CIF gives girls flag football go-ahead
For more than 100 years, high school football in California has been played almost exclusively by boys. Starting as early as next school year, girls will have their own version of the sport to play.
Girls flag football was officially sanctioned as a California high school sport on Friday, crossing the goal line when the state's athletic governing body approved the proposal by a vote of 146-0.
Rather than join the tackle football team — usually as a kicker — girls will now have the option to play in their own high school program. Flag football players don't wear pads or helmets, and there is no tackling and limited contact. Pulling a flag attached to a ball carrier's waist means the play is over.
For Bay Area parents such as Jason Klein, the
California Interscholastic Federation's unanimous vote couldn't have come at a better time. Klein coaches his daughter's middle school flag team in San Mateo County.
“It's the national pastime,” Klein said about the sport he fell in love with growing up in western Pennsylvania. “We
shouldn't deny our daughters from that.”
Club flag football has been offered at youth levels for years but mainly as a co-ed sport. Sommer McCann's daughter, Billie, began playing in kindergarten for the Next Level program founded by Serra High football coach Patrick Walsh.
Two years ago, Billie “retired” from the co-ed league while in fifth grade to concentrate on club soccer. Thursday, she told her mother that she will unretire if flag football is offered when she reaches San Mateo's Hillsdale High.
“She just loved it,” McCann said. “Each year she'd say she was going to retire, and then she'd come out of retirement. It was hard because she was pretty much the only girl out of hundreds of boys on the field. She'd get nervous about starting each year.
“Then when she'd get out there, she'd have so much fun. She loved the competition. She was always one of the best on the team. She loved playing safety. She would play in the back, and with her soccer skills — she plays defense in soccer — no one could get by her. She would pull their flag and politely hand it back.”
The news is a positive step, but don't expect many sign-up sheets just yet.