Olympics reality still settling in for Lipinski

Ignite Co-Owner going to Summer Games as flag football DC

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Joel Lipinski hugs Marc-Antoine Dequoy (#24).

Joel Lipinski still has times it stuns him that it is an actual thing he will be going to the Olympics with football.

On August 16 at the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Flag World Championships in Dusseldorf, Germany, Lipinski served as the Defensive Coordinator for Team Canada, who were taking part in the bronze medal game against Mexico. Canada claimed a 34-26 victory in overtime, where the win was sealed by an interception from defensive back Guillaume Beland. Canada claimed the bronze medal and locked up a berth at the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will run July 14 to 30 of that year in Los Angeles, Calif.

Flag football will make its debut as a sport at the 2028 Olympics. For Lipinski, he still has moments where he can’t believe going to the Olympics will be an actual thing for him.

“I still don’t know if it feels completely real,” said Lipinski, who is a Co-owner and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach of Ignite Athletics located on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. “For so long, the Olympics were this massive thing you watched every few years and you saw athletes representing Canada on the biggest sporting stage in the world.

“I never really pictured myself being part of that. Now, there’s actually an Olympic Games on the calendar that we are preparing for. We qualified. Canada is going.

“I’m going to have the opportunity to represent our country there as a coach. When I actually stop and think about it that way, it’s pretty wild. I think there will probably be a few moments over the next two years where it becomes more and more real.”

Long before becoming a coach in strength and conditioning, Lipinski had played football as a defensive back. In the tackle side of the game, he suited up for Regina’s Campbell Collegiate Tartans, the University of Regina Rams and Saint Mary’s University Huskies in U Sports, the Vancouver Island Raiders in the CJFL, the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Elks in the CFL and Football Canada’s Men’s National Team in both tackle and flag. During those years, Lipinski never thought about going to the Olympics as football was not part of that multi-sport event and celebration.

In his childhood days growing up in Regina, Lipinski admitted he did have dreams of being part of the Olympics when either the Summer Games or Winter Games were on TV.

Joel Lipinski, centre, offers tips at an Ignite Athletics training session.

“I think every kid watches the Olympics and imagines what it would be like to represent Canada,” said Lipinski, who is the Strength and Conditioning Coordinator for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team. “You watch Canadians win medals and see the flag go up and you understand, even as a kid, that there is something different about representing your country at the Olympics.

“I just never imagined football would eventually be the sport that gave me that opportunity. That’s probably what makes this whole thing even more special.”

While Lipinski is best known for his work as a strength and conditioning coach, the 41-year-old has worked as a football coach over numerous years in his life and has been a head coach at the high school level and has coached defensive backs at the university level. He has been involved with Team Canada on the flag football side for over a decade.

When Football Canada hired famed CFL coach Paul LaPolice to be the head coach of the National Men’s Flag Team on May 8, 2025, he interviewed Lipinski for the Defensive Coordinator position. 

Lipinski was officially brought on as the team’s Defensive Coordinator on May 20, 2025. He has enjoyed working with LaPolice.

“It’s been awesome,” said Lipinski. “Paul has coached football at an incredibly high level for a long time, and I would be lying if I said I haven’t tried to absorb as much as I possibly can from being around him.

“One thing I really appreciate about Paul is that he allows his coaches to coach. He challenges you, asks questions and makes you defend what you believe, but he also gives you ownership. That has made me a better coach.”

Joel Lipinski enjoys coaching with Football Canada.

At the Flag Football Worlds, Canada suffered heartbreak dropping a 41-36 decision in a semifinal against Italy on August 15. Lipinski was proud of how the Canadian team was able to rebound to win the bronze game in overtime the next day over Mexico. The highlight was seeing the win get sealed by Beland’s interception.

“That might be one of the greatest moments I’ve ever experienced in football,” said Lipinski, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighed 195 pounds in his playing days. “There is so much that goes into preparing for those moments that nobody sees (in) the meetings, film, conversations, adjustments and all the reps with the players.

“Then you get into overtime against an unbelievable Mexico team, with an Olympic berth and a World Championship medal essentially hanging in the balance and Guillaume makes the play. On a team full of great players, he was our defensive captain and was completely selfless in any game play that we put together. He is someone I have leaned on throughout the years I have known him for his IQ and pulse of the team, and I could not be happier for him that he was the one to make that play.

“The second he caught it, I think every emotion from the entire tournament came out at once.”

After Beland made his interception, Lipinski took part in the celebrations making a mad dash down the field with Beland and a host of Canadian players that finished with a group hug in an end zone. At that moment, you wouldn’t have known Lipinski was still recovering from tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in one of his knees.

“That is probably the most impressive athletic performance of my entire World Championship,” said Lipinski with a chuckle. “I was five months out from ACL surgery and apparently completely forgot that for about 30 seconds.

“I saw Guillaume pick the ball off and all rehab protocols immediately went out the window. Looking back at the video, there were definitely a couple of moments where I thought, “That probably wasn’t in the return-to-sport plan.” Luckily, the knee survived.”

Joel Lipinski, left, is pictured with Canadian players at Worlds.

While Lipinski is proud of what the Canadian team accomplished, he said the focus is already shifting towards preparing for the Olympics and making good use of the two years preparation time leading up to it.

“Now, the real work starts,” said Lipinski, who has received congratulations pretty much everywhere he has gone in Saskatoon since returning home. “Qualifying was obviously a massive accomplishment, but we’re not going to spend two years celebrating the fact that we qualified.

“The question becomes: how good can we become between now and Los Angeles? We have two years to evaluate our systems, evaluate ourselves as coaches, continue developing players, identify new players and keep learning where international flag football is going. The sport is evolving incredibly quickly.

“For me personally, I want to look back two years from now and know that I used every opportunity between Worlds and the Olympics to become a better defensive coordinator. There are probably 100 things we can do better, and now we have two years to go find them.”

He added the belief is high that Canada can win a medal at the Olympics in 2028.

“We absolutely want to win a medal, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with saying that,” said Lipinski. “Canada just finished third in the world.

“We know how good the best teams in the world are, we know how small the margins are between winning and losing at that level, and we also know that we can compete with them. At the same time, nobody is giving us anything, because we won a bronze medal at Worlds. There are two years of work between now and Los Angeles.

Joel Lipinski and Team Canada pose for a team photo.

“The dream is obviously standing on an Olympic podium with a Canadian flag and a medal around our necks (even though coaches do not get medals). If we’re going all the way to the Olympics, we’re certainly not going there just to say we were there. We want to see how good we can become and take a real shot at winning the thing.”

For more information about Ignite Athletics, feel free to check out Ignite’s website at igniteathletics.com. All photos of Joel Lipinski with Football Canada are courtesy of Joel Lipinski.

Saskatoon football pumped flag game in 2028 Olympics

Popularity of sport expected to increase further

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Two players jet downfield in a Rush high school flag game.

Saskatoon Minor Football has always been cutting edge with its flag football programs, and a welcome development is going to add more luster to the sport.

On October 16, 2023, flag football in both men’s and women’s events was approved by the International Olympic Committee for play in the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Calif. Flag football will be in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2028 along with squash, while baseball, softball, cricket and lacrosse return after varying absences. Flag football games at the Olympics will be contested in a five-on-five format on a 50-yard field with no linemen in both men’s and women’s action.

Brian Guebert, who is the executive director Saskatoon Minor Football, said the announcement that the flag game was going to be accepted into the Olympics was something his organization was anticipating for a while. He said there was a cool feeling when the official announcement came out.

“For it to be official was something really exciting,” said Guebert. “It was kind of that breath of fresh air going, ‘Alright. It is for real now and they’re moving forward with it in a high-performance capacity.’

“It has really changed the tune of how people are approaching the sport of flag football. A lot of times it was a secondary sport. It was something people did for recreation.

“Now, we’re seeing a lot of our young athletes saying, ‘I want to do this as my primary sport.’ That has been really exciting as a result of the announcement of it being an Olympic sport.”

Over the years, Saskatoon Minor Football has developed a number of flag programs including Lil’Tops 3-on-3 flag football, the NFL 5-on-5 Youth Flag Football League, the Rush Female High School Football Flag league, the Toon Squad competitive flag league and the Toon Squad travel teams. Outside of Saskatoon Minor Football, the Saskatoon Adult Flag Football League operates with men’s and women’s divisions and a number of those players coach in the programs offered by SMF.

Guebert said the inclusion of flag football to the Olympics will have a big positive impact on the elite-level side of the game.

“I just think that we will see some growth in our programing in particularly our high-performance program,” said Guebert. “We’ve been fortunate for the last two years in anticipation of this to give our athletes the best chance to compete.

Reed Thorstad coaches a Toon Squad league flag game.

“We have taken our Toon Squad teams, so our U16 and U19 female and male teams, down to the States the last two winters and compete in some high-performance tournaments down there. I think we will start to see a little more draw towards those programs especially leading up and following the Olympics.”

With that said, Guebert is expecting there will be increased popularity for the overall flag game and in all the flag leagues SMF oversees.

“Overall, our NFL youth flag league, our Rush high school girls flag league and we have a Toon Squad league that plays kind of a little more a high-performance model in the fall for females,” said Guebert. “I think we’ll see those steadily continue to grow.

“We’ve had some fantastic growth in really the last 15 or 20 years here. I think we’ll see those continue to sustain a pretty marked growth curve. I’m excited to see where flag football takes us as a football organization.”

Reed Thorstad, who is best known as a star receiver for the Saskatoon Valkyries women’s tackle football team, has played flag football for some time and coaches in both the tackle and flag side of the sport with SMF. She was excited flag football was accepted into the Olympics and said it is an amazing sport technically and tactically.

Thorstad believes Canada will be a high medal contender at the Olympics. She believes the fact flag football becoming an Olympic sport will add to what has been developed in Saskatoon.

“I think it is amazing what we have going on here in Saskatoon right now,” said Thorstad. “There has been a lot of growth in flag football both in the amount of girls playing flag football but also the level of skill that we’re seeing now.

“There is definitely an interest in it. I think that is going to continue to challenge everyone whether they’ve been playing for a long time or they’re new to the sport. Anyone that is chasing that Olympic dream should just work that much harder, because you know that next generation is going to be working for it too.”

Over the past two winters, Thorstad as a coach has taken an SMF female travel team to a tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. She felt those experiences were eye opening for her players showing that they could play against the best players in their age group in the world.

As for herself, Thorstad will soon turn 28-years-old, so she isn’t sure where she would stand for potentially playing in the 2028 Olympics. She did say it is possible that players she coached could be playing in those games.

A quarterback, right, makes a pass in an NFL Youth flag game.

“Right now, I’m focused on our tackle season,” said Thorstad. “I’m still playing flag, and I love the sport.

“I think it would be an amazing opportunity to even have the chance to try and do that. I know that it is going to be tough competition in Canada, because we have some excellent flag football players and flag football teams. We will see what happens, but I think we’ll have some representation from Saskatchewan in some capacity.”

Cam Skinner, who is a defensive back for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team and is flag player too, believes having flag football at the Olympics is going to help the exposure for the sport of football overall.

“It is big for the sport for sure,” said Skinner. “You see just the flag numbers that have been rising.

“As a football player, it is cool to see more people just playing. Personally and just with the guys I’ve played with, we’re just excited for the potential to see something you’ve been playing on TV and in the Olympics and then have maybe the chance to go.”

Skinner, who is 24-years-old, is entering his fifth and final season of eligibility with the Huskies. He still has hopes of playing the tackle game professionally in the CFL, but he the added the opportunity of having the flag game as part of the Olympics is another chance to play the sport at a high level in 2028.

“The mindset is cool,” said Skinner. “The potential that would be my peak years.

“You always wonder now that it is an Olympic sport who is going to be available and excited to go. You look at the caliber of athletes we have in Canada. There are guys going to the NFL that might be vying for that spot kind of when that time comes around.

“As a guy that has played high level football in Canada and played a bunch of flag, it is an exciting opportunity just to even have that consideration out there. It will be interesting to see when 2028 comes around.”

Overall, Guebert said flag football has been important to SMF for some time, and have flag football in the Olympics gives that version of the sport an extra boost. He said it is a great entry point for the game because players need to bring cleats, and they are good to go.

“It is a low barrier of entry and then from a fundamental perspective it teaches fundamental skills that are transferable to high-performance flag but also transferable to tackle football,” said Guebert. “I’ll tell any of our parents that it is way harder to take a couple of flags off somebodies’ hips than it is to tackle them.

A Falcons runner rips downfield in an NFL Youth flag game.

“Flag teaches you to be in that good position to wrap up and make a tackle. It teaches you route running. It teaches you ball protection and ball catching and carrying.

“It teaches you coverage skills. It teaches you rushing skills. It teaches you pursuit angles. It is all really, really good without having any contact involved.”

For more information on the flag and other programs offered by Saskatoon Minor Football, feel free to check out their website at saskatoonminorfootball.com.

Murphy humbled to enter Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame

Storied softball coaching path to Hall had start in Lloydminster

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Noreen Murphy, right, is inducted into the SSHF.

Noreen Murphy’s road to the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame started by saying “yes” to a coaching opportunity way back in December of 1984.

In October of that year, Murphy made a work-related move to Lloydminster, which is the small centre that is famous for sitting on the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan. She went there with the reputation of being a standout softball player having been a member of the Saskatoon Harmony Centres team that won the Canadian Senior A title in 1980. That Harmony Centres team played at the World Games in 1981 at Santa Clara, Calif., and fell 2-1 to the United States in the event’s championship game.

When Murphy arrived in Lloydminster, the Blues under-19 women’s team was looking for coaching help. Blues head coach Brian Gislason phoned Murphy in December of 1984 about joining the squad’s coaching staff.

“It is bizarre when you think about it,” said Murphy. “I was up there, and of course, he (Brian Gislason) knew who I was.

“I played with Saskatoon, and we had a rivalry with the Lashburn Bluebirds. Everybody knows you in that area. He just said, ‘Oh my God. We need some help here with the team. We don’t have anybody else stepping forward.’

“He got my number from some of the Lashburn Bluebirds I believe and just gave me a call.”

Murphy said “yes” and the Blues claimed Canadian championships in 1985 and 1986. After the Blues second title win, Murphy relocated back to Saskatoon in 1987 and took up the head coaching role with the Lorne’s Lazers.

At that point, Murphy’s softball coaching career was off and running. It was a career that saw Murphy coach at the national team level for Softball Canada for 14 years on two separate seven-year stints. She first applied to coach with Softball Canada at the urging of Bob Van Impe, who served as the president of the national sports body from 1969 to 1986.

Murphy was part of the senior national women’s team staff when Canada played at the Olympic Games in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States and in 2004 in Athens, Greece. One of the big highlights came in 2003, when Murphy was the head coach of the junior women’s national team that played at that year’s world championships in Nanjing, China. Canada finished fifth in that event after falling 1-0 in a playoff game to the hosts in front of 10,000 boisterous fans.

She also helped develop and mentor other coaches. Murphy chaired Softball Canada’s Long-Term Player Development Committee, which created the Athlete Development Matrix for all stages of player development.

A wall mount for the SSHF class of 2023.

In recent years, Murphy served as the Timbits Coordinator for the Saskatoon Minor Softball League. She is also the coordinator for the Saskatchewan North Central Softball Academy’s Timbits Saturdays program, which operates out of the Indoor Training Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

On September 23 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina, Murphy was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in the builders’ category. Looking back on her career, Murphy said everything came about because she agreed to be on the coaching staff of the Blues teams that won Canadian championships in 1985 and 1986.

“What if I would have said, ‘No?’” said Murphy. “None of this would have been happening for sure.”

Murphy entered the Hall with six other distinguished individuals. In the athletes’ category, entering the Hall were multisport star Jaime (Cruickshank) Boyer of Saskatoon, hockey player Ryan Getzlaf of Regina, soccer player Joan McEachern of Leroy and hockey player Hayley Wickenheiser from Shaunavon.

Joining Murphy in the Hall in the builders’ category were Lorne Lasuita of Wynyard for his work in multiple sports and Bernadette McIntyre of Bethune for her work in curling.

“The evening was top notch,” said Murphy. “It was a star affair.

“It was really well done. It was just good to see a whole bunch of sports people I hadn’t scene in a few years. It was really nice for that too.

“It was a great class our 2023 induction class. It was a good one. It was good, really good.”

Murphy received a phone call on a Saturday morning in February from Hall Chair Trent Blezy informing her that she would be entering the Hall as a builder as part of the 2023 class. At first, Murphy said she wasn’t going to pick up her phone, because she didn’t recognize the number on the call display.

She then had a feeling that the call might be important. Murphy said it was cool to hear the news that you were going into the Hall.

Noreen Murphy’s display at the SSHF.

“I was surprised actually,” said Murphy.“It is very humbling.

“I’m very proud. I was excited. (I give) just a big huge thanks to be a small part of sport history in the province.”

At the start of her coaching career, Murphy remembers asking Gislason to be patient with her, because she knew nothing about coaching. From that point, she created a whole host of memories in the sport.

The most memorable moment came seeing her junior national team put up a strong fight losing that 1-0 playoff game at the 2003 world championships to the host side in Nanjing, China.

“That was my biggest highlight,” said Murphy. “Going to two Olympic Games was great too, but when you are leading the team (it’s different).

“When you have all the decisions to make at the top end of that and you are traveling in October to an entirely different culture, the drums are playing when you arrive until when you leave basically. I still say we should have won the game, but that is OK. If we would have (won), we would have made history for Canada.

“It would have been the first time playing for a medal in junior ball. It was a great, great couple of weeks there for sure.”

These days Murphy is enjoying helping young children learn the game in the Timbits programs. She said it is rewarding to see the excitement of the really young players when they get a handle on a new skill.

“It certainly is a little bit different than working at the top end that is for sure,” said Murphy. “I’m going into my sixth year of doing this for them.

“I’ve learned a lot there is no doubt about that. The program is in good shape. We’re developing kids a lot better than we did in the past, because there is structure to it.

“We’re orientating our coaches a lot more that are working with the young group, because it is their first time ever coaching with young ones. At the training centre there, we’ve been fortunate enough to have good numbers, and they continue to be pretty good. Those players that come there they all sign up for spring ball in May and June which is great.”

Noreen Murphy, centre, address a Timbits Saturdays group.

Murphy said the important thing in the beginner and younger age groups is to get the players lots of repetitions. She said it is great the players aged nine, 10 and 11 have the option of play fall ball too as well. Murphy said the reps will allow players to get better at the game and ultimately have more fun with it.

“They need lots of reps,” said Murphy.“The more reps they can get the better, and they are learning the right way.

“As I say to the moms and dads all the time, it is about keeping the kids busy, making them sweat a little bit and just having a whole bunch of fun.”

And with that involvement, Murphy will continue her giving back to the softball community for the foreseeable future. She will keep adding to a legacy that was built saying “yes” to a coaching request made almost 40 years ago.

The first three photos in this post are courtesy of Noreen Murphy’s collection. The video comes courtesy the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame.