Registration is officially open for the Boys & Girls Club McKee branch’s youth co-ed flag football league and athletic director Yoshoub Timms is just as excited for the season as the kids signing up are.

The league is split into two divisions, Pee-wee (first through third grade) and Juniors (fourththrough sixth grade). Registration for $125 per player closes on Aug. 27 and is mandatory before the flag football combine event at Fountain Hills High School on Aug. 29.

The combine is a chance for the whole league to get together, run drills and scrimmage in front of coaches. A draft is then set for the week of Sept. 2.

The season starts on Sept. 17 for Peewee and Sept. 18 for Juniors.

Timms, who brought back the flag football program last year, said he is happy with how last year went but he is excited for all the improvements he has been working on in the offseason.

“Hopefully we can make it more inviting to come out to games,” Timms explained. “I want to get the families more involved by doing things like getting more food trucks out. The games can go late sometimes, so having food there and available can make it more of an event.”

Registration for the league was strong last year, especially in the Pee-Wee league where Timms said they had a lot of first timers.

“A lot of the kids came in with no experience,” Timms said. “But by the end of last season, I was watching them play, really impressed with what I was seeing.”

Timms said he believes that a large reason for that growth and why the season was so successful were the coaches.

“We had a lot of great coaches that taught the kids the fundamentals and pretty much helped them learn the sport,” Timms said. “One of our coaches also coaches soccer and he told me that when parents asked about the (flag football) league, he told them this is where you need to be if your kid wants to play football.”

Along with trying to bring more of a Friday night lights vibe to the league’s games, Timms also has been working on how to make the season special for individual athletes.

One of the ways he is doing that is by bringing more flair to their jerseys, an item that Timms, as a former youth athlete, can attest to.

“I want to get jerseys and equipment to make it legit for the children,” Timms said. “Last year I did get jerseys with names and numbers, but this year I want to go bigger and find better jerseys. Because I know when I was a kid, if something had my name on it rather than something else, it made it so much more meaningful.”

Timms is also hoping to see more girls on the field this season, too, saying that the ones already in the league are talented.

“I saw this one girl playing in a game last season and she was a beast,” Timms said.

For more information concerning the league, reach out to Timms at yoshoub.timms@bgcs.com.