{"id":425092,"date":"2026-01-22T04:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425092\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T04:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T04:44:09","slug":"national-flag-football-coach-lapolice-continues-to-prepare-for-world-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/425092\/","title":{"rendered":"National flag football coach LaPolice continues to prepare for world championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul LaPolice, then the head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks, watches from the sideline during a CFL game against the B.C. Lions in Vancouver in 2022.DARRYL DYCK\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

They\u2019re still over two years away but the 2028 Summer Olympics are on Paul LaPolice\u2019s radar.<\/p>\n

The head coach of Canada\u2019s men\u2019s flag football team has already compiled a preliminary practice plan for the Games even though his squad hasn\u2019t yet qualified for the competition. But also on LaPolice\u2019s plate is preparing for this year\u2019s world championship, where the top-three finishers will punch their ticket to Los Angeles and be part of flag football\u2019s Olympic debut.<\/p>\n

A total of six men\u2019s teams and six women\u2019s will participate in the L.A. flag football competition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re worried about the world championship and getting our team better,\u201d LaPolice said during a telephone interview. \u201cBut as the head coach, I do have to plan forward \u2026 when you\u2019re planning for the Olympics you plan a couple of years ahead and I have to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut from a game-planning standpoint and football Xs and Os, we\u2019re just focusing on trying to win the world championship.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both the NFL and CFL have said they\u2019ll allow their players to participate in Los Angeles but specific details continue to be hammered out. The expectation is pro players won\u2019t be made available until 2027 at the earliest, well past the world championship event, which will be held Aug. 13-16 in D\u00fcsseldorf, Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe we have a roster that\u2019s very good right now and can win gold this year,\u201d LaPolice said. \u201cWe already have some CFL\/NFL components to our roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Antony Auclair [former NFL tight end] and quarterback Michael O\u2019Connor [former CFL player] and also many great U Sports football players. I love the players we\u2019ve got, there\u2019s a good group of guys, very intelligent and I\u2019ve had a lot of fun working with these guys and they\u2019re very good football players on the international stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Canada qualified for the world championship by taking the bronze medal at last year\u2019s International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Americas Continental championship in Panama. The Canadians downed host Panama 32-22.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Houston Texans tight end Antony Auclair (83) catches a pass for a touchdown as New England Patriots safety Kyle Dugger (23) defends during a 2021 game in Houston. Auclair is a member of Canada’s men’s national flag football team.Justin Rex\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

Canada finished the preliminary round with a 3-1 record before losing to Mexico 35-25 in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n

LaPolice, a longtime CFL coach and former head coach with Winnipeg and Ottawa, took over the national team last May. In LaPolice\u2019s first flag competition the following month, Canada went 4-0 at an exhibition tournament in Los Angeles, which included a 25-21 upset win over the U.S., the Americans\u2019 first international loss in eight years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing some good things but there\u2019s a lot of room for growth,\u201d LaPolice said. \u201cI keep trying to spend time and learn about the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Canadian men\u2019s team\u2019s 2026 schedule is a busy one.<\/p>\n

The program will hold identification camps across Canada and in March take 18 players and six staff members to an Olympic training site in San Diego for a week. A team of 18 to 20 players will be selected sometime in April or May and the Canadians expect to participate in a still unspecified tournament in June.<\/p>\n

Following training camps in July and August, Canada will head to the world championship tournament. A challenge LaPolice faces is trying to organize a suitable schedule for players and coaches who all have full-time jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a different challenge,\u201d said LaPolice, a Grey Cup champion as an assistant coach with Saskatchewan (2007) and Winnipeg (2019). \u201cThere\u2019s so much work to be done on a daily basis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to do this like a CFL team from a professional video-editing system, equipment managers and trying to do it correctly and the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then there\u2019s also trying keeping up with an ever-changing flag football landscape.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany teams have big, strong-armed quarterbacks \u2026 they just throw the ball,\u201d LaPolice said. \u201cThe U.S. and Mexico, they use multiple quarterbacks and athletic guys that can run and just force you into things. <\/p>\n

\u201cI do think we throw the ball and space the field as well as any team in the world \u2026 now I\u2019m trying to learn some of the prevalent flag things from the best teams in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Paul LaPolice, then the head coach of the Ottawa Redblacks, watches from the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":425093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,521,875,522,520,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-425092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadian-news","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}