The Tribune

By TENAJH SWEETING

Tribune Sports Reporter

tsweeting@tribunemedia.net

SAND Wars Bahamas returns for their sixth edition of the beach flag football tournament in exactly one month.

Following the end of the Bahamas Flag Football League (BFFL) season last weekend, teams will now take their talents from the Winton Rugby Field to the Nassau Beach Soccer stadium.

The flag football tourney will commence July 29-30 with up to 14 teams, men and women combined, vying for a chance to win a $1,500 cash prize for their squad.

The unorthodox flag football challenge will test the endurance and athleticism of the clubs, making for an exciting competition next month.

Tito Bethel, co-founder and operations manager of Sand Wars Bahamas, talked about how they came up with the interesting element of playing flag football on the sand.

“The tournament basically started around 2018 and is a combination of flag football and the one thing that The Bahamas offers - sun, sand, and sea - so we decided to put something together to allow both industries to come together to have something exciting,” Bethel said.

Of the 14 flag football teams expected to compete will be clubs from Abaco, Grand Bahama, the Cayman Islands and New Providence.

The flag football teams will feature the Abaco Sharks, Grand Bahama’s Zero Tolerance and Cayman Islands Anklebullies.

The New Providence teams are last year’s defending champions Team Red Dot, the Hornets, Predators, Guardians of the Galaxy, the Dragons, Avengers, Lady Jaguars and others.

Since their start in 2018, flag football competition has gotten better every following year, according to Bethel. Therefore, expectations are high for the showdowns between the teams in this year’s tourney.

“Expectations for this tournament has always been great, now that we are on our sixth time around, this competition has always been stiff and exciting, now that we are comfortable and fully geared up, it is going to be even more exciting as the title is up for grabs,” Bethel said.

Despite a difficult start to the tournament by some of the teams due to the beach soccer element, he believes that they have now adjusted and are becoming more comfortable with the concept of playing the sport on the sand instead of the field.

“The difference would be more of the resistance and mobility on the sand in terms of trying to make the same plays that you would make on the grass so you would have to be more conditioned and extra focused to make plays on the sand, you have to be more of an athlete to play on the sand,” he added.

The matchups will all get underway at the National Beach Soccer stadium. Interested individuals can get in at a cost of $10 for VIP and $8 for regular seating.

For teams that have not yet signed up for the tournament, the cost is $350. For more information, contact 462-6973.