During the buildup to the 2025 IFAF Americans Flag Football Championships, IFAF has posed three questions to the head coaches of the men’s and women’s teams about to compete for continental glory.
Canada women’s head Rachel Lessard just led her team to the bronze medal at The World Games. A relatively new coach, she played flag and touch football for 25 years, including at the 2010 IFAF Flag Football World Championship where Canada won the gold medal.
Lessard did not aspire to become a coach until Alexandre Desjardins, the head coach for the University of Montreal, approached her in 2022 to coach his defense.
“I was hesitant at first and did not believe coaching would fulfill me until I met the players,” she says. “They were so talented and committed and then I said yes to coaching.
Despite being relatively new to coaching, she won bronze in Chendu and at the last IFAF Americas in 2023. She has won gold medals at Canada’s national senior championships in 2022, 2024, and 2025 and the collegiate nationals in 2023 and 2025.
What are the goals for your team in this tournament ? We are aiming for gold. We have a crew that started playing together less than three months ago and we performed well in China. But we know we can do better.
What will be the strengths of your team and what did you learn about your team from winning bronze at The World Games? We learned that we belong with the best. Like our team captain Caroline Moquin Joubert would say: “We are happy but not satisfied!” For some of my young players it was their first international tournament. They were a bit overwhelmed with the stadium, the cameras, the noise, they won’t be overwhelmed the second time around.
What do you think of the group you have been drawn into, especially since you play Mexico, who beat you in the semis in Chengdu? Is there a score to settle there? Absolutely, we want to settle the score. We gave them a good game, but we are confident we can do better. I can also add that I can’t wait to see Lea Duval, our rusher, play man on Diana Flores again.
