Just Better Sports League Hikes Up Competition Level for Flag Football

The inaugural season of the Just Better Sports League’s flag football kicked off Saturday in Silver Spring. The league was created last year to provide a space for adults to play competitive sports in the community. Patch sat down with the JBSL’s co-founders Jason Bradley and Shelby Jupiter to get the stats on the new sports league.

Patch: It seems like there are a number of flag football leagues in Montgomery County, why start a new one?

Jason Bradley: Shelby and I have played in several leagues throughout Montgomery County over the years, and we felt like there were certain aspects of the games in those leagues that we just didn’t like, so why not start our own?

Shelby Jupiter: The level of competition was pretty low in those leagues. Many of them were “social” leagues, which was fine, but we found that some of those people wanted a more competitive game, and saw a need to do something for the players with intermediate skills and above.

Bradley: If you have a higher level of skill, you want to play with similar people.

Jupiter: Also, many of those leagues play their games in D.C., Gaithersburg, Germantown or other places that aren’t close by. We found that there were a lot of people in the Silver Spring area who wanted to play, so we decided to start something here.

Patch: How challenging was it to start a new sports league?

Jupiter: The first thing we did was to combine all of our contacts – people we had played with, friends, neighbors and colleagues and began contacting them. We emailed, called, posted on Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, just about everything you can think of to see how many people were interested in what we were planning.

Bradley: We also went to other local sporting events – rec basketball games, indoor soccer and that kind of stuff. Then we planned a pick-up flag football game, posted it on Facebook and that was the big one.

Jupiter: Yeah, that was the one that really got the engine going. A lot of people came out, and we treated it like a real game, with all the equipment, keeping stats and it was great.

Patch: Who can join the Just Better Sports League?

Bradley: It is an adult league, so you have to be at least 21. We have some players in their 50's, so really anywhere in between.

Jupiter: All teams have to have 12 players, since we play eight-on-eight. We have both men’s and co-ed formats, so we want women to come out too!

Patch: Describe what the season is like.

Bradley: We play an eight-week regular season, plus two weeks of playoffs. The one-hour games are played on Saturdays and Sundays at Fairland Recreational Park and Rays Meadow Local Park.

Jupiter: We’ll play through the weekend of June 18th, taking off for holiday weekends like Memorial Day.

Patch: Can teams still join for this season? 

Jupiter: No. We start on April 2, so we have already planned out the schedule. We are planning a fall league, so if people are interested, they can contact us on the website.

Bradley: We do have something called “Free Agents,” though – people who are willing to come out on a regular basis as a substitute. They can contact us on the website too.

Patch: So what is different about the JBSL flag football league?

Bradley: Well, like I mentioned we started this league for the more competitive and skilled players out there, so they know the Just Better games will have that level of competition they are looking for.

Jupiter: Also, we keep statistics on every player and game, and shoot video. After each week, we’ll have the stats and highlights up on the website.

Patch: Do you have plans to expand Just Better Sports League in the future?

Jupiter: Sure. We may look at adding other sports, and possibly youth flag football –there are lots of kids interested, and lots of parents who don’t want their kids to play full-contact football.

Bradley: We’ll also look to partner with more local businesses and organizations in the future. Right now, the guys at were nice enough to offer drink and food specials after the games on the weekends. This is only our first season, but I’m sure we’ll look for other opportunities in the community in the future.