Justin Spears,Commissioner - NFFLA
𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮/𝘽𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙/𝙊𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙉𝙖𝙢𝙚
National Flag Football League of Atlanta (LGBTQ+ flag football league):
𝙇𝙚𝙩'𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙢𝙥 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙤 𝙞𝙩. 𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙪𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙜𝙤𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮.
I moved here back in 2012 from Afghanistan/Fayetteville NC. Within a couple months I had been messaged on a dating app by a player in the NFFLA. He suggested I come to their open play mini camp and check it out. I went out to the camp and enjoyed myself and decided I would sign up. Within two years I felt like I should start contributing so I volunteered for the board. I worked as sponsor chair for two years and then decided I would run for Commissioner. Here I am in my 4th year as commissioner and I'm proud of the work myself and the board of directors have accomplished.
𝘼𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙞𝙜𝙜𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙨?
Our biggest accomplishment would be increasing the league size by 75% within 4 year and in the process, welcoming our first female athletes to the league. For two years in a row we only had 1 female join, and as of Spring 2020 we had 39 join in total. In addition to adding females, we've also made a larger effort to reach a more diverse group of players. This league has truly become a league for everyone, no matter their ethnicity or sexual orientation.
𝘼𝙣𝙮𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙤𝙧 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙥𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙮?
I'm always appreciative of the support of my board members and my predecessor as commissioner. Brent Baur served as Commissioner for three years prior to me and he had confidence in my ability to carry out my vision. Alex Beard has served as my treasurer for my years as commissioner and he's done a phenomenal job in managing our finances, as well as taking on the task of setting up our 501c3 non-profit status. Taylor McClendon deserves a ton of praise as well. He took over our social media channels from Michael Tanner and really created a new brand for us. I'm regularly complimented by other cities under the NGFFL umbrella about how engaging our content is. We regularly recruit 20-30 players through our social media channels. I also would like to credit Enrique Vellon, Richard Hathcock, Namon Huddleston, Carey Sherrell, Phil Megna, Lucas Carter, Leah Bougere, and Greg Larchev for their part in our success.
𝙏𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨/𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙/𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣. 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣?
The National Flag Football League of Atlanta, Inc.'s mission is to provide individuals an environment in which to meet other gay and diverse individuals without fear of discrimination, and to allow those individuals the means to participate in the sport of flag football on a local and national level, and to expand the sport of flag football across the United States.
𝙏𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠. 𝘿𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙜𝙤 𝙤𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙟𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙣𝙚𝙮. 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩, 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙙𝙞𝙙?
When I was contacted on a dating app by a player, I was very skeptical and unfortunately I was a bit judgmental. I couldn't wrap my mind around gay flag football. I called the league commissioner at the time who was Lance Burage. He described the league for me for about 45 mins over the phone and suggested I come out and give it a shot, and if I didn't like it, I could just leave and they would harbor no hard feelings. Once I came out and tried out, I knew it was for me. Then once we had our draft and I started making friends, I realized how wrong I was and how important for the community this league was.
𝙇𝙚𝙩'𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙢𝙥 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨. 𝙃𝙤𝙬 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘 (𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙄𝘿-19) 𝙖𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙤𝙩𝙝 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨?
I've been fortunate that my relatives and my household haven't been affected. My fiance and I are still employed and healthy and I'm very thankful for that. Our league, however, hasn't been as fortunate. We've had several players that have lost their jobs and about 4% of our league (that I'm aware of) that has tested positive for COVID in at some point in the last 5 months.
𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩'𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙫𝙚 𝙚𝙭𝙥𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙙𝙪𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙢𝙞𝙘. 𝙎𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙜𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙙?
Once we realized that our players were being laid off from their jobs and experiencing financial hardship, we decided to set up the NFFLA Player Assistance Program. This program was completely voluntary and formed off of donations from players alone. The most surprising thing was that within two hours of opening the donation window, we had received over $2k in donations for our players. Our league has always been selfless, but knowing that our players would act so quickly to help other league mates, some of which they had never even met, was truly touching. To date we've managed to raise close to $4k for our players and we've re-issued about $3800 of that back out to players in need of utilities, groceries, rent assistance, etc. This league is a family and while this specific occurrence surprised me, I'm never too shocked by the generosity shown by our NFFLA family.
𝘼𝙡𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙪𝙨 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙥𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝. 𝙒𝙝𝙮, 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙣, 𝙖𝙣𝙙/𝙤𝙧 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙨𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙗𝙪𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙚𝙨𝙨/𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙/𝙤𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣?
The best way to connect with us is through instagram. Our account is very active (not as much during the pandemic) but at any given moment either myself or my social director is available to chat about the league. @atlgayfootball is out insta tag, however you can locate us on Facebook as well (National Flag Football League of Atlanta) and we have a more private group for players and their families called "Atlanta Gay Flag Football." Visiting those pages will also give you a chance to see some of our highlight videos and see how amazing our players are and how much fun we have out there.