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More than 300 young athletes participating in Hollister’s RISE Flag Football league came together on Feb. 15 at Rancho Santana School to battle it out for division championships. When the smoke cleared, four teams stood victorious. The winners, with the four runners-up, will be invited to the March 2025 West Coast Regional Tournament of Champions in Mission Viejo.
“Our league is probably three times larger than I ever imagined,” said Anthony Elias, who worked with RISE sponsors Under Armor to found the Hollister League last year. “Our community has really bought into it, and we have incredible people involved. Such great coaches, such great parents and such great kids—it makes our job easy.”
While only the top four teams in each division play against each other for the championship, every team in RISE gets a chance to take part in the action through consolation matches. So it becomes an event for the entire league, not just the top players. This is one of the many things that makes RISE a friendlier and more inclusive sport.
“We want to make sure,” Elias said, “that every kid goes into the last weekend knowing that they’re going to have a fun competitive game to play. And that they have a chance for a final win before leaving the season.”
A former collegiate basketball coach, Elias launched the league shortly after he and his family moved to Hollister. His son, Malachi, was interested in flag football, and Elias found the closest leagues were in Morgan Hill or Salinas. The Hollister League practices and plays at Rancho Santana School.
“Other youth sports in town are in a team setting,” he said. “Everything we do is in one location, so parents don’t have to travel. And all the kids are local, so they get to play with their friends.”
According to the 2021 Aspen Institute State of Play report, more kids in the 6-12 age range play flag football than tackle football, with girls making up just under 18 percent of the participants. RISE has teams in 22 states and three Canadian provinces; membership is open to boys and girls from kindergarten through eighth grade.
Elias said flag football has distinct advantages for younger players because it allows kids to learn more by not being pigeonholed into just one or two positions in the game.
“Regardless of size,” he said, “every kid has the ability to go out and catch the ball and run with it. With our league, they get the opportunity to do a lot more things, like having a turn as quarterback, which they may never have the opportunity to do in tackle football.”
Elias said that because flag football lacks the physical aggressiveness of tackle, there is more camaraderie and sportsmanship between the players on competing teams.
“It’s pretty incredible when the kids congratulate each other when someone else gets a touchdown,” he said. “Or you see the teams and coaches hugging and shaking hands after games. The kids love that they’re competing against their classmates every Saturday.”
That kind of devotion to the team can be seen in seven-year-old Ivan Rosario, who was named one of the players of the week on the day of the championship. Coming to the game a little under the weather, he refused to take a break from his position as center for the K2 Bears.
“I was sick,” he said, “but I kept playing and playing. I like taking the flags, and I didn’t give up.”
K2 Falcons coach Michael Morales said he enjoys helping the younger kids like Rosario learn the fundamentals of a game they may never have played before.
“It is a pure joy watching these kids grow and become athletes,” he said. “They go from knowing nothing to being able to catch the ball, run with it, score touchdowns and become team players. They really adapt to it, really want to learn and really want to win.”
Morales said the lack of internal competitiveness within the team is refreshing to watch as they boost each other during the games.
“They know you can’t win by yourself,” he said. “When there’s a touchdown, they all run, they celebrate together. And we try to get the ball around everyone. There’s not one kid in our team that wants the ball just for themselves. They like to switch it up and let everyone get in the game.”
For some players, like 10-year-old Easton Rodriquez, RISE is his one chance to play football.
“My mom and dad won’t let me play tackle,” he said. “But I like playing flag and I like how there’s not so many players. I don’t have the best arm, but I have pretty decent accuracy and I run really fast. And I love being able to play with my friends.”
The coaches are frequently fathers with a son or daughter on the team, but there is a sprinkling of past and current Hollister High football players, including 16-year-old Jacob Jackson, who is a wide receiver on the Balers varsity team and has coached a RISE team since the first season.
Jackson has been playing football since he was four years old and was encouraged to coach a RISE team by Balers Head Coach Bryan Smith.
“He brought it up to us one day,” Jackson said, “I wanted to see what coaching was like. I ended up really enjoying it. It’s fun teaching the kids about football. I fell in love with the game, and it makes me happy to see the kids also fall in love with it.”
Jackson said that not having the same intensity of tackle football makes teaching fundamentals easier.
“There is just a vibe it gives off,” he said. “These guys out here are more into running and catching, not a lot of diving and tackling and those kinds of angles. Our guys are just having fun, and are doing very well.”
Online registration is now open for the six-week 2025 Spring RISE Flag Football season which runs from April through June, holding practices and games at Hollister’s Rancho Santana School. The fee is $185. For more information, email Elias on the RISE website.
“We have had such a positive experience here in Hollister,” Elias said. “I’m so glad that we’ve been able to do this. Hopefully we can continue to grow and get more kids and more parents involved in what we think is a really positive experience.”
The Colts. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
The Saints. Photo by Robert Eliason. 
The Browns. Photo by Robert Eliason. Champions: The Falcons (grades K-2). Photo by Anthony Elias. Champions: The Eagles (grades 3-4). Photo by Anthony Elias. Champions: The Colts (grades 5-6). Photo by Anthony Elias. Champions: The Rams (grades 7-8). Photo by Anthony Elias.
Final rankings
- K-2 Champions: Falcons (Coach Michael Morales)
- 3-4 Champions: Eagles (Coach Nick Kostielney)
- 5-6 Champions: Colts (Coach John Glass)
- 7-8 Champions: Rams (Coach Brian DeCarli)
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