When MCPS introduced flag football into the 2024-25 fall season, nearly 60 girls flooded the Whitman field for tryouts. The selective process cut a third of the girls.
As flag football’s popularity increases nationwide, offering the sport at the collegiate level is crucial. Doing so will encourage participating athletes who have developed a love and skill for the sport to advance past the high school level. Flag football has brought about a new group of athletes who deserve the chance to continue their athletic careers in college, and universities should introduce a female-equivalent sport to men’s football.
Nationally, football is a loved and well-watched sport among both men and women. As efforts towards gender equality continue to grow, the growth in women’s sports and empowerment should also continue. Flag football is the new female equivalent to men’s football, following the same concepts and schemes.
“The popularity of flag football — for boys and girls — has been growing at the youth levels for the past 10 years,” the National Federation of State High School Associations said. “In 2023, about 500,000 girls ages 6-17 played flag football – a 63 percent increase since 2019.”
Universities have begun to notice the skyrocketing popularity of flag football. While around 22 colleges now offer flag football nationally, none are Division One schools. More recently, women’s flag football became an authorized National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NCAA) sport; however, it hasn’t been officially recognized by the NCAA yet. However, given the intensity of high school programs, colleges should allow flag football athletes to participate in the commission.
Senior and flag football co-captain Aurora Mcafaee said that from the sport, she learned leadership and the ability to stay calm and collected to keep the team in unison,
Audiences watch women’s sports much less than men’s, but flag football could become the turning point for viewership. The sport is similar to traditional football, a major event for many high school students during the season. Since the introduction of the new sport, many Whitman students and parents have begun to shift their attention to flag football, which had a very successful season (5–3).
Senior and Whitmaniacs President Michaela Colonna spoke on the energy of the games.
“The atmosphere was very positive and uplifting,” Colonna said. “Lots of cheering and cowbells rang to help support the girls. I would love to go every week.”
Although flag football games are fun, Colonna said they don’t have the student section that men’s football games have.
Having a passionate coach was a major benefit for the Whitman team. Coach Winans opened many clinics over the summer for girls to try the sport.
Head Flag Football Coach Sean Winans thinks the sport’s growth will not be immediate.
“I think it’ll take some time to get there — football’s been around for so much longer than girls like football has right now,” Winans said. “It won’t be like next year or the next five years, but I think it’ll slowly grow and grow and grow.”
Allowing flag football players at the collegiate level would empower many young women to participate. Because of the sport’s sharp increase in popularity, the Olympic committee has introduced it to the Los Angeles 2028 Games. This will give young adults an opportunity to continue pursuing their talents on a professional level if colleges cannot create teams.