Globally, flag football is becoming more and more popular, especially among girls in the US. As of right now, girls’ flag football is recognized as an official high school sport in nine states. The Seattle Seahawks are working to get Washington to become the tenth state to follow suit. The Seahawks have worked with a number of athletic directors to propose a change to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which is in charge of managing high school athletics in the state, in order to accomplish this. This would make flag football for girls a recognized high school sport.
As per Becca Stout, the Managing Director of Community Engagement for the Seattle Seahawks, the proposal was presented in October 2023 and will be put to a vote by 53 high school representatives from throughout the state in the first part of May. The NFL and the Seahawks see this program as essential to growing the game and giving girls equal chances. Locally, the Seahawks have funded more than 70 schools to assist with the formation of female flag football teams just in 2023.
Since 2021, the Seahawks have been a supporter of girls’ flag football and have awarded over $300,000 in grants to high schools around the state to assist in the start-up of the program. It’s crazy how much attention has increased over the past three years, Stout adds.
Worldwide attention is being paid to the growing popularity of flag football, which will make its Olympic debut in 2028 in Los Angeles. Supporters contend that allowing girls’ flag football to be officially recognized as a sport in the state of Washington would allow interested schools to start a program and provide numerous chances for girls throughout the state to compete at the top levels.
