Andrew Gibson chuckles as he recalls returning home covered in bumps and bruises after playing full-contact American football in the park with pals - minus any safety equipment.
Now, 15 years on, those days of reckless teenage tackling and playing Madden on the PlayStation seem a million miles away as he celebrates flag football's future inclusion in the Olympics.
Gibson, 31, is chairman of the Glasgow Hornets and Killer Bees flag football teams and coaches in the GB set-up in the once niche sport which is now garnering major attention worldwide.
The small-sided sport follows the basic principles of American football but instead of crunching collisions, two flags worn on the hip offer a non-contact tacking method.
After years in relative obscurity, the Olympic Games in 2028 will see fast-paced flag football scheduled in Los Angeles.
For Gibson, a professional qualifications officer for an accountancy body by day, it's a dream come true to see the sport recognised officially.
"I don't think in my wildest dreams I could have thought it would be in the Olympics," he said. "I have seen a lot of effort to formalise it and make it appear more professional, but we've still got steps to take.
"It has been kind of murmured about for ages. It's just we've been waiting for it to be official. Once the NFL got involved, I think we knew it was almost like a matter of time.
"Already we are getting people who have had Olympic aspirations from other sports enquiring. They might have been athletes at track or something like that and all of a sudden they are interested. We are getting some contact guys interested in trying the sport as well.
"At times it [flag football] has almost been a sort of maligned version of an already niche sport and now, all of a sudden it has been given a lot of credibility.
"We knew this all along, how great the game is to play, how fast it is, how tactical it is. It caters to loads of different people, loads of different ages and loads of different sizes.
"There has been lots of interest which is really good to see and I'm really excited to see where that is going."
Defence coach Gibson, who also coaches at the East Kilbride Pirates, first took up the sport as an alternative to the makeshift American football matchdays in the park which did not receive the seal of approval from his mother as he often returned home hurt.
However, he quickly fell in love with flag football leading to his becoming entrenched in the sporting community both as a player, coach and chairman.
"It's definitely a sport that once somebody watches once - and I get this a lot because we self-referee and officiate - people and bystanders are always interested in what is going on," said Gibson of flag football.
"They get really invested really quickly and by the second half they are almost like avid fans, it's crazy."
What is Flag Football?
At its core, flag football is a non-contact version of American football played in small-sided teams on a smaller pitch.
The fast-paced up-and-coming sport - played over two 20-minute halves - sees players wear two flags which defenders aim to pull free from their opponent in place of a contact tackle to stop attacks.
Like in the NFL, the game's objective is to score touchdowns by reaching the opposition's goal area via running plays or carefully coordinated throwing plays from the quarterback.
"There is a position for everyone," said Gibson. "As long as you can catch a ball, if you can't catch a ball then you can tackle, it's fine there is a position for you at flag football, it's great."
"I probably start of saying it's a bit like American football but then quickly say it's non-contact and we have flags on the side of our hips with the belt," explained GB flag football athlete Max Verlint.
"We play on smaller pitches and it tends to be five-a-side, that's also going to be the Olympic format.
"Overall, flag football is quite an easy sport to understand, it's relatively straightforward in how we play it but if you go into it in more depth then it becomes more complicated."
As far as up-and-coming stars in the sport go, Scotland's Abi Coleman is right up there.
The talented teenager - still in sixth year and working part-time at McDonalds - already has a gold medal in her back pocket in the sport.
Aged 16, Coleman was selected in a seven-strong women's under-17 side to represent GB at the IFAF European Junior Flag Football Championships in Italy.
And what makes it all the more impressive, is Coleman wasn't even playing in her preferred position for large spells, instead drafted from her comfortable defensive berth into quarterback.
"It has been my first year with GB, it was all last-minute," said Coleman who also plays for Glasgow Hornets and East Kilbride Pirates.
"I honestly couldn't have done this without my mum because she funded it - I did put a little bit in from my work but not as much as her. It was all last-minute.
"I played QB and I was on defence because we only had seven players. For offence I was QB, I don't know why but we did it!"
Coleman started playing flag aged 11 after looking for a new sporting avenue after opting against playing traditional football.
Since then, she's never looked back competing in numerous flag football sides while also playing contact American football.
"I started because I heard it through my uncle because he played it when he was younger," said Coleman of her journey to the sport. "I played football at first but then I was trying to find something else I enjoyed.
"I started playing with a team in Hamilton when I was 11 but it didn't all start getting to where I was until I was 16 and I was able to play with the women's teams and GB under-17 trials were out.
"It all kicked off and now we're here, I love it!"
With youth, ability and a flawless gold medal haul from her first outing with GB, Coleman is certainly in with a major shout of making history in five years at the first Games where flag football is on the agenda.
On a possible Olympic experience, Coleman added: "Honestly, coming into the sport I was just having fun and enjoying playing with my team-mates.
"After Italy it was expectant to happen that the Olympics was going to come but knowing that it is happening in real life, it's mad!
"It's something I can drive towards, a goal for me."
For Max Verlint, the journey to becoming a GB athlete and Olympic hopeful has spanned a couple of extra years - and a few more countries.
The revenue controller, 31, picked up flag football almost 12 years ago in England shortly after moving from his birthplace in the Netherlands.
Having competed in various sports throughout his life, Verlint tried out flag football in Sheffield in 2012. Since then, he's played for clubs in London and now at Glasgow Hornets and for the GB team.
Verlint, who plays mainly in defence as a corner or safety, rose through the ranks at a national level as he awaited a passport before being allowed to compete in the GB Gold team.
"I have played for GB for quite a few years now," said Verlint. "I started with the Silvers and had to wait for my passport to come through to really be able to be pushed into Gold and represent GB.
"Whatever we do, whether it's playing locally or playing for GB or our team for different tournaments. We do it because we love the sport but hopefully the Olympics will help us."
Verlint represented GB at the European Championships in Limerick earlier this year and is intent on further competing on the national stage in next year's World Championships.
However, the opportunity to cement his name in history as part of the first GB flag football Olympic team is now a major driving force.
"When I lived in the Netherlands I wasn't really aware of flag football when the sport was even smaller than it is now," said Verlint of his shift from relative newbie to possible history-maker.
"When I first started I didn't expect it [to make the Olympic Games] with flag because it was such small sport. I'm happy enough to play with GB and go to the European Championships and hopefully the World Championships next year but having the Olympics potentially on the cards is something that for anyone involved in sports, should be your dream.
"If I can go to the Olympics then I will do anything possible to get there.
"I think that's something really exciting for anyone who is part of GB or wants to be part of GB that we could be the first GB team that has gone to the Olympics for flag football.
"No one can ever take going to the Olympics away from you, no matter what position you finish, you can say you've gone to the Olympics and that's something you can be really proud of."
Despite the increased interest off the back of the Olympic announcement, there has yet to be any indication of financial backing for flag football with the sport currently entirely self-funded.
It means everything from the two-hour training sessions at Toryglen to travel and accommodation while representing club or country falls on the players and coaches as individuals.
Unlike in the US where the NFL partnership provides a spotlight and sponsorship opportunity for athletes and teams, UK clubs and the GB team has to fend for themselves.
Gibson knows the financial burden facing prospective Olympic athletes in the field having previously attended the 2018 World Championships in Israel with GB off his own steam.
And the Glasgow Hornets chairman candidly admitted the heartbreaking reality of relying on GoFundMe pages to send national-level athletes to competitions abroad.
"The thing I am cautious about is it is not just skill and ability and effort that is going to carry people to the Olympics. This sport is entirely self-funded in the UK, players completely pay their own way.
"Other countries have corporate sponsors left, right and centre. That is the thing that is going to have to give.
"I think a big part of that has got to be support from either communities, governments, sporting councils, anything that can help.
"It's not going to be skill and effort alone. It is going to have to be a concerted effort to get there.
"There are players who have represented Great Britain and it has been afforded by literal last-minute sponsorships. Or, we had to do a GoFundMe which completely broke my heart to see us have to do because as far as I'm concerned these guys are heroes and pushing the sport forward.
"In five years time, when we are watching a GB team at the Olympics I am going to be thinking of the players who got us there. These guys had to dig deep just to legitimise the sport.
"With the Olympics behind us now it's like try and deny us now! We've got gold medals in the cabinet, we've got athletes going to America and competing. Try and deny the funding now!
"Hopefully that sees a massive change in momentum for the sport."
For any further information on the Glasgow Hornets, and to get involved, you can follow their Facebook and Instagram pages.
Image Credit: Andy Keith Photo
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