![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/1757678348_580_default.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhen Maxym Lavall\u00e9e was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes in 2023, he would not have believed you if you told him he could be an Olympian within five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so crazy. Like, in the football world, we never thought we would able to be an Olympian at all because it was not in the Olympics at all,” the 27-year-old from Gatineau, Que., said. “But now being part of this, it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh s—, I could be an Olympian,\u2019 and all the memories I had watching the Olympics, like, now I can be a part of this majestic event.”<\/p>\n
Lavall\u00e9e now plays for Canada\u2019s men\u2019s flag football team, with aspirations of helping the squad compete at Los Angeles 2028, when the sport will make its Olympic debut.<\/p>\n
A two-time attendee of Alouettes training camp, he did not make the roster in either instance and never stepped foot on a CFL field. He thought that spelled the end of his football career, and after 20 years steeped in the violence of tackle football \u2014 he once played 38 games in a six-month stretch \u2014 he was at peace with the end of his journey.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy approach, my training was not focused on me being a better football player to play at that kind of level,\u201d Lavall\u00e9e said. \u201cSo I didn\u2019t change something \u2014 I changed everything. I\u2019m kind of a freak on that part.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, pal Anthony Auclair \u2014 a former NFL tight end \u2014 came calling.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Flag football’s profile rising ahead of 2028 Olympics:<\/p>\n
Flag football\u2019s profile rising ahead of Olympics<\/p>\n
Flag football is a sport on the rise, in part because of its inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Some CFL players are helping children learn the ins and outs of the game.<\/p>\n
Lavall\u00e9e had played on Auclair\u2019s flag football team at Laval University in the year prior to his second training-camp stint, his first taste of the sport. The ex-NFLer saw something in Lavall\u00e9e \u2014 and he thought Team Canada might, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cAuclair said, \u2018I signed you up for Team Canada\u2019s ID camp. You should try it.\u2019 And I was like \u2018Ah, I could, I don\u2019t know.\u2019 And (eventually) I was like \u2018f— off, I\u2019ll do it.\u2019 And I did the ID camp and I\u2019ve been playing flag ever since,\u201d Lavall\u00e9e said.<\/p>\n
Now, Lavall\u00e9e is among the leaders of head coach Paul LaPolice\u2019s national team, whose next big event is the world championships Aug. 13-16 in Dusseldorf, Germany.<\/p>\n
Only six teams in each of men\u2019s and women \u2019s flag football will qualify for the 2028 Olympics, and one spot in both is already taken up by the host United States. Two more countries in both disciplines will qualify via world rankings at the end of August, making the world championships a critical inflection point. Otherwise, qualification would have to wait until spring 2028, just months before the opening ceremony.<\/p>\n
The Canadian women rank fourth worldwide, while the men sit 10th. Both teams reached the podium at least year\u2019s Americas championship, with the women taking silver and the men earning their first medal, a bronze.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Canadian coach breaks down competition:<\/p>\n
Speaking from a training camp in Chula Vista, Calif., in early March, Lavall\u00e9e said he has made it his mission to push the sport forward across Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cFlag has been growing so much, especially for the women, and it\u2019s pretty exciting to see how the women here at camp are living a dream come true. And we\u2019re all floating on that vibe that flag is growing so much and we\u2019re part of it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To that end, Lavall\u00e9e is helping to develop a girls\u2019 volleyball and flag football program at a local high school, coaching defensive backs and special teams at the CEGEP level. He has also started his own company where he provides individualized coaching for high-school and CEGEP players.<\/p>\n
All of that has come to be within the last 10 months, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love providing help, transmitting my passion to the young people out there that want more, that wants people to develop [them]. And I also love helping the human behind the athlete, so with my own company, I can pretty much do what I want, so I love being able to help these young kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It is no wonder, then, that LaPolice \u2014 a former CFL head coach with the Ottawa Redblacks and Winnipeg Blue Bombers \u2014 views Lavall\u00e9e as a key part of his program.<\/p>\n
\u201cGood football player. Smart, intelligent, then just a really good professional, if that makes sense. Somebody who doesn’t miss practice, takes care of his body. He’s ready to work each day, can play multiple spots and is a really good leader, like one of the leaders of our team,\u201d LaPolice said.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1774067292_535_default.jpg\")
Team Canada coach Paul LaPolice. (CFL Canada)<\/p>\n
Still, Lavall\u00e9e, a defensive back, will have to continue earning his spot on a team that will include just 12 active starters, plus several more backups. The roster for worlds will be set at a training camp at the beginning of May, with open tryouts giving LaPolice and his staff the opportunity to view talent from across the country.<\/p>\n
Having been on the job for a little less than a year, the pure size of Canada has provided one of the biggest challenges for LaPolice in terms of both practice and evaluation. The California camp, at seven days, was the longest the team has ever been together, he said.<\/p>\n
No matter: he said he expects to return from Germany in August with a medal.<\/p>\n
After all, the reality of the Olympics is just starting to hit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think a couple of weeks ago, the gravity of the situation became a little bit more real,\u201d LaPolice said.<\/p>\n
Lavall\u00e9e feels it too. He watched the Milano-Cortina Olympics, with particular interest in hockey and moguls.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s also witnessed what it takes to become an Olympian up close, crossing paths at Laval with Paris 2024 sprinter Audrey Leduc, who just so happens to also be from Gatineau.<\/p>\n
And he knows nothing is guaranteed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty confident in myself, but I need to prove it every single day. I\u2019ve been working hard pretty much all my life to be at the level I\u2019m at now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know where I want to go. I know what it takes to be an Olympic flag football player, so I\u2019m working on it a lot to make sure I am one of the 12.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Maxym Lavall\u00e9e was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes in 2023, he would not have believed you if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-550457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550457","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=550457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}