We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Cassie Furler. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Cassie below.
Alright, Cassie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I’ve always been an athlete and growing up in high school I wanted to play every sport I could. In middle school I wanted to play tackle football and my parents said nope on a rope.
Fast forward my senior year in high school I got asked to play in the powder puff flag football juniors vs seniors game. I fell in love with the game and continued to keep playing.
After college I kept up with it and met my husband playing. When we decided to start a family I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after I had our first baby. I started helping a flag football tournament owner behind the scenes to do something until I found something more permanent. 7 years later I was still with him and running the tournaments with him.
I wanted to focus on growing youth. There weren’t enough tournaments for youth and my daughter who was 7 was aching to play.
I decided to start my own tournament circuit and named it Rise Up Flag Football. A week after I launched my company a National group reached out to me to run their youth side and sanction my company with theirs. That was in 2018 and now we are a force to be reckoned with.
I run a girl’s league in the fall and spring in between my travel for tournaments and we’re launching our second league in the fall of 2025.
Cassie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Staying organized, being a flag football player, coach and mom is what sets me apart from everyone else.
I take my knowledge of the game from each aspect and put it right back into my events.
I hire staff that’s likeminded and we’re like family. We support each other in faith, family and football.
We’re growing and working on getting flag football in schools nationwide.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
The person I worked for was not a good person. He was very devious and cunning. He would use his faith to win people over and then turn on them in a heartbeat if he felt threatened. It was a very toxic environment and thankfully God stripped me from him.
After we parted ways I had referees, coaches and players asking me what I was doing next and whatever it was that they’d follow.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Everything my former employer did I had to convince people that I wasn’t like him. I had to show them that I was here for the growth of the sport and not growth of my pockets.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://USAFLAG.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/riseupflagfootball?igsh=bHNlbDNseHJ5cm8z&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BsDmrh5bF/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Image Credits
Ryan Furler