After two seasons of high school girls flag football pilot programs in Williamson, Davidson and Montgomery counties, the TSSAA voted Tuesday to sanction the sport for the 2024-25 school year.
The TSSAA Legislative Council unanimously voted to approve women's sports. This will continue to be a spring sport. The council voted to make it a fully sanctioned sport.
“This is going to help us grow even more,” Franklin girls flag football coach Donnie Webb said. Thirty years later, they still compete like little boys. They want to win and have fun at the same time. We want to expand it and grow it. ”
The number of participating schools increased from nine Williamson County schools in 2022 to 48 schools this season, including from other counties. The Upper Cumberland Region and Hamilton County started girls flag football this season in an effort to increase that number. At least 71 to 73 schools are expected to play in Tennessee in 2025, with 10 schools from Rutherford County added in spring 2025 and another 13 to 15 schools from other districts.
“Yeah, it would be really nice if we could practice a little bit more because we work really hard, but to actually be with the team and actually be recognized as a sport, like women's soccer, obviously “It means a lot to us because we work really hard,” said Samantha Jennings, a junior at Franklin and a wide receiver and safety for the Admirals. Told.
The TSSAA cited the growth of flag football at the youth level and increased scholarship opportunities as reasons for considering sanctions. He also noted that about 72,000 boys participated in TSSAA sports last year, compared to about 40,000 girls.
How women's flag football started in Tennessee
Williamson County Schools began the pilot program in the spring of 2022 with support from the Tennessee Titans. At the time, a Williamson County Schools survey found that 650 out of 800 female athletes were interested in flag football. This was Tennessee's first interhigh flag football league.
“Our principal, Dr. (Shane) Pantoll, is a huge supporter of student engagement,” Webb said, adding, “We went from over 100 girls to 28 girls. “We had to reduce it to 100%. So it's natural that something like this would happen.” In order to achieve that in the end. ”
Davidson and Montgomery counties joined the Middle Tennessee flag football community a year later. Hillsboro defeated Overton to win its first Metro Nashville Flag Football championship. West Creek defeated Montgomery Central in Clarksville's first flag football title game.
Ravenwood won its first Williamson County championship in 2022 and was also champion last year.
Currently, eight states have authorized girls' high school flag football, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, New York, Florida, Georgia, and Nevada. Twenty other states also have pilot programs in place. Like the Titans, the Atlanta Falcons also helped grow the sport in Georgia and Alabama. The Falcons helped fund high school teams in both states.
The sport grew quickly in the Nashville area. Last summer, the American Flag Football League, a men's professional league, was formed, and Nashville joined Boston, Dallas and Las Vegas in acquiring a franchise. Fairview football coach Chris Hughes is the coach in Nashville. The Nashville Nighthawks begin play on April 27th, and the AFFL's eight-game regular season continues through June 15th, with the championship game being played on June 22nd in Frisco, Texas. Two home games for the Nighthawks at Vanderbilt's lacrosse and soccer complex.
Contact sportswriter George Robinson at georgererobinson@theleafchronicle.com or X Platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports. Harrison Campbell contributed to this article.
