By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Eastern and Southeast high schools are putting together teams to compete in girls’ flag football, which has been a growing sport in North Carolina.
The schools will compete this fall.
Athletics director Brad Costa of Eastern is one of the organizers.
“Just trying to convince people to do something they haven’t done before,” Costa said. “A leap of faith.”
The North Carolina High School Athletic Association has girls’ flag football on its radar and has discussed the sport at meetings for more than a year.
Costa said the concept of putting together a league for flag football has been in the works for about eight months.
“It’s another great opportunity for students to get involved in extracurricular activities that’s a little less ‘traditional’ than what we already offer,” said Todd Davis, athletics director for Alamance-Burlington School System.
Davis said growth of the sport has been rapid in some regions of the state.
That caught Southeast athletics director B.J. Condron’s attention.
“It’s growing in North Carolina, so it was definitely something I was interested in,” Condron said. “It gives our students another opportunity to do something extracurricular.”
Eastern’s team will be coached by LeConnda Curry, who’s also girls’ basketball coach at the school. Southeast softball coach Tiffany Helton also will coach the Stallions in flag football, and she’ll be assisted by Daniel Flack.
Eastern and Southeast will be part of a league that includes Jordan-Matthews, Northwood, and Seaforth. Games will be held Wednesdays, with all the teams in the league gathering at the same site. Main stadium fields will be used.
Practices begin in early September. The season will run from late September through October.
Southeast principal Eric Yarbrough said there were more than 30 players for a couple of summer workouts. Because it’s not an official fall sport, it has been a dead period for the sport for NCHSAA schools since late July.
Flag football is played in a 7-on-7 format. Costa said some players might play both ways, but a minimum of about a dozen players would be needed to field a team.
Condron said it will be interesting to see how skills from other sports translate to flag football for the athletes.
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During NCHSAA meetings earlier this year, girls’ flag football had been a topic. More than 100 schools in the state have launched girls’ flag football in some manner, though there’s a lack of statewide structure.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said she expects the sport will be sanctioned by the NCHSAA at some point.
Among considerations for flag football is what time of the year would be most suitable for the season, Tucker said. Now, schools in pockets of the state compete in the fall semester, while others compete in the spring.
For some schools, there are issues related to field availability.
Costa said the Carolina Panthers and USA Football have been involved in providing financial aid for fledgling programs.
“Support has really been overwhelming,” Costa said.
Tucker said it’s important to make sure the financial aspect is stable for flag football even if the Panthers’ funding goes away or is reduced.
This summer, the NCAA introduced a proposal to add women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program.
