PLAINWELL, Mich. — Almost every child has played tag at one point or another, but flag tag is completely different.
In the words of nine-year-old Devin Bushouse, it's two sports put together.
"If they like flag football and tag, they'll like this," Bushouse said. "They kind of combined those two sports."
Seth Ranney of Plainwell has always wanted to start a business, but he didn't know it would be one so unique after starting Ranney's Flag Tag earlier this year.
"Flag tag has been on my mind for a while now," he told FOX 17. "I just tried to figure out how we can get that into a dynamic sport for kids."
And that mission was clearly accomplished.
Ranney began building boxes and other objects back in January for their agility course, which can help the evader get away from the chaser.
The course dimensions can range for different age groups but starts at around 20 feet by 20 feet for the five- to eight-year-old age group with a 20-second timer for each individual one-vs.-one game.
"The main goal is eye, foot and hand coordination," Ranney said.
Not only is flag tag a way for the kids to stay active, it's also a way for them to work on speed, agility, stamina and the ability to make quick decisions.
"It's one versus one, so they can get a little bit intimidated at first, but they'll start breaking through that on where they need to go."
Kids from age 5 all the way to age 15 can take part, and they all say they've already learned a lot.
"You just have to pull the flags," chuckled five-year-old Tate Aernie.
Nine-year-old Jaden Ayriss says he's learning tricks, including going under the bars and how to use the boxes to his advantage.
"It's different with all of the obstacles and the small boxes; you have to do your strategy and zoom right in," he explained.
For 12-year-old Alayna Ranney, Seth's daughter, she says it's amazing to see how this idea started and where it has already grown.
"I really didn't know if this was going to work," she laughed, "but it really has, and it feels really good to be a part of a community thing like this."
Ranney's Flag Tag is so unique, in fact, that they're the only ones in the United States running an agility tag course the way they are.
Seth is confident the future is bright.
"I see a huge building one day where we can have multiple courses where we can twist and turn them and rotate new equipment in and out and also have parkour training that's completely separate."
You can find more information on Ranney Flag Tag on their website.
