Flag football season kicks off at Spangdahlem Air Base Published Aug. 24, 2010 By Senior Airman Nick Wilson 52nd Fighter Wing Public Affairs SPANGDAHLEM AIR BASE, Germany -- The Spangdahlem Intramural Flag Football League began another season of flag-snatching and touchdown-catching Aug. 2 at the Skelton Memorial Fitness Center field. The regular season will run through Sept. 23 and the play-offs for the base intramural championship will take place Sept. 27 through Sept. 30. Players for teams were recruited individually in the units or through e-mail. Overall, according to Krystal Rhodes, 52nd Force Support Squadron sports director, the participation so far has been excellent with approximately 266 individuals from 13 teams and 14 units, including squadrons within the 52nd Fighter Wing and its geographically-separated units. The groundwork for the event was laid by the Skelton Memorial Fitness Center's sports department about a month before the season started. "In the initial part of the season before we draft the schedule, we try to work the schedule to accommodate the mission requirements," said Ms. Rhodes. "We've been really impressed with [the squadrons'] effort to get over here and we want to try to include everybody." Members of the competing teams of the base intramural championship will travel to Camp Darby, Italy to participate in the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Regional Unit-level Flag Football Championship from Nov. 11-Nov. 14. "I believe with the amount of talent and experience we on have on the team we stand a chance to go very deep into the play-offs if not the championship," said Master Sgt. Benjamin Wynn, 726th AMS flag football team participant. According to Airman 1st Class Tony Boyd, 52nd FSS /52nd Maintenance Operations Squadron flag football team participant, it wasn't hard for his team to find players because nobody's departure time was coming up. However, for other teams, it was hard to keep participants on their team due to changes of duty stations. "It's tough finding players and keep players on the team due to duty station changes," said Sergeant Wynn. "We at the 726th Air Mobility Squadron have an even bigger problem since we may have the players on the roster who are mostly shift workers and sometimes can't get off work due to mission requirements."