CAYDEN Close’s Olympic dreams are well and truly alive after being selected to the first Australian flag football team.

The eighteen-year-old from Coffs Harbour was in Sydney for the announcement that flag football and five other sports will be added to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Close said it was an awesome experience to be there for the historic announcement.

“I was there for the announcement of the six new sports for the 2028 Olympics over in the USA, so they had me there representing flag football on behalf of our Australian team,” he said.

“It was awesome there were so many people there and I was just like wow, a bit star studded.”

The former Coffs Harbour Comets player is looking forward to fulfilling his Olympic dream in 2028.

“I’ve got five years to grow with the sport and hopefully maintain my spot and look at that Olympic dream of course,” he said.

He now turns his attention to making his Australian debut.

“There’s the international debut for Australia over in Malaysia for the Oceania Cup in flag football, playing against countries like Japan, New Zealand, Thailand, and India,” he said.

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) Asia Oceania Flag Football Championships will be held on 27-29 October in Malaysia.

The IFAF Flag Football World Championship will be held in Finland next year.

Flag football is based on American football, but instead of tackling players, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the player with the ball.

By Aiden BURGESS