This past summer, my dad brought up the idea of starting a Fantasy Football league with our extended family. As someone who isn’t a football fanatic and who looks forward to the Super Bowl for the commercials and the halftime show only, I wasn’t into the idea at first. I didn’t know any of the players or positions, I didn’t really understand what the draft was, and I wasn’t sure about having to “manage” a team for a few months. My answer was a hard “no.” However, my dad wasn’t giving up. He got the rest of the family on board, and since I love my dad more than I don’t love football, I begrudgingly agreed. And just like that, “Team Rec League” was born.
The season started out with a draft. If you’re like me and don’t totally know what that means, a fantasy football draft is when all of the people in the league take turns picking players for their teams and filling their rosters. Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about which players to pick or which positions to fill first — the draft offers an auto-fill option where the best available players are strategically added to your roster for you. Thanks to the auto-fill feature (and lots of advice from my dad), Team Rec League was ready to go.
We’re now on Week 8 of the fantasy season, and I’m happy to report that I am officially into Fantasy Football. I’m invested in my team’s scores, I care about whether or not I make it to the playoffs, and I’m even learning a little bit about football. It’s been really fun to get competitive and see how everyone’s teams are stacking up. However, the most important thing I’ve gotten out of fantasy football is staying in touch with my family. This was my dad’s hope for starting a family league all along, and I’m really glad he got us all involved.
My family is spread out all over Massachusetts, and we usually only see each other all together on birthdays or holidays. The fall and winter seasons tend to be a busy time, from starting school and sports to preparing for holidays, so communication tends to be especially low during this time of year. Coincidentally, fall and winter also happen to be football season, so fantasy football has been a great excuse to talk to each other when we would all typically be too busy with our own lives. Talking trash and rooting for the underdog in the family group chat is a great way to consistently keep in touch and stay connected.
You can do this with any group of people — as long as you can convince them to join the league! For instance, you can make a league to stay in touch with your old high school friend group while you’re all at different colleges. It doesn’t matter how seriously you take things; it’s just about doing something fun together that keeps you connected. If you’re anything like me, you may end up loving it, and you may even get a little competitive. Maybe I’ll try to convince my friends from home to make our own league next year — although I might need my dad’s help with setting everything up.
I hope I’ve made you consider starting your own family fantasy football league for next season. It really is super fun, and I’m so happy that I gave it a shot. Remember, it’s all about the people, not the football. For more resources on how to get a league started, check out the ESPN Fantasy Football Fan Support page.
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