The Boys & Girls Club McKee Branch’s athletic director, Yoshoub Timms, is aiming to bring flag football back not just to the youths with a Boys & Girls Club membership, but to all the kids in Fountain Hills.

The new flag football league currently has two divisions. They are split up by age group, Junior and Peewee. The Junior league is for fourth through sixth grade students and the Peewee league is for grades one through three.

Practices start this week and games will begin during the week of Sept. 17.

Timms, a former University of Minnesota football player, is passionate about starting up a youth sports league because he believes youth sports made him the person he is today.

“Having youth sports can be a big thing,” Timms said. “It was a big thing for me as kid. Without sports I don’t know where I would be.”

Timms believes that sports can help teach kids to become responsible in their daily lives, not just on the field.

“One of my first jobs was at a really tough school with a lot of turnover,” Timms explained. “I’d surprise my bosses by showing up every day on time and that’s just something that football and my coaches got in my head.”

Timms, who has been going around Fountain Hills Unified School District to promote the league, also wants to get more kids physically active and taking a break from technology.

“Too many kids are playing Fortnite,” Timms joked.

The addition of a youth football league is something that Fountain Hills High School football coach Jason Henslin is excited to see.

“Having a local flag football league can benefit the school's team by creating interest in football from a young age,” Henslin said. “There are so many options when it comes to youth sports, football is usually the last thing considered. When I grew up in Fountain Hills there was no youth football program and many kids played baseball and basketball for five or six years before getting exposure to football in middle school.”

As much as Timms wants to do this for the kids in the community, he also understands what it can mean to a parent.

“It gives the parents something to watch,” Timms said. “Something they can watch their kid have fun with, watch them do their thing. That’s a special moment for parents and kids. It was to me even in college.”

For any questions about the flag football league, contact Timms at 480-344-5400 or yoshoub.timms@bgcs.org.