Rain Can't Stop the Smiles at NFL Flag Football Friendship Game with China

By Dan Sousa
VivaLoudoun.com Editor

Ashburn (Sept. 9, 2009) - If you judge a game by smiles then the NFL Flag Football "friendship game" played with players from China and the local NOVA Youth Flag Football league was the Super Bowl of success.


The game, played on Labor Day at the fields located at Virginia Academy Community Church, was filmed as part of the NFL Blitz television show and will be aired in an upcoming episode.

A group of Chinese students (OK -- they were actually musicians from China on an Amazing Race-like trip ... read Elizabeth Puglise's excellent report in the Loudoun Indepedent!) visiting NFL training camps over the summer were given a crash training course on the basics of flag football and then mixed between two teams made up of NOVA Youth Flag Football athletes and an exhibition game was played in what turned out to be a light rain at times.

NOVA Youth Flag Football League President Steve D'Argenio -- an accomplished poker player who has cashed at professional events including the 2007 World Series of Poker! -- help organize a fun event that included smiles all around -- from the visiting players from China who really got into the spirit of the game and from the local kids.


At one point, D'Argenio could be seen administering some advice to a Chinese player that had been bruised. D'Argenio picked up some dirt and told the player that "here in America we rub some dirt on it."

Now that is advice that D'Argenio's son Ray could appreciate. Ray is a starting cornerback this year for the defending AA Division 4 state champion Broad Run and one of several Spartans who graduated from the NOVA Youth Flag Football program into the tackles ranks.

Click here for a photo gallery from the event!

Visit the NOVA Youth Flag Football site!