The Icebox is smiling somewhere… girls flag football comes to PA

[Scout]

https://www.steelers.com/news/piaa-votes-to-sanction-girls-flag-football-in-pa

Good

 

[Batman]

Girls' flag football is the next big thing for high school sports. Pennsylvania is at least the 10th state now that has added it as a varsity sport.

https://www.nfhs.org/articles/flag-...as-next-emerging-high-school-sport-for-girls/

 

[User 149557]

I think the Olympics will only speed up that process.

 

[MileHigh]

Very big and growing like crazy here. State sanctioned for the first time this year after a two-year trial run funded mostly by the Broncos.

 

[HanSenSE]

Had a great debut in California last year. Playoffs through Section level, but gotta believe CIF will hop on the bandwagon soon.

 

[dixiehack]

Starting to gain traction in Alabama, although there are still just two combined classifications, versus seven for tackle football. They’ve started having the girls’ championship paired with the 7A title game at the beginning of the Super 7.

 

[maumann]

Had a great debut in California last year. Playoffs through Section level, but gotta believe CIF will hop on the bandwagon soon.

Interesting to note that the league schedules I've seen have a weekly "jamboree" format, where three schools play a round-robin at a host school in one afternoon.

The other thing that comes to mind is the Powder Puff flag football game in 1975 between senior girls from the our new school against the senior girls from our old school after they split us following 10th grade. The game was played in our gym, and started out somewhat polite. But it soon turned into a much more physical confrontation than expected, given the apparent animosity between former friends. There was more hair pulled than flags and more tackling than touch by the time the game ended. The refs stepped in several times to end some serious pushing and shoving.

I think even the guys on the varsity team learned a few dirty tricks after that display. And a lot of girls came to school with bruises and black eyes the following day. I don't think anyone lost a tooth but I learned to never undestimate the strength of a woman wearing a football jersey.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

Ohio schools play it, but not as a varsity sport.

The Browns have been instrumental in building it in the Cleveland area. Up to 51 local high schools playing it in four years:

https://www.clevelandbrowns.com/community/youth-football/girls-high-school-flag-football

 

[jr/shotglass]

I had a discussion with an ex-writing buddy about it when it came down.

He said that with girls' soccer, field hockey and cross-country already in the fall mix (and don't forget central Pennsylvania is as field hockey-crazy as any locale in the nation), female student-athletes are going to have make a choice. My answer was that they already made that choice 5-6 years earlier, because almost every athletic program is now a 12-month endeavor.

Flag football just became a months-long endeavor, and girls who have been playing another sport for years aren't walking away for it. And it's not as if girls can cling to the dream of a girls' flag football scholarship. Hey, even the best female bowlers have that.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Florida's been playing for several years, but in the spring.

 

[jr/shotglass]

And I haven't seen that ruled out for PA, either. Of course, then you have lacrosse, softball and track/field.

 

[MileHigh]

It's a fall sport here along with cross country, field hockey, gymnastics, softball, spirit, unified bowling and volleyball.

 

[Starman]

About a dozen schools in Michigan playing in the fall; no MHSAA tournament yet, but word is that's probably two years away.

Also in the organizational/club sports stage in Michigan high schools: Girls Rugby, which I would think would be in DIRECT competition with flag football for most of the same athletes.

In Michigan, girls lacrosse, which is an up and coming thing, plays in the spring, drawing athletes from soccer, softball, track and field and tennis.

At some point, you just run out of bodies.

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Texas could squeeze it in during the fall because for girls there is just volleyball, cross country and team tennis. A few schools have started playing water polo, but none locally. (There is golf as well, but fall is the silly season.)

 

[HanSenSE]

Fall here, along with volleyball, tennis, golf, cross country and water polo. Lots of midweek games with the officials shortage. It's a sport that hasn't been taken over by the club scene yet and for girls looking for a break from softball, a nice alternative.

 

[jr/shotglass]

Fall here, along with volleyball, tennis, cross country and water polo. Lots of midweek games with the officials shortage. It's a sport that hasn't been taken over by the club scene yet and for girls looking for a break from softball, a nice alternative.

You know, I hadn't even considered tennis and volleyball. Both are in season now.

That's a lot of sports offerings.

 

[justgladtobehere]

Do they play soccer in the spring in Texas and Florida?

 

[Della9250]

Do they play soccer in the spring in Texas and Florida?

Yes to Texas

 

[HanSenSE]

You know, I hadn't even considered tennis and volleyball. Both are in season now.

That's a lot of sports offerings.

California's the same as most other states for girls sports, save water sports. Hoops, soccer and wrestling in winter, softball, swimming, track and beach volleyball in spring.

 

[Scout]

I like it because it’s not a sport of privilege.

You want to start, or even make, the high school girls basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, lacrosse, field hockey, swim, gymnastics teams? You need to have played travel… for years.

This? I don’t see this sport turning into that. Sure, you can play travel for it, but you’re not beating out the more athletic kid who doesn’t have thousands of disposable income in their family budget.