In the spring of 2020, Doug Keynes burned out and finished coaching football.
“Covid season probably broke me,” he said.
He was head coach at Dospueblos High School since 2018. He was head coach for Santa Barbara since 2012-14. He stayed at Dospueblos as a media arts teacher and focused on his children.
Then in 2023 he was approached about becoming a women’s flag football coach in the first season of the sport. It changed his life.
“To be honest, I’ve never had a more fun coaching football,” he said. “Men are fun. Girls just want to play in Coachable, most of them are other athletes.”
Its sense of fun, the players who want to learn, and watching their parents enjoy the game rather than worrying about college recruiters best represents the third season of flag football. Everyone realizes that this purity probably won’t last long. Players have already been offered flag football scholarships to the university. High school started looking for athletes.
But for now, participants are enjoying the opportunity to play sports that were once reserved for boys.
“Before freshman years, I had never heard of it,” said star Dos Pueblos receiver/defensive back Brooklyn Hendrix.
She was a travel ball player in softball for years. Her parents spent a lot of time and money taking her to games across the country. What do you think happened in your third year of high school?
“Softball was my best sport, but honestly, flag football is my best,” she said. “It’s crazy to get a scholarship offer.”
Dospueblos is 18-2 and is part of a strong team in the Ventura County and Santa Barbara area, ready to challenge the strong team in Orange County. Dos Pueblos took an 18-1 Orange Lutheran in overtime before losing.
“It was the most intense game I’ve played,” Hendrix said. “It was a battle that went back and forth. It was a lot of fun.”
In addition to Hendrix, who has over 30 intercepts in her flag football career, quarterback Casey Harley was a key contributor. Last season, Harley was a center snapping the ball to quarterback. Now she’s firing a spiral and has 49 touchdown passes so far.
The regular season ends on October 15th. The playoffs will take place in the Championship Games on October 21st, 25th, 28th, November 1st and November 8th.
Keynes has been revitalized and rejuvenated.
“It was magic,” he said. “The first year was a lot of fun. There was no hope. Everything was new. Our first game, our first touchdown, our first interception. We were able to keep doing that.”
Based on Keynes’ coaching experience, the real trends over the next few years could be coming back on the day when 11 veteran football coaches switch to flag football and learn from scratch in practice and games and evaluate every moment.
Meanwhile, players continue to have strange dances before and after the game, applying eye-opening like make-up, and most of all, enjoy sports that could be a day rather than the main sport.
“There’s great chemistry on this team,” Hendricks said. “There’s no drama. There’s a set of coaches. It’s focused on more fun. I love winning. That’s great. But it’s family.”
