Naya Tapper prepares to lay a stiff arm on Great Britain’s Meg Jones. (Carl De Souza/AFP via Getty Images)
The flag football train is rolling, fueled by multiple factors: being a demonstration sport at the LA 28 Olympics, strong support from the National Football League and Nike.
Flag football is booming nationally at the youth level, about 500,000 kids ages 6-17 played last year, up 102 percent from the previous year. Girls flag is growing in N.C. and beyond. It’s sanctioned in nine states, two more are expected to approve it this year and 17 others including North Carolina have pilot programs.
Early news reports from Tar Heel high schools showed 35 in the Charlotte area are expected to play girls flag in the spring, while 30-40 in Raleigh/Durham/Wilmington may play in the fall or fall/winter and 15 in Guilford County.
To sanction the sport, one quarter of the 443 schools in the state must field teams, or 50 percent of any one of the four school classifications (1A, 2A, etc). Discussions are underway to coordinate scheduling seasons and championships.
The National Federation of High Schools (NFHS), which governs high school athletic associations across the country, said it will begin drawing up official rules for flag football, in time for the 2024-25 academic year.
“We’re seeing participation numbers going through the roof,” Karissa Niefhoff, the NFHS’ chief executive officer, said of flag football.
The NFL has thrown support behind growing the sport and the Carolina Panthers are financial backers of leagues in the Charlotte area and helped Wake County schools start a league last year.
Nike also has invested in girls flag football as an untapped market with over half the states participating.
Chapel Hill’s three high schools won’t be adding girls flag football this year.
School athletic officials plan to discuss flag football internally and gauge student interest (there’s been some interest expressed) for the 24-25 or 25-26 school year and perhaps encourage forming a flag club. The district, which offers 22 varsity sports, among the most in the state, recently cut 81 positions due to falling enrollment and a budget shortfall.