Girls’ flag football is now a California high school sport
California on Friday approved a plan to make flag football a high school sport for girls as the game grows in popularity and more female athletes come onto the field.
The move by the California Interscholastic Federation — the statewide organization that governs high school athletics — makes flag football an official sport for girls in the nation’s most populous state for the upcoming 2023-24 year. The plan was unanimously approved by the organization’s Federation Council in Long Beach, said Rebecca Brutlag, a spokeswoman for the agency.
CIF Southern Section Council President-elect Paula Hart Rodas said the goal is to get more girls involved in high school sports and to capitalize on the widespread love of football by many who dislike playing tackle. Southern California schools from Long Beach to Corona are hoping to start teams in the fall, and the approval allows districts to include the sport in their budgets, Hart Rodas said.
“You can love the game of football and not love being attacked but still want to participate,” said Hart Rodas. “Flag now aims squarely at getting more girls involved in athletics by adding another sport that we know girls across the country are interested in but unwilling to play tackle for various reasons.”
The move adds California to a growing list of states that have included girls’ flag football in high school athletic programs, such as Alabama and Nevada. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association took a similar step this week and expects to host the first state championship for girls in flag soccer in the spring of 2024.
The California vote comes amid increased interest in flag football from younger players in recreational leagues and growing support from the NFL and teams like the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, which have run a pilot all-girls high school league in Southern California .
Many of the schools that signed up to take part in the pilot and those selected to take part – and the eager young players who took part – are widely regarded as pioneers in the sport.
Paul Schmidt said being part of a start-up was exciting for his 14-year-old daughter, who had never played flag football before playing it for the team at Redondo Union High School, one of the schools participating in the league. tried. Making the sport official should make it easier to secure field time, he said, and give a boost to a close-knit team of girls who have banded together to start something new.
“She loves it, loves it. It’s exciting to be in a new sport,” he said.
The growing interest in flag football – in which nobody is tackled and a game ends when an opposing player pulls a flag from a belt around the ball carrier’s waist – comes amid concerns about the risk of concussions and other injuries from tackle football.
In the decade leading up to 2018-19, the number of girls playing flag football in US high schools doubled to 11,000, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
California high schools could form flag football clubs without the approval of the CIF. However, the coaches said allowing official interscholastic competition is likely to encourage more schools to create teams and build a pipeline of players.
Troy Vincent Sr., NFL executive vice president of football operations, wrote in the Sacramento Bee that times have changed since he played professional football, which was then “widely viewed as a man’s sport.” He said high school players could potentially play through college and beyond as universities have also stepped up the sport.
Vincent is also pushing for flag football to be added to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
“This is no longer just a backyard sport for girls to play during family vacations,” he said.
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