Club Spotlight: Under the Lights Metro Columbia

Flag Football Finder's Club Spotlight series sits down with the coaches and organizers building youth flag football programs across the country. In this feature, we talk with Farrington Huguenin, the operator behind Under the Lights Columbia Metro Youth Flag Football League in Columbia, South Carolina - a league that went from 40 kids to nearly 160 in under two years.

A Phone Call From a Teammate

Like a lot of great things in sports, this one started with a phone call.

Farrington Huguenin was back home in Columbia, South Carolina, looking for ways to give back to the community, when a former NFL teammate reached out with an idea.

"It was all from a call from a friend I actually played in the NFL with named Ruben Carter. We were teammates in Miami and he told me he's got this organization called Under the Lights and I should get started in it too."

Huguenin connected with the Under the Lights leadership, and everything lined up. Flag football wasn't in Columbia at the time. He jumped in head first.

"First year started off like 40 kids and then we exploded this year with leaning towards 160 kids."

The league launched in October 2024 and has run consistent spring and summer seasons since. And one thing caught Huguenin off guard early - the soccer players.

"We get a ton of soccer players that play both sports at the same time and their footwork is immaculate. You take the tackling aspect out of it and the soccer players kind of succeed in the flag football world because of it."

From the NFL to the Youth Field

Huguenin isn't just another league operator. He's a Columbia native who played at Dreher High School, then at the University of Kentucky under Joker Phillips and Mark Stoops, before going on to play for the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

That background gives him a lens most coaches don't have.

"I've seen football just about at every level you can see it at. And I do understand in that youth aspect that not everybody's built for tackle football."

He sees the preparation side of flag as nearly identical to tackle - route running, footwork, defensive back technique, scheming around different skill levels. The difference is what you take away.

"You just take the tackling out of it. You take the front seven out of it. And it becomes a fun, safe sport. But you still got the big play aspect. They go up and catch a ball, they juke three kids at once, and they're going crazy."

He paused to laugh about one kid in particular: "We even had a kid juke out a whole team and score in the wrong end zone. That's just the funny part of it."

Confidence First, Competition Second

When it comes to coaching philosophy, Huguenin keeps it simple. Confidence comes first.

"We focus on the kids' confidence. These kids got to believe in themselves first and foremost. You get some kids that's just putting their toe in the water as far as football. Some parents are trying out flag first before they move to tackle. It's a gateway now."

Every kid in the league gets a chance to play quarterback. Coaches are expected to instill life lessons alongside football fundamentals - learning to work with teammates you don't know, bouncing back after a bad play, believing you belong on the field.

"I harp to my coaches on making sure that kid has enough confidence to be the quarterback. If you get beat, hey, so what? Next play."

That doesn't mean things aren't competitive. The league opens up fields for two to three practices per week, and by the time championship weekend rolls around, the stakes are real.

"When they see the rings and they see the trophies at the end that Unrivaled Sports sends, that just makes the stakes a whole lot higher. You see some kids with low confidence - by the end of the season they're spinning the ball, getting touchdowns, and dancing in the end zone."

Building Trust on the Ground

The league serves ages three through 14, including a new "Tiny Touchdowns" division for three- to five-year-olds that launched this year. Huguenin has future plans to expand into girls flag football and eventually dabble in high school, but he's focused on growing what's working first.

When it comes to attracting families, Huguenin doesn't rely on algorithms. He's a boots-on-the-ground operator.

"I'm a good old-fashioned boots on the ground type of guy. You got to get out in the community. They got to trust you. They got to see the product they're getting. I like to look people in the eye. I always tell them, it's like selling CDs out the back of the trunk. I'll jump out anywhere, any place."

He's partnered with local businesses - Flight, a trampoline park in the area, and even landed a Coca-Cola sponsorship for one of his free clinics. Word of mouth through schools has been another big driver.

"Nothing worked better than attending the events where there's kids and handing them a flyer and just having a happy face. That's been the number one key."

The free clinics have become a signature of the program. The most recent one drew close to 200 kids and featured former NFL players - old teammates and roommates who come back to pour into the next generation.

"My first free clinic was probably 39 kids. This year I had to shut the doors. It was close to 200 kids, with first-rounders, second-rounders coming back."

When Two Teams Is Enough

Growth hasn't come without challenges. Early on, the biggest hurdle was simply getting enough families to commit to a new program nobody knew yet.

"It was a new program to start off, so people didn't know what it was going to be like. You get a number of kids and you got to push back your start date because you don't have the amount to make a team."

In the younger division, they ended up with just two teams. Instead of canceling the season, Huguenin ran with it - and got creative.

"Those two teams had fun. They had challenges. It wasn't just flag. They had tug-of-war. I threw that in there too. They played each other for an eight-week season. You saw kids getting better. We focused on that aspect and the parents came every week and they loved it."

He added obstacle courses and other non-flag activities that kept the youngest players engaged and developing, even when the roster didn't look like a traditional league yet.

"Although it was the same two teams playing each other, you saw a different highlight play. You saw kids' growth. You saw kids' development."

What's Next for UTL Columbia Metro

Huguenin's vision is straightforward: more kids, more coaches, and eventually, a national tournament in Columbia.

"Bring them all. We got the space to accommodate all the kids. We want more volunteer coaches and we want more staff to get in there, people that actually want to pour into these kids."

Columbia's geography gives him an edge - it's right in the center of the Southeast, making it a natural tournament hub. And with Unrivaled Sports providing a pathway to events in Canton, Ohio, and Tampa Bay, his championship teams already have somewhere to go.

The league runs on volunteer coaches - many of them former players or local high school coaches who want to stay involved with kids. There's a coaching incentive for coaches who bring their own team, but commitment matters more than compensation.

"If they make that type of commitment, especially being a volunteer, they hold a different value, a different standard instead of just being paid."

Find Under the Lights Columbia Metro on Flag Football Finder

If you're in the Columbia, South Carolina area and looking for a quality youth flag football experience, Under the Lights Columbia Metro is running games for the next few weeks.

Follow them on Instagram at @underthelights_columbiaflag and check out their league at uaflag.com.

Looking for youth flag football teams near you? Browse hundreds of programs across the country on Flag Football Finder.

The FFF Club Spotlight series features conversations with the coaches and organizers building youth flag football programs across the country. Want your club featured? Reach out to us on Instagram.

‍