Girls in the end zone
Move over boys. This fall, females will be on the field, too.
Flag football for high school girls is now an officially sanctioned sport in Knox County Schools, complete with designated flag football coaches — and uniforms: cleats, shorts, mouthguard, gloves, flags, belt and a youth football.
The girls’ practices will start locally in late October for about 11 teams sprinkled from Farragut to Gibbs. Each game will last about an hour and will probably be played on Monday evenings. The season will be short, running approximately from the beginning of November to the beginning of December.
Girls’ flag football is not to be mixed up with powder puff football. The powder puff decades-long tradition was usually just one annual game between juniors and seniors. Girls’ flag football, on the other hand, has been part of college intramurals for years, and men’s and women’s flag football leagues are also out there. But the more trendy school-sanctioned flag football is a relative newcomer.
According to the Tennessee Titans website, school-sanctioned flag football has been in the Nashville area for the last few years, with the NFL and the Tennessee Titans helping sponsor. The “Titans Girls Flag Football League” got its start in 2021 and is now offered in 32 high school across the state. The Titans “have plans for future expansion and are working closely with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) to make Girls Flag a statewide sanctioned sport.” Schools involved include Metro Nashville Public Schools, Williamson County Schools, Clarksville-Montgomery County Schools and Hamilton County Schools.
On April 9, the TSSAA sanctioned girls’ flag football as an emerging sport, treated the same as all other sports with the exception of a state championship—for now. According to the association’s website, all emerging sports “must go through a one-year trial period before a state championship will be added.” There are 16 districts across the state. Knox county schools fall in District 2 of the initial classification.
The sport’s emergence in public school coupled with the Olympic Committee’s 2023 announcement that flag football will be included in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, girls’ flag football is sure to get more visibility.