In March of 2024, Mike Zlatoper started Marin Heat, a co-educational flag football organization for middle schoolers. What started as just three teams of under-12, under-11 and under-9-year-old boys has now expanded to 10 teams, four of which are girls’, that practice once a week and play monthly tournaments. The sport has been a hit, as over 250 kids registered to try out for the program.
Raised by a father who served 35 years in the military, Zlatoper embraced a life of service from an early age. With flag football, he saw a way to combine helping kids better their lives with his love of coaching.
“I just felt like I could do more. Coaching is something I feel can really accelerate kids’ lives. The ability to [do that] in some capacity fulfills that feeling inside of me that my dad ingrained in me,” Zlatoper said.
While he recently started Marin Heat, Zlatoper has been coaching for over a decade through his own kids’ sports teams, all while being the president of Mekanism, an advertising company. His advertising expertise has been put to use in Marin Heat with their vibrant uniforms and graphics which appeal to young players.
“We literally have the coolest flag football uniforms I’ve ever seen. When we go to tournaments, people are like, ‘Oh my God. Those are awesome,’” Zlatoper said.
Marin Heat was a success, as 115 of the 250 kids who tried out were invited to join the team for the upcoming season. Their weekly practices allow for kids to become more familiar with the sport, while still continuing other extracurricular commitments. While kids may have basketball, volleyball or other sports throughout the week they are still able to test out their love for flag football by spending a couple hours on Saturday at practice.
Annaliese Pyle is an eighth grader at Hall Middle School who has always loved football but never had the opportunity to play until Zlatoper started Marin Heat.
“Since second grade, it’s been my favorite sport,” Pyle said. “A lot of [my friends] have liked football for a while, but [hadn’t] gotten the chance to try it because there [had] never been a [girls] team.”
Pyle spoke out in support of a potential girls’ flag football team at Redwood. Zlatoper talked to the athletic director and was told there was no team because there wasn’t a vocal demand for one. Part of Zlatoper’s hopes for Marin Heat is that it leads to more than just middle school flag football.
“My goal with this program is [for] all the seventh-grade girls we have to get them super hooked [on flag football], and demand [a team] at Redwood. [Then] we’re going to get it to be a junior varsity and varsity sport,” Zlatoper said.