Three coaches from Saskatchewan are celebrating the Canadian Women’s and Men’s Flag Football teams qualifying for the Summer Olympics in 2028. Both women’s and men’s world championships were contested in Dusseldorf, Germany and the Canadian teams both qualified for the upcoming Summer Olympics Games in Los Angeles in 2028. The women went all the way to the final and defeated the United States of America by a score of 27 to 20 to be crowned world champions. A last second pass attempt by the Americans fell incomplete in the endzone to seal the gold medal for Canada. Tim Seiferling, a superintendent with the Regina Police Service, is an assistant coach with the Canadian women’s team. He said the team had clinched their Olympic berth with a semifinal victory over Mexico, but the hunger to be the best in the world was still there. “The ultimate goal was the Olympic berth but the amount of work we put in that night, players and coaches and everybody. It was a pretty big accomplishment, but we were still going for the gold and weren’t satisfied,” Seiferling said. Seiferling painted a picture of the scenes in Germany after the thrilling championship win, speaking about Team Canada Quarterback and MVP of the tournament, Sara Parker. “When we won the semifinal, Sara had called her mom, not realizing that she was making the trip from Canada to come and watch the gold medal game. So, it was crazy how fast she got there. And then the celebrations afterwards were just that much more special for them,” he said. While Seiferling is currently on vacation for the next three weeks in Europe, he told CTV News that the work to prepare for LA in 2028 will start fairly quickly. There are six spots for both the men’s and women’s flag football tournament at the Olympics. The Americans automatically qualify as the host nation. Canada and Mexico have also qualified for the women, while Canada and Italy have qualified for the men. The Canadian men won their bronze medal match against Mexico in overtime to punch their ticket to California. After a touchdown and the successful two-point conversion on Canada’s first offensive possession in overtime, Guillaume Béland sealed the game with an endzone interception, to send the team to the Olympics. For Seiferling, representing his country on the biggest stage in 2028 can’t come soon enough. “For me, it’s building that culture and keeping that momentum going. Obviously representing Canada is a dream come true. And from a coach’s perspective after coaching for 33 years, it’s ridiculous. You want to win, you want to win the gold medal, and you want the nation to be proud,” he said.
