Flag Football team from Jaragua faces the best teams in the South with an eye on the Copa Brasil

This weekend, the city of Curitiba (PR) will host the Regional Women’s Flag Football South Cup, which serves as a qualifier for the Copa Brasil. Among those registered, there is a team from Jaragua that has been growing in the sport and is coming strong in search of a place for the national competition.

This is Sirius Breakers, founded in 2019 with the end of Corupá Buffalos, and today based in Jaraguá do Sul after joining with Jaraguá Breakers, which was once tournament champion e three-time state champion.

The team travels to the capital of Paraná with a squad formed by 15 athletes, from 16 to 43 years old, all from municipalities in the Vale do Itapocu region, two of them from Mexico who already live in Jaraguá do Sul: Marylu Barreda and Alejandra Ramos .

“I started playing Flag here. It is a very common sport in Mexico that I already knew, but I really practiced it in Jaraguá”, she said.

“I got to know Flag in Mexico, but when I arrived in Brazil the first thing I did was look for a team to play for”, completed Alejandra.

The championship brings together the best teams from Santa Catarina, Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul, who will fight for the three vacancies offered for Copa Brasil, scheduled for the month of September, in São Paulo.

Sirius Breakers is the current runner-up and now arrives led by the coach of the Brazilian men’s national team from Flag, Artur Barcellos, to win the unprecedented title.

“We believe that his (Barcellos) strategy added a lot to the team and that we have good chances of winning the championship”, said Marylu.

Flag Rise and Club Dreams

If American football has won the favor of many Brazilians and is already consolidated in the country, Flag fights to follow the same path and today is showing a great rise.

There are more than 100 active teams in Brazil, with Santa Catarina as one of the strongest states, including five girls making up the Brazilian team.

“Brazil has the fourth best team in the world and the sport has been growing more and more. This is very important for the development of athletes, our championships and the sport as a whole”, highlighted Alejandra.

The Mexican athlete also spoke about the objectives of Sirius Breakers, which mainly dreams of creating a school to spread the project in the region.

“We don’t just want to win games, but consolidate Flag in the region. Rex is a reference in Timbó and we want to do that here. The biggest dream is to have a school to teach children from an early age. Flag is a democratic and very inclusive sport for men and women of all ages, so we want to give that opportunity.”

About flag football

Flag Football is a sport derived from American football and has the same objective of advancing the ball through opponent territory and reaching the end zone to score points, in this case, touchdowns.

But the big difference is that in Flag you don’t need to take down or hit the opponent to stop a move. Just remove one of the ribbons that athletes wear around their waists.

For this reason, to play Flag Football it is not necessary to use all that protective equipment that American football athletes use, such as helmets and “shoulder pads”.

With that, it becomes a more accessible and less “intimidating” modality for people of all ages and body types.