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Business Insider
a day ago
- Lifestyle
- Business Insider
The best nightgowns that you can wear as a dress, since it's a sleepwear-as-streetwear summer
The summer of 2025 is the summer of pajamas as real clothing. Walk around SoHo or Brooklyn, and you'll see tons of New York City's tastemakers wearing boxers as shorts. Often, these are paired with a long-sleeved button-down in what I call the "Skype interview" or Risky Business aesthetic. So it stands to reason that nightgowns are the next bedroom staple to emerge from the intimates drawer and onto the city streets. Credit this to Sabrina Carpenter's tour wardrobe, influencer Harling Ross' collaboration with nightdress brand If Only If, the rise of a vintage, romantic aesthetic, or even the simple fact that we deserve a break from fitted waistbands. All of these dresses (minus the last one, which is made from a linen blend) are 100% cotton. Once you go 100% cotton, it's almost impossible to return to the stifling polyester blends that are so common in sundresses. Cotton — especially cotton poplin — is breathable, light, and feels great against your skin. All these nightgowns function as some of the best pajamas, even if you choose to wear them as a dress. And they're perfect for hot sleepers in the summer who want the best cooling pajamas for temperature regulation. A short, breezy choice that isn't see-through at all The Alice Nightgown from Lake is made from a seersucker material that stays crisp and cool. I got it in the more nightdress-adjacent white color, but there are other colorways, like nautical blue or mint green, that look a little more like real dresses. How it feels to wear as a dress: I want all my dresses to feel this breathable and light. The Alice Nightgown basically floats around your body, with no uncomfortable necklines or even rough seams. When there's inevitably a day in the summer when it's so humid that breathing outside feels like gulping steam, this is the dress I will reach for. Not only does the white version not show sweat, but the fabric is also cool to the touch and supremely airy. This nightgown is also pretty opaque. While some of the dresses on this list lean into the casual sheerness of cotton, the seersucker material keeps this from being translucent, even in direct sunlight. How it feels to sleep in it: I mentioned above that when the humidity hits, this is the first dress I'll be wearing outside. So I have a feeling that this piece will be constantly in the wash, because this would be my choice for hot, sticky nights as well. Trust me, sleeping in front of the fan in this crisp, thin-strapped dress will be a much more pleasant experience than sleeping in an old T-shirt that's probably made with nonporous synthetics. Fabrics make all the difference when it comes to temperature control. The elegant vintage gown that's too pretty to just wear to bed When I walk around in The Kayla from Eileen West, I feel like a heroine from a bygone era. Granted, the heroine of a Jane Austen novel would never use this nightgown as an outside dress — but she would have a great scene brushing her hair in front of an antique vanity while wearing it. How it feels to wear as a dress: Modest dressers, be warned that this pick is a little see-through. It's not overly transparent, but you can see the outline of your legs in direct sunlight. Personally, I'm all for enjoying the breezy, sheet-like feel of the dress and leaning into the subtle sheerness. Nude underwear is definitely a must, though. I love wearing this out in the summer. It's perfect for picnics, brunches in the sunshine, and holding a baguette and flowers as you dreamily walk through the farmers market. Unlike some of the more modern cuts, this nightgown has a distinct vintage feel that's fun to lean into. How it feels to sleep in it: Since I have a larger bust, this wouldn't be my first choice for sleeping. The lace neckline — while beautiful — makes this a little tight under my arms and around my chest. Unbuttoning the first two buttons solves this problem pretty well and makes it comfortable enough to be a daytime dress, but I think it would tug at me if I tried to sleep in it. If you don't have a larger bust, though, this shouldn't be a concern. A cottagecore number with Swiss dots and delicate florals With a pattern of tiny blue flowers and a ruffled neckline, the Elizabeth Nightgown is what cottagecore dreams are made of. It makes me wish I had a garden and a sourdough loaf in the oven. How it feels to wear as a dress: On the scale of transparent to opaque, this definitely errs on the side of transparent. If you want to wear it as a dress, pairing it with a nude slip (or even a skirt slip) is a good idea. The aesthetic itself is definitely on par with ultra-feminine trends like hair bows and Mary Janes. Plus, the general vibe is reminiscent of trend-making brands like Hill House (but the dresses and nightgowns there will run you around $200, compared to $74 for Eileen West). How it feels to sleep in it: Because the fabric is a little more sheer, it's also ultra breezy, which makes it good for summer nights. Initially, I had my doubts about sleeping in this gown because of the raised Swiss Dots and the longer length. But even though it's a full-length dress, I had no issues tossing and turning in this at night. And the Swiss Dots didn't cause me any annoyance at all, even though I'm a sensitive sleeper. The perfect dress for cosplaying as a Victorian ghost This dress from Petite Plume was my nightgown gateway drug. I wore it once to bed. And then again to work from home the next day. And then right into bed again. It makes me look like a chic vintage ghost, and I love that about it. How it feels to wear as a dress: The Ava Nightgown isn't very see-through, so it's ready for the streets even with no slip (although it is still a nightgown, so it's not 100% opaque). But it's quite a versatile dress. You can wear the sleeves off the shoulder or keep the square neckline. Personally, I love how it looks off the shoulder, but I can't bring myself to wear a restricting strapless bra with a dress that's meant to be comfy and breezy. It would also look great with a thin belt to give it some shape. How it feels to sleep in it: Wonderful. It's comfortable, loose enough that nothing is tugging at you, and has no extra design details that are for aesthetics rather than comfort. It does get wrinkled in bed, though, but that's expected with 100% cotton. An embroidered pick that's fully opaque This is the only nightgown on this list that's not 100% cotton. It's a mix of cotton and linen, which is the only acceptable "cotton blend" that we will stand for. The material on this one isn't as soft and billowy as the others, but it is considerably more opaque. It's also from one of our favorite up-and-coming clothing brands, Damsen Madder, a London-based label. How it feels to wear as a dress: If you're tall, this will be more like a shirt on you. I'm just under five feet two inches, and even I could use an extra inch or two on the hem. But despite it being a little short, I still get tons of use out of it as a dress. It's what I pull on when I'm crossing the street to get a coffee or walking my dog. Plus, I love the look of the babydoll silhouette with a cute pair of Mary Janes. How it feels to sleep in it: If you want to wear it to bed, I would recommend sizing up a bit. The neckline is a little restricting, so those who thrash about in their sleep might find it a little too uncomfortable. I've also found that the material isn't as breathable as the other picks on this list, so it traps heat in a bit more.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
Parents of successful kids give support but don't micromanage
EDITOR'S NOTE: Kara Alaimo is an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her book 'Over the Influence: Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back' was published in 2024 by Alcove Press. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. When Jerry Groff's 14-year-old daughter Sarah told him she wanted to swim across a 9-mile lake one Sunday morning, he could have responded in several ways: This idea is crazy — and even dangerous. You should practice swimming more first. We already have other plans. Instead, Jerry and his son boated next to Sarah as she swam. And Jerry's wife, brother and sister-in-law drove along the lake in case Sarah needed a ride home, Susan Dominus wrote in her just-released book, 'The Family Dynamic: A Journey Into the Mystery of Sibling Success.' Sarah ended up swimming the whole lake and setting a town record that day. Today, Sarah True is a two-time Olympian and professional athlete. Her brother, Adam Groff, is a successful entrepreneur. And her sister, Lauren Groff, is an acclaimed novelist. Having parents who fostered their independence was a common theme among people who have grown up to make outsize achievements, according to Dominus, a New York Times Magazine staff writer who interviewed six families for the book. These parents 'were not afraid to let their kids fail at something that seemed really hard,' she said. 'They let their kids make their choices, even if they knew those choices would be difficult.' It's just one of the lessons parents and guardians can take from her research into raising successful kids. While the parents Dominus profiled generally supported their kids' dreams, they didn't micromanage their children's progress. 'In not one of these families were the parents overly involved in their kids' educational lives,' she said. 'They were paying attention, they were supportive, they were there.' But when they showed up for their kids' games, they didn't try to tell the coaches how to do their jobs. Instead, Dominus said, parents focused largely on providing warm, supportive homes and let people like teachers, coaches and other mentors handle the instruction and discipline of their children. In part, adults didn't 'overparent' because they themselves were busy serving as powerful examples, working hard and contributing to their communities. Generally, whether they worked outside or inside the home, they 'were in roles that they felt were meaningful,' Dominus said. While she was raising her children in Florida in the 1950s, another parent, Millicent Holifield, persuaded the state to create a nursing school for Black women. One of her children, Marilyn Holifield, chose to be one of the first students to desegregate her high school in the early '60s and went on to become a local civic leader and the first Black woman partner at a major law firm in Florida. As a Harvard Law School student, Millicent's son Bishop fought for changes to promote racial equity at the school and later convinced the state of Florida to reopen the Florida A&M University law school so more Black lawyers could be trained. Another son, Ed, became a cardiologist and public health advocate. These driven parents imparted the belief that their kids could conquer the world, too. 'There was a tremendous optimism among so many of these families,' Dominus said. 'It's one thing just to say that. But your kids know if you feel it or if you don't, and their own lives had given them reason for optimism.' That's because many of those parents had overcome difficult things 'or surprised themselves or surprised even societal expectations.' Another common theme was valuing education and being curious and open to new experiences, like travel, art and music. To have those experiences, the parents of ultra-successful siblings needed to find the right places and people. They tended to have supportive villages — literally and figuratively. 'They didn't just live in neighborhoods that offered a lot of enrichment,' Dominus said. 'They took great advantage of it.' The Holifields lived near a university in Tallahassee and made the most of it by taking their kids to local cultural events and enrolling them in art lessons, a children's theater and a journalism workshop. Other parents worked to connect their kids to successful people who could teach them skills. Ying Chen immigrated to the United States from China, worked seven days a week in her family's restaurant and wasn't fluent in English, but she cultivated relationships with accomplished local musicians she met so her children could learn to play instruments. Her son Yi became the fifth employee at Toast, a restaurant management business that went public with the biggest IPO in Boston's history. Chen's son Gang joined another notable startup, Speak, which uses AI to help people learn languages. Her daughter, Elizabeth, became a physician. And her son Devon went on to work for Amazon. Of course, we don't all need to raise CEOs or Olympic athletes. People who pour so much energy into one pursuit often have less time to invest in other aspects of their lives, Dominus found in her research for the book. 'To achieve really great things requires sacrifice — and that can be in love. It can be in quality of relationships. It can be in peace of mind, it can be in downtime, it can be in reflection,' she said. If kids set hugely ambitious goals for themselves, it's a good idea to 'remind them that there are costs associated with it.' Parents or guardians often worry about whether they're making the right decisions about things like whether to co-sleep or punish kids, but Dominus said 'these variations, it turns out, have less effect on things like personality and other kinds of outcomes than we really imagined that they do.' Instead, focus on having strong relationships with your children and, most important, Dominus said, 'don't demotivate your kid by being overly involved.' The parents Dominus profiled were the kind who didn't tell their kids they had to swim a lake but let them give it a shot when they wanted to — and were there to love and support them regardless of whether they failed or set a record. Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.
CNN
a day ago
- Health
- CNN
Parents of successful kids give support but don't micromanage
FacebookTweetLink Follow EDITOR'S NOTE: Kara Alaimo is an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Her book 'Over the Influence: Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back' was published in 2024 by Alcove Press. Follow her on Instagram, Facebook and Bluesky. When Jerry Groff's 14-year-old daughter Sarah told him she wanted to swim across a 9-mile lake one Sunday morning, he could have responded in several ways: This idea is crazy — and even dangerous. You should practice swimming more first. We already have other plans. Instead, Jerry and his son boated next to Sarah as she swam. And Jerry's wife, brother and sister-in-law drove along the lake in case Sarah needed a ride home, Susan Dominus wrote in her just-released book, 'The Family Dynamic: A Journey Into the Mystery of Sibling Success.' Sarah ended up swimming the whole lake and setting a town record that day. Today, Sarah True is a two-time Olympian and professional athlete. Her brother, Adam Groff, is a successful entrepreneur. And her sister, Lauren Groff, is an acclaimed novelist. Having parents who fostered their independence was a common theme among people who have grown up to make outsize achievements, according to Dominus, a New York Times Magazine staff writer who interviewed six families for the book. These parents 'were not afraid to let their kids fail at something that seemed really hard,' she said. 'They let their kids make their choices, even if they knew those choices would be difficult.' It's just one of the lessons parents and guardians can take from her research into raising successful kids. While the parents Dominus profiled generally supported their kids' dreams, they didn't micromanage their children's progress. 'In not one of these families were the parents overly involved in their kids' educational lives,' she said. 'They were paying attention, they were supportive, they were there.' But when they showed up for their kids' games, they didn't try to tell the coaches how to do their jobs. Instead, Dominus said, parents focused largely on providing warm, supportive homes and let people like teachers, coaches and other mentors handle the instruction and discipline of their children. In part, adults didn't 'overparent' because they themselves were busy serving as powerful examples, working hard and contributing to their communities. Generally, whether they worked outside or inside the home, they 'were in roles that they felt were meaningful,' Dominus said. While she was raising her children in Florida in the 1950s, another parent, Millicent Holifield, persuaded the state to create a nursing school for Black women. One of her children, Marilyn Holifield, chose to be one of the first students to desegregate her high school in the early '60s and went on to become a local civic leader and the first Black woman partner at a major law firm in Florida. As a Harvard Law School student, Millicent's son Bishop fought for changes to promote racial equity at the school and later convinced the state of Florida to reopen the Florida A&M University law school so more Black lawyers could be trained. Another son, Ed, became a cardiologist and public health advocate. These driven parents imparted the belief that their kids could conquer the world, too. 'There was a tremendous optimism among so many of these families,' Dominus said. 'It's one thing just to say that. But your kids know if you feel it or if you don't, and their own lives had given them reason for optimism.' That's because many of those parents had overcome difficult things 'or surprised themselves or surprised even societal expectations.' Another common theme was valuing education and being curious and open to new experiences, like travel, art and music. To have those experiences, the parents of ultra-successful siblings needed to find the right places and people. They tended to have supportive villages — literally and figuratively. 'They didn't just live in neighborhoods that offered a lot of enrichment,' Dominus said. 'They took great advantage of it.' The Holifields lived near a university in Tallahassee and made the most of it by taking their kids to local cultural events and enrolling them in art lessons, a children's theater and a journalism workshop. Other parents worked to connect their kids to successful people who could teach them skills. Ying Chen immigrated to the United States from China, worked seven days a week in her family's restaurant and wasn't fluent in English, but she cultivated relationships with accomplished local musicians she met so her children could learn to play instruments. Her son Yi became the fifth employee at Toast, a restaurant management business that went public with the biggest IPO in Boston's history. Chen's son Gang joined another notable startup, Speak, which uses AI to help people learn languages. Her daughter, Elizabeth, became a physician. And her son Devon went on to work for Amazon. Of course, we don't all need to raise CEOs or Olympic athletes. People who pour so much energy into one pursuit often have less time to invest in other aspects of their lives, Dominus found in her research for the book. 'To achieve really great things requires sacrifice — and that can be in love. It can be in quality of relationships. It can be in peace of mind, it can be in downtime, it can be in reflection,' she said. If kids set hugely ambitious goals for themselves, it's a good idea to 'remind them that there are costs associated with it.' Parents or guardians often worry about whether they're making the right decisions about things like whether to co-sleep or punish kids, but Dominus said 'these variations, it turns out, have less effect on things like personality and other kinds of outcomes than we really imagined that they do.' Instead, focus on having strong relationships with your children and, most important, Dominus said, 'don't demotivate your kid by being overly involved.' The parents Dominus profiled were the kind who didn't tell their kids they had to swim a lake but let them give it a shot when they wanted to — and were there to love and support them regardless of whether they failed or set a record. Get inspired by a weekly roundup on living well, made simple. Sign up for CNN's Life, But Better newsletter for information and tools designed to improve your well-being.
Chicago Tribune
5 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Hickory Ridge flood control project underway in Merrillville
Some 400 residents in and around the former Hickory Ridge apartment complex are getting 2.73 million gallons of water storage — and lower flood insurance bills — via a partnership between the Town of Merrillville and Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission. The 8.4-acre trench to the west of The Ridge apartments, on 57th and Hayes Street, has been under construction for several months and is expected to be completed within a month or so, Merrillville Stormwater Utility Executive Director Matt Lake said Thursday during an onsite groundbreaking ceremony. The next time they're out on the scene, they may need to hold a ribbon-cutting, he joked. 'The purpose of this project is to provide a substantially higher level of flood control,' Lake said. 'This project provides about 2.73 million gallons of storage as well as improved conveyances and rehabilitation of a pump system, all combined to assist this area.' The project has been many years in the making – 17 years, to be exact, Lake said. In September 2008, the trajectory of flood mitigation changed in two days when nine inches of rain deluged Northwest Indiana. 'Stormwater mitigation was a relatively new thing, and we weren't required to do a lot of things,' he said. '(After that storm) we really started taking flood control much more seriously.' The town started acquiring the easements it needed for The Ridge project — never an easy, short task, Lake and Burke Engineering Vice President of Water Resources Darren Olson agreed — and in 2014, it created a Stormwater Master Plan with about $20 million worth of mitigation projects that the town has been checking off one by one, Lake said. The Ridge project, at $2.1 million, is one of the bigger ones. 'Everyone does stormwater master plans now; having a road map, especially for big-dollar projects, is important,' Lake said. When completed, the project will have replaced all the underground pipes with bigger ones as well as place the pump and lift station mostly underground, Lake and Olson said. Project contractor Dyer Construction will the redo the road and install sidewalks along the length of the project. While keeping water out of residents' basements — and in the case of The Ridge tenants, their whole apartments — is the big goal, helping them keep their flood insurance is a bonus, Lake said. Projects like the new pump system give that area of Merrillville a lower rating on the National Flood Insurance Program's Community Rating System, which means lower flood insurance rates. Lake credited the Merrillville Town Council and Stormwater Board for 'making the tough decisions but gave special thanks to the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission, which gave the town $932,168 in cost-share dollars for the project. The rest of it, he said, was paid for purely through town stormwater fees. 'We didn't bond out at all for this – in fact, our bonds are all paid off,' he said. Council President Rick Bella, D-5, said he was happy to see it's almost finished and that he supports any project that benefits residents.
Vancouver Sun
6 days ago
- Sport
- Vancouver Sun
Pros vs. Joes: The debate shaping Canada's future flag football Olympic hopefuls
Caked in mud, clothes soaked from sweat and a January rain that drenched Tampa Bay, Hunter Lake decided it was the perfect moment to propose to his girlfriend, Chantelle Gangoso. With whistles from their Van City Vice flag football teammates and the games going on behind them at the 2025 World Flag Football Championships in Tampa Bay, he dropped to his knee and surprised her with a ring. Couples that play together, stay together, as the saying goes. So it's one ring down for Lake and Gangoso, but there are six others they'd like to add — the Olympic rings. 'I'd never even thought about being an Olympian at all until I heard flag football was going to be a thing,' Gangoso, a Vancouver native, said of the new 2028 Summer Games sport. 'It'd be cool if we could go together.' 'That could be a dream come true, to have any part of it,' added Lake. 'Man, I'm down to even be the water boy for Team Canada, if they'd have me.' A post shared by Chantelle Gangoso (@cgangoso) The footballing couple shared their story at a camp for Football Canada at McLeod Athletic Park in Langley last month, where the best B.C. flaggers tried to put themselves on the map to be part of the Olympic team. The series of camps across the country culminated with around 85 men and women being invited to the final camp this weekend at the Université de Montréal, where the 12-person men's and women's squads will be selected. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. TSN football analyst Paul LaPolic, a former CFL coach, is the head coach of the men's team, while longtime player and coach Rachel Lessard takes the reins of the women's team. The official route to the Summer Games in Los Angeles has yet to be announced. Preliminary framework has the top three teams from the 2026 World Championships — which Duesseldorf, Germany, is likely to host next year — making the cut automatically. A second 'repechage' tournament in 2027 will see three more teams make it to L.A. First notable action for the 12-person Canadian squads will be the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China, this summer for the women, while the men will head to Panama in September for the IFAF Americas Flag 2025 Continental Championships . Flag football jumped back into the headlines earlier this week when NFL owners voted to allow players to compete in the Summer Games. With NFL training camps opening a week after the Olympic tournament wraps, there would be no conflict with the NFL schedule. Not so for the CFL, which would be in the middle of its season when the tournament is on. After months of official milquetoast backing for the idea of CFL players in the Games — the head office offering up phrasing like 'leveraging resources' and 'an opportunity to grow the game' — new CFL commissioner Stewart Johnston says only he's trying to make it happen. 'I would love for CFL players to be competing at the global stage of the Olympics,' Johnston said Monday. 'I'm a huge believer in the importance of flag football when it comes to the growth of the game in our country. We don't have it quite as easy as that league down south in terms of managing our schedule, that'd be possibly an interruption. We're looking at a number of ways we might be able to handle it. I can tell you, my motivation is to get our players there.' Combined with the backing of the CFL Players' Union, it now seems there may be some pros who could be competing with these Joes. Darrell Doucette, who captained the U.S. team that won the 2022 world title and was undefeated the 2023 Continental Americas tournament, has long labelled himself as the Patrick Mahomes of flag, and pushed back at the idea of NFL inclusion pushing him out. 'I think it's disrespectful that they just automatically assume that they're able to just join the Olympic team because of the person that they are,' Doucette told The Athletic . 'They didn't help grow this game to get to the Olympics.' Doucette has a point. While his record is far more impressive than his throwing mechanics , they helped build the game. And the 12 men who come out of Montreal this weekend will form the base group for Canada, the ones who will start the process. Why should pros get to come in and reap the reward of their work? LaPolice, whose CFL coaching career spans three decades, said his experience shows that teams are always changing, and the door for pro players to grace Canada's roster isn't locked. 'Certainly, all those scenarios are a long time away,' he said Friday, before hopping on a train for the weekend camp. 'My experience as a professional coach is, it's day to day, week to week, season to season. We expect every year a roster should improve and continue to grow. 'We've got who we identified as the 35 best guys in the country, and we need those guys. We need to take those guys down to 12, and then go to the United States. We have a tournament in the United States in June, get some reps. Then in September, we go to Panama City, to see where we are from our world ranking (perspective) and that's kind of what the focus is. 'We're just starting this. … We want to start building across the country next year, more evaluations, and go across city to city and make sure we do our best to continue to build their roster. … This is Year 1. The Olympics aren't for a couple years. We just want to start our process and start getting better.' The profile of elite flag and tackle players share some similarities, though the games are as different as three-on-three basketball is from its full-court brethren. On one hand, a quarterback read is a quarterback read. Players assess the field the same: Is it man defence? Is it zone? Where is the hole in the zone for receivers to sit down in? But Olympic flag is five-on-five, with a significantly smaller field: 70 yards long by 25 yards wide. You get eight downs to score, four downs to get to midfield. No punts, and balls turned over on downs go back to the defence's five-yard line. Flat-out speedsters don't have the same advantage they would on a larger field. Quickness and catch radius — whether by height or jumping ability — rule the offence. Separation is measured as much vertically as it is by crips routes and footwork. Pass-rushers — a maximum of two — start seven yards from the line of scrimmage and explode toward the quarterback from the snap. Length and lateral quickness are their main strengths. Tackling a player is different from trying to yank a flag off a Shakira-hipped offensive player who can dip and dodge, wriggle and spin. Those who play tackle football tend to run with the ball 'high and tight,' while flag players are less concerned with ball security — there are no fumbles, with balls hitting the ground being declared dead — and instead focus on elusiveness and avoiding tackles. 'We want the best athletes out there, but we're also trying to build a program that's not going to be just professional athletes. We'd love to see them represent Canada, but it's not going to just happen for 2028, right?' said Katie Miyazaki, Football Canada's director of high performance. 'If there are some professionals, or former professionals, that want to put in the time and learn the game and play the game, we'd absolutely love for them to be part of our program. But again, we're trying to build a program, not just send a team. 'We don't truly know what the best flag football athlete looks like. We're still developing that profile, looking at it from an analytical lens.' Warren Craney, who ran Football Canada's player-identification camps across the country, wasn't ready to wade into the pros-versus-joes debate. What he looks for in the camps is a 'pop' — someone who separates themselves from the pack both literally and figuratively, and also demonstrates a situational football IQ. Basketball players make good converts to the sport, as they have all of those attributes, plus good hands and an understanding of offensive timing, passing, and zone defences. 'It's very difficult question. The one thing I will say is: there's a reason they're playing professional football,' he said, adding he watched former Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Antony Auclair — who won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady but retired last year — at an ID camp in Quebec City earlier this year. 'He just moved differently than everyone else on the field. It's a difficult question, but I think in the end, we need to find a way to get our best football players, our best flag football players, on that field, whether they're professional athletes or whether they're professional flag players. 'The bottom line is I've coached high performance for a long time: talent is talent. Men, women, flag, tackle … talent is talent. 'I can walk into a gym and grab a basketball player that's never played football in his life, and after six weeks he could be a starting defensive end or he could be a starting receiver,' said Craney, who coached at York University and also coached Canada's junior team to U19 World Cup gold medals in 2012 and 2016. 'Football's a late-entry sport. It's not like hockey, where you got to have the skates on at four years old. These guys can come in, and with a great coach and a great program, they could get it done. I think flag players can play tackle. I think tackle players can play flag. Is there gonna be a learning curve? One hundred per cent. But again, I'm gonna go back to talent is talent.' The women's team won't have the same pros-versus-joes issue, without any football leagues to draw upon — every one to start up faded away, including the schmaltzy Lingerie Football League and the Women's Professional American Football League of the late '60s and '70s. (Of note: The WPFL boasted the Canadian Belles from Toronto, who won the World Championship the league's final year .) It's put even more emphasis on the ID camps for Football Canada to develop a player pool. Flag has exploded in popularity as a gateway into the sport for women, and an alternative form for those parents and youth concerned about the long-term effects of the physical damage the sport can cause. When Lake, Gangoso and their Van City Vice team went to Tampa in January, they were just one of 1,268 teams from 13 countries in categories from youth to adults elite. There were 83 teams from Canada, but the U.S. still dominates, with 357 coming from Florida alone for that tournament. The five-against-five format has only been played in Canada for about two years, with many adult rec players still playing seven aside or touch, and in pop-up leagues that aren't under Football Canada's umbrella. 'It's a good introduction into football, and I say this especially on the women's and girls' side, because it's becoming a space where they're welcome,' said Mizayaki. 'Tackle is great — it's a sport for everyone of all body types, which is very, very true — but having the confidence to want to set foot in that space has to be set up in the right way. 'It's just such a great sport. And I think it is the future of football … It's just such an inclusive game that you can play all over the world.' The road for flag to be included at the 2028 games started when it was featured at the 2022 World Games, an international multi-event tournament that has disciplines not contested in the Olympic Games. They often serve as test runs for potential Olympic inclusion. The NFL already had a relationship with the International Olympic Committee, and they share several corporate sponsors and companies. Behind the scenes, sources said the NFL already agreed previously to make NFL players available for the Olympics, and funnelled millions in 'activation money' to make the event a success. There are Olympic fates the sport looks to avoid. Raygun's iconically disastrous performance for Australia at the 2024 Games ensured breakdancing would never return to the six rings. Softball has yo-yoed in and out of Olympic participation — it will be in L.A. in 2028 after missing Paris 2024 — due to the American domination. The International Federation of American Football hopes flag will be a continuing participant, and is focusing on details like ensuring refereeing is consistent and harmonized throughout different regions. It hopes to follow the path that snowboarding took, going from maverick outside sport banned by many ski resorts to an indispensable Olympic discipline, surviving the culture clash to find success. Flag is at the beginning of its journey, just as LaPolice is a the beginning of his journey with flag. He willingly admits his otherwise-impressive coaching curriculum vitae has a distinct lack of experience where flag is concerned, apart from two years of coaching his son's team. As a member of the committee tasked with hiring a coach for Football Canada, LaPolice decided to step down and throw his own hat in the ring, the job too attractive to watch from afar. He's thrown himself into the job. The first step: research and video. He spent the weeks leading up to his official announcement watching Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Italy, the Philippines, every nation he could find video on. He's leaned on the flag community, picked the brains of figures like Mason Nyhus — a former U.S. flag football standout, now on the coaching staff of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. The weekends see LaPolice locked in his office from 7 a.m. to dinner, sketching out plays for the smaller flag field. Over the long weekend in Kingston, while reporting on the Ottawa Redblacks training camp in the morning, he spent the afternoon at Richardson Stadium at the Elite Flag Nationals watching, talking and learning. 'I did have some apprehension. I don't know the game maybe as well as others. They're like, 'LaPo, you'll know the game eventually. It just takes a little bit of reps. You'll study film and offensive football. You just got to get experience with it,' he said. 'I think what maybe some of the (national team) flag guys will appreciate hopefully is the attention to detail. Whether it be from playbooks, how we design things, how we talk to the quarterback, how we break things down. We just want to try to increase that level for everybody in the organization as we start. 'What I'm excited about is, I chase curiosity and I choose to try to get better. And as a veteran coach in the CFL, I was always trying, 'How can I do no-huddle? How can I do different things offensively? This is certainly right up my alley from creativity standpoint, but I've got a lot of learning to do. 'I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'm looking forward to being with a bunch of kids and talking football and starting to learn about scheme and strategy. 'It's a whole new world.' jadams@ @
