The 2026 Ontario Summer Games are now less than a month away with the vast majority of sports having confirmed their entries for the multi-sport gala (25 sports in all) taking place in Kitchener-Waterloo from July 30th to August 2nd.

A newcomer to the festivities this year, flag football has garnered a lot of attention very quickly, with a huge buy-in from a Sudbury contingent that has seen the sport grow in leaps and bounds in the nickel city in recent years.

The newly-formed Sudbury Wild will be representing Northern Ontario at the Games, with coaches Lance Patrie and Véronique St Jean guiding a squad that is flush with SDSSAA flag football talent.

Both Patrie and St Jean recently returned from the Football Ontario 5 v 5 Flag Football Provincial Championships as three area high-school (Champlain; Lasalle; Lockerby) took part in the tournament that attracted no less than 45 teams.

With the Champlain Requins capturing silver medals in the Great Lakes Division, it makes sense that the Rayside-Balfour based institution would lead the charge on the Wild roster, having three players selected including Malika Grenon, who was named Great Lakes Division MVP.

Schoolmates Chanel Chénier and Leah Johnston join her on the team that also features two players from the E.S.C. Horizon Aigles' program (Alexa Goulard; Chloé Paquette). Rounding out the team are: Hannah Adler (Notre-Dame); Emma DeMarchi (St Benedict CSS); Sadie Gauvreau (Lockerby); Laila Lalonde (Lively); Veronica Paquette (Lasalle); Grace Perron (Confederation) and Kloe Rienguette (St Charles College).

The end goal, according to coach St Jean, is to continue the Sudbury Wild program beyond the Summer Games, “providing athletes with opportunities to compete in a structured season featuring multiple age divisions, regular season play, tournaments and pathways to national and international championship events”.

On the boys side, local football coach Matt Mott has put together a team under the banner of the Northern Gridiron Academy Ducks – though for OSG purposes, the team apparently shows simply as “Sudbury Region Flag”.

Still, there are a number of very familiar names in the mix with a team comprised of Kade Campbell, Moshood Adeleye, Byron Marshall, Emmaluel Abiodun, Folabori Alabi, Lincoln Parent, Dean Vildis, Levi Blouin, Tomiwa Gagophien and Rylan Maksymchuk.

“Any football exposure for these boys is good,” noted coach Mott, who acknowledged that the lack of on-going men’s flag football in the area as well as the fact that a good numbers of the lads above are already playing tackle football as well means that any kind of game experience prior to OSG 2026 is unlikely.

“I believe they all have thoughts of football at the next level, so any reps are good.”