When Westfield resident Dave Weikel attended the 2018 International Federation of American Football Flag Football World Championship in Panama, he had never seen the professional version of the sport.
Weikel, the manager of Sports Medicine at Franciscan Health in Central Indiana, was assigned as one of two athletic trainers for USA Football for both the men’s and women’s teams.
What happened next was a crash course on the fast-paced sport — one that gave him the opportunity to expand his horizons.
Weikel provided athletic training and sports medicine services to the USA Football’s Men’s Flag National Team and the USA Football’s Women’s Flag National Team. This year, he is attending the 2024 World Championships in Finland, where a total of 660 athletes from 32 nations will battle for the gold Aug. 27-30
Weikel attended the championships in Panama in 2018 and Israel in 2021.
“When you go to an event like the world championships, you get exposed to a lot of different teams and how they do things,” Weikel stated. “You get to interact with medical staff from other countries and learn from them. Also, you teach them as well. It is a nice side benefit to just the games themselves. You build relationships with the coaches and players along with making connections with people around the world and are able to pick their brains on some things.”
Although physical contact is limited by rule in flag football, the game is still very athletic, which means injuries are unavoidable — though generally fewer than tackle football. When providing services at flag football events, Weikel is tasked with a fair amount of rehab and injury evaluation.
During the recent training camp in Charlotte, N.C., he focused on recovery and soft tissue work.
Athletic trainers do a fair amount of taping and bracing for training camp and games. They are the same types of services that Weikel performs with the Franciscan Health Sports Medicine program for local high school athletic programs.
“The players are very athletic,” Weikel stated. “Just watching them, it takes a lot of agility and a lot of quickness. There is a lot of body control that is needed. There are a lot of similarities flag football has with regular tackle football, but there are a lot of differences as well, just because of the nature of the game. Some of the skills transfer, but not all of them. That goes both ways. Tackle football players do not always make good flag football players and vice versa.”
Flag football will be an Olympic sport at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. If all goes as planned, Weikel will be at those games assisting the U.S. teams.
“It definitely has ramped things up, knowing it will be an Olympic sport in 2028,” he stated. “The ultimate goal has always been to get football into the Olympics. The reality of having tackle football is just not feasible, with the nature of the sport, the physicality and the amount of time needed for recovery. As flag football became more popular, especially with how it grew overseas, the focus shifted to push that to the Olympic level. Since the announcement came out last year that it would be in the 2028 Olympics, the popularity and interest have exploded.”
The U.S. teams fare well. The men’s squad won each of the last four world titles, dating back to 2014, while the women’s team has won each of the last two championships.
“It is a very cool experience at these events, especially when you go to the different countries,” said Weikel. “Hopefully, we will hear the national anthem at the medal ceremony. It never gets old. It is truly amazing to be a part of it all.”
Weikel said he’d like to see the sports medicine program at Franciscan become part of national tournaments and events.
“What I do with USA Football is part of the big picture of where I want us to go with our sports medicine program at Franciscan,” he stated. “I have been very fortunate to have been involved in a lot of the big events here in Indy and I want our staff at Franciscan to be able to have those same experiences. That is where I want us to get as a program to position ourselves to be involved with various national governing bodies and high-level events that come here to Indianapolis to be part of it. That helps elevate a program to another level when we can say we provide the medical support for XYZ tournament.”
Learn more about USA Football at usafootball.com.
