Universal Speed Rating is proud to announce a new partnership with iFlag (Formerly USA Flag) to introduce verified athletic performance testing at major flag football events.
Through this partnership, Universal Speed Rating’s nationwide Speed Lab Community will deliver professional combine-style testing experiences at select iFlag tournaments, helping bring verified performance data and athlete development tools to one of the fastest-growing sports in the world.
The partnership will begin at two national tournaments in 2026, creating the foundation for a long-term collaboration focused on athlete development, verified performance data, and a unified performance standard for flag football.
This collaboration brings together two organizations focused on advancing the future of athlete development. iFlag has built a growing national platform for flag football competition and events, while Universal Speed Rating has developed a nationwide network of performance coaches and a trusted system for capturing and benchmarking athletic performance.
Together, the organizations aim to introduce a new level of performance visibility and development opportunity for flag football athletes.
The partnership will begin at two major iFlag tournaments:
May 22–24
Dallas, Texas
At each event, athletes will have the opportunity to participate in the iFlag Combine, a professional testing experience designed to measure speed, change of direction, and power.
Athletes participating in the combine will receive verified performance metrics that can be used to benchmark their development and compare performance against athletes nationwide, as well as in their own digital profile.
“This partnership with Universal Speed Rating represents an important step forward for the sport of flag football,” said Travis Burnett, CEO of iFlag. “As the game continues to grow nationally and globally, providing athletes with verified performance data helps bring greater visibility, credibility, and development opportunities to the next generation of players.”
A key component of the partnership is the Speed Lab Community, Universal Speed Rating’s nationwide network of elite performance coaches.
Speed Labs will support iFlag events by:
This testing will generate verified performance data that helps athletes better understand their strengths and areas for development while introducing a standardized evaluation system within the sport.
For Speed Labs, this represents a significant opportunity to further strengthen their position as trusted performance authorities in their local markets and build long-term athlete relationships beyond event day.
A core goal of the partnership is to bring data-driven athlete development to flag football and help create a unified language for evaluating speed and athleticism in flag football.
Universal Speed Rating’s technology platform will allow performance results from events to feed into a growing national performance database, creating a standardized benchmark for athlete performance.
Speed and acceleration are widely viewed as the most important physical traits in flag football, and establishing verified metrics across events creates new opportunities for athlete development and recruiting visibility.
“We’re excited to partner with iFlag to introduce verified performance testing to the flag football community,” said Drew Zwiers, Co-founder of Universal Speed Rating. “By bringing trusted testing standards and a national performance database to these events, we can give athletes meaningful data to track their development and create a consistent benchmark for speed and athleticism across the sport.”
Together, the organizations aim to create the first national performance data infrastructure for flag football, helping athletes track progress, improve performance, and gain greater visibility.
If you are a performance coach and want to learn what becoming a Speed Lab will do for your facility, Book a free strategy call with our team and we’ll walk through what it means to be a Speed Lab.