It appears in Illinois HS's that the hottest sport is Girls Flag Football. There are some major concerns of administrators about adding the sport, while the schools struggle to get enough athletes in the sports that are already offered. A real question is whether adding another sport will mean dropping some existing sports. And there certainly would be a nightmare figuring out which sport or sports to drop.
Some critics say,"If you add another girls sport, you have to add a boys sport because of Title IX." This is absolutely, positively a false statement. Schools do NOT have to offer the same number of girls and boys sports, it is about the total opportunities for males and females.
Every school who has started Girls Flag Football this Fall raves about interest level and enthusiasm for the students, the parents, and the fans. Different people have different thoughts on why the sport seems.
To find out what is going on, I reached out to Galesburg HS grad, Alyssa Carl. Alyssa was a flag football coach at Bradley-Bourbonnais HS. First year football coach and first year team. It sounds like they had a LOT of fun on their way to finishing 4th in State.
Massey- Tell me about your teaching job, other coaching you have done, and a little about your school.
Alyssa- I am currently in my sixth working at Bradley Bourbonnais Community High School. I work part of the day teaching math classes and the other part of the day I serve as our MTSS Coordinator. This is my second year in this role and I really enjoy the niche that I am in. I get to do a ton of problem solving for teachers/students which I love. I find it super challenging & rewarding. We are a school similarly economically & racially to Galesburg but have a student body of just around 2,000. I have been an assistant coach for basketball at the freshmen, JV, and now Varsity levels. This is my fourth year coaching basketball and (obviously) first coaching flag football.
Massey- Obviously you didn’t play flag football in HS other than Powder Puff and probably did not play any football in college. So your background was very limited, what made you decide to apply to be one of the football coaches.
Alyssa- Aside from in the backyard, powder puff, & one college intramural championship, I did not play any football growing up but I have spent a lot of time around the game because of my 5 brothers all playing, four of which played through college. I have always loved the sport but I was mostly interested in coaching because of the opportunity to start something new & build a program with a group of coaches who I respect.
Massey- Exactly what was your coaching position? How many coaches did you have?
Alyssa- Assistant Varsity Offensive Coordinator & Head JV Offensive Coordinator- There were four coaches total and we all four played roles on both the varsity and JV teams. On the varsity level, majority of my role was helping our offensive coordinator (who has 25 years of coaching experience & played collegiate football) call and chart plays as well as manage personnel.
Massey- How did you go about trying to learn about football?
Alyssa- The first thing I learned was that although I have watched a lot of football, I did NOT understand all of the strategy that goes into developing an offensive scheme. Right away I was looking for resources that would help me as well as leaning on other football coaches in our building to help me. The head offensive coordinator for flag football was gracious to me as I asked endless questions in the first few weeks. It was a unique experience because everyone that I was coaching was also learning for the first time so I really just tried to stay a day or two ahead of them (haha). As the season progressed, I gained a lot of confidence in play calling and being able to utilize the girls on the field to score.
Massey- What are major difference in the rules for flag football vs traditional football?
Alyssa- Most of the rule differences in flag football stem from the fact that it is designed to be a no contact sport. Because there is no offensive lineman, a rusher has to blitz the quarterback from 7 yards back and a quarterback has to make a play within 7 seconds. Additionally, when a team is within 5 yards of a first down (which only happen on the 20 & 40 yard lines), they are unable to run the ball. Extra points are also different. In flag football, there are no field goals or point-after kicks (yet). You can choose to go for 1 point from 5 yards out or 2 points from 8 yards out. If you choose to go for 1, you cannot run the ball. (Sidenote - I rarely saw a team ever go for one point. It seems like the 3 yard advantage did not outweigh losing the ability to run the ball/have options). There are several different rules that I didn’t list but in a nutshell, any play that would lead to contact in tackle football (fumbles, kickoff, etc.) has parameters or is eliminated in flag football.
Massey- Your team was very successful. In flag football in order to be successful, what are probably 2-3 of the most important positions? Why?
Alyssa- We quickly learned that the most important positions for us were going to be the quarterback & center. Because the center is an eligible receiver in flag football, having someone who can run good routes, is tall, & has good hands was invaluable for us this year. Most of our offense was girls who are very talented softball players which showed in their ability to track & catch a ball. A quarterback (just like in tackle football) is essential to having an effective offense. Our quarterback was a freshmen softball player who found out during tryouts that she had a great arm. Her ability to throw the ball with accuracy combined with her ability to read the defense helped our team tremendously.
On defense, our best soccer & basketball defenders found themselves having the most success. The “corner” position was probably most important for our team this year as many teams look to stretch the field and take advantage of being 7-on-7. Having a corner who had good hands both defending a pass and pulling a flag was essential to stopping teams on defense.
Massey- People who I have talked to who have had flag football started at their school talks about how much the players really like it, how many have decided to play, and even how many fans have gone to watch. In your opinion what makes flag football so exciting to HS girls? Are there things about flag football that are completely different than other sports and make it valuable?
Alyssa- It is so fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it either. I think the reason for its popularity is complex. One reason that girls and fans are loving it is because it is a sport they are familiar with but with athletes they’ve never seen play. For families, it is fun to see their daughter compete in a sport that they haven’t seen her play before. For athletes, it's fun to relate to their tackle football peers as they learn the game and people see them make really athletic plays.
Another (deeper) reason that it is so fun is that everyone is coming in on the same level. There is no club, travel, or little league for girls flag football. There aren’t hardly any college scouts (yet). This means that the pressure for athletes to perform is nearly zero. We found all season that our girls were able to play free and parents were able to enjoy the sport without stressing about stats and playing time. If I had to pick only one reason, that would be it.
Going into basketball season, I am really thinking about the pressure that we put on athletes and they put on themselves. It seems like athletes sometimes lose sight of the joy of sports by high school because they have been playing it so seriously & competitively for so long. They forget that they started to play because they liked to be around their friends, enjoyed kicking/ throwing/ catching/ shooting/ hitting the ball, or liked how it felt when they learned something they didn’t know how to do.
How much more fun could sports be if we got back to that? That is what makes flag football so much fun. Its high school girls playing a sport with the mindset like they did when they first learned how to play sports. And crazy enough, we were able to have fun everyday and still be highly successful. I am realizing maybe the seriousness and pressure is overrated. The fear, then, is if flag football is able to sustain this level of fun as colleges begin to develop programs and youth leagues latch on as well. We will see but I sure hope so!
From a coaching perspective, and at risk of oversimplifying why I think it is fun, is the speed of the game and length of the season. We played two 20 minute running halves and most games were finished within 45 minutes. Going out, competing, and being back home within a 1.5 hour time span keeps the season light and fun. We started the first week of August and were done with state by the middle of October. There is something to be said about this – definitely makes it easy to agree to coach!
Massey- Some people would be critical about adding another sport because they would fear that it would take away numbers from other sports that the school has already invested resources into. Who were your players- in other words, what other sports did they play? Would flag football be tough at a smaller school like Galesburg?
Alyssa- We took a few athletes from volleyball, tennis, & swim but majority of our athletes were girls who were not already involved in a fall sport. On our varsity team, most of the girls play(ed) soccer, track, softball, & basketball which take place in other seasons. Our JV team was comprised of a lot of girls that had not played high school sports before but wanted to try something new.
We had over 60 girls try out and kept 44. I was surprised at the number of girls that tried out as it is higher than most of our other programs in our school. I think that flag football is a great way to get new athletes out for a sport or other athletes to become multi-sport athletes! I am eager to see how my basketball girls have grown because of their experience playing flag football this fall. I think schools should try it!
Massey- How close did you feel you came to winning the State Championship? How excited are your returning players about next year?
Alyssa- We lost in the state finals 14-16 to the team that ended up winning the State Championship. To say we were close is an understatement. We had an awesome comeback and were one two point conversion away from being in the State Championship. Although it can be hard to get that close and “fall short,” I loved our girls' perspective on their success of the season. The Saturday morning of the Final Four I could tell we had already won. The energy, camaraderie, and joy that our girls approached those last two games was unmatched.
Most of our team is returning next year (our offense will bring back 7 out of 8 starters and defense will have 6 of 9). We have potential to continue to build on our season this year and be really successful again next year. They are excited about what we have built and eager to go do it again next year.
Getting that close in your first season is almost a double edged sword, though. My hope for our team is that although we have set an expectation of who we are, that we won’t ultimately be defined by the number of postseason wins we have but by how we show up and play the game. That next year we can approach the game with the same joy and energy that we did this year. That was what made us a State Final team this year. That is what allowed us to be successful.
Massey- At Thanksgiving if all your brothers are home- will you be willing to sit down and explain to them the intricacies of football?
Alyssa- I may or may not have offered several times throughout the year to give them tips and plays to use with their teams. At the risk of starting a fight I cannot win, this is not a challenge I am willing to accept however, I will say that we have had really good conversations since I began coaching football about strategy. It is fun to share in their world a little bit more!
Massey- Wow!! It sounds like it was a great experience for everyone involved. And it is obvious that Alyssa certainly helped make a great experience for the players!! From the response of students and athletes to girls flag football, it would appear it is not IF more schools will be implementing it, but WHEN more schools will be implementing it.
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