Canadian flag football teams gearing up for LA 2028 qualification process

When Maxym Lavallée was drafted by the Montreal Alouettes in 2023, he would not have believed you if you told him he could be an Olympian within five years.

“It’s so crazy. Like, in the football world, we never thought we would able to be an Olympian at all because it was not in the Olympics at all," the 27-year-old from Gatineau, Que., said. "But now being part of this, it’s like, ‘Oh s---, I could be an Olympian,’ and all the memories I had watching the Olympics, like, now I can be a part of this majestic event."

Lavallée now plays for Canada’s men’s flag football team, with aspirations of helping the squad compete at Los Angeles 2028, when the sport will make its Olympic debut.

A two-time attendee of Alouettes training camp, he did not make the roster in either instance and never stepped foot on a CFL field. He thought that spelled the end of his football career, and after 20 years steeped in the violence of tackle football — he once played 38 games in a six-month stretch — he was at peace with the end of his journey.

“My approach, my training was not focused on me being a better football player to play at that kind of level,” Lavallée said. “So I didn’t change something — I changed everything. I’m kind of a freak on that part.”

Then, pal Anthony Auclair — a former NFL tight end — came calling.

Flag football’s profile rising ahead of Olympics

Lavallée had played on Auclair’s flag football team at Laval University in the year prior to his second training-camp stint, his first taste of the sport. The ex-NFLer saw something in Lavallée — and he thought Team Canada might, too.

“Auclair said, ‘I signed you up for Team Canada’s ID camp. You should try it.’ And I was like ‘Ah, I could, I don’t know.’ And (eventually) I was