe, the North