While flag football got the PSL league started in 2000, the PSL now features 16 total sports with more continuing to be added.

The growth of the flag football league has mirrored the growth of the PSL. The league grew to add dozens of other sports. From one flag football league in 2000, PSL grew to 573 teams with around 7,000 participants by 2005. This year PSL hosts 1,359 teams with over 15,000 participants. The Flag Football league makes up 59 of those teams and 1,062 of those participants.

The league is an extension of PUMP (Pittsburgh Urban Magnet Project) and the director is Becky Reitmeyer. She attended Allderdice High School and Carnegie Mellon University.

Reitmeyer has been involved with the league from the beginning. Before it reached its current popularity, Reitmeyer played in different leagues racing back and forth between fields to help fill required female spots on rosters.

"It was a lot smaller back then," she said. "I would need to get to basketball at 7 and then deck hockey at 9. We always needed women."

There are no problems filling out the rosters, now. In fact, some sports fill their rosters too quickly. The 15 softball leagues fill up in about 60 seconds. There are also five basketball leagues that also fill quickly. Online registration is first come, first served.

In addition to basketball, broomball, bowling, bean bag toss, darts, deck hockey, dodgeball, flag football, golf, kickball, a running club, shuffleboard, softball, tennis, indoor volleyball and sand volleyball, the PSL is introducing two new sports this year: simulator golf and shuffleboard.

The league, much like PUMP, is designed for social networking among young urban professionals from the Pittsburgh area. Players who have met in the league have married, on more than one occasion. One couple who met in a bowling league asked to have something PSL related in the wedding and received PSL pub glasses for toasting.

PSL is far from the only league in town. There are plenty of bar leagues that host softball but the difference is the accessibility and marketing that PSL offers to attract new players.

In terms of challenges, Reitmeyer says that finding facilities to play in and trying to keep participation costs down are obstacles.

The upcoming PSL winter leagues run from January through March, with registration opening online in early December. For more information and registration visit www.pittsburghsportsleague.net.

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