Girls Flag Football Growing In The State

[adambetz]

NAIA plays their college season in the spring. Would be nice to get everyone on the same page. Feel like spring is the perfect time.

[Southside]

38 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

that seems like the worst time, other than Fridays at 7pm lol ..at least for our school it would be 

 

5 teams met at a host school and played( 3 games total, the host school played twice.)  The gametimes are relatively short(like 1 hour per game). It looks like the Colts made the schedule and sent it to the schools.

I know my daughter had a mouthpiece, but I'm not sure if it was required.

[btownqbcoach1]

31 minutes ago, Southside said:

5 teams met at a host school and played( 3 games total, the host school played twice.)  The gametimes are relatively short(like 1 hour per game). It looks like the Colts made the schedule and sent it to the schools.

I know my daughter had a mouthpiece, but I'm not sure if it was required.

great stuff... thank you. Very smart to have multiple schools meet and play, I think this model should be applied to more sports. 

[Sparty]

1 hour ago, Southside said:

MY daughter played on her school's flag football team last fall.  They played on saturdays in the morning.

JV fb day

12 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

great stuff... thank you. Very smart to have multiple schools meet and play, I think this model should be applied to more sports. 

Bingo. Creative as I stated.  

[Sparty]

44 minutes ago, Southside said:

5 teams met at a host school and played( 3 games total, the host school played twice.)  The gametimes are relatively short(like 1 hour per game). It looks like the Colts made the schedule and sent it to the schools.

I know my daughter had a mouthpiece, but I'm not sure if it was required.

Good idea.  Schools better be ready to pay full price wages to refs and not think hey, we have them here, we will get them at a discounted rate.  If it’s $50/game and you are working 5 games, $250. Nothing less.  

[BDGiant93]

Ben Davis has had, I believe, two full seasons of flag football partnering through the NFL. The team went to Washington, D.C. for a major NFL-sponsored tournament. For a school like Ben Davis, it fits perfectly in the fall. 

[btownqbcoach1]

48 minutes ago, Sparty said:

JV fb day

Bingo. Creative as I stated.  

not just JV football... 

5th/6th grade too 

[Bash Riprock]

21 hours ago, Bobref said:

And yet, we’ve also had a woman officiate in the Super Bowl. Pretty hard to generalize from a single example.

both ways...right?  Perhaps the 2 examples provided are extremes?  Maybe we should look more toward the median.

[Basementbias]

3 hours ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

not just JV football... 

5th/6th grade too 

Love how JV is all over the place. Some have Saturday mornings. I'm used to Monday evenings for JV as being the norm. 5th/6th is Saturday morning. Middle school normally Tuesday with nothing on Wednesday for church groups, and back in the day Thursday for Freshman. 

Think Spring might be the best option for girls flag. I don't pay enough attention to the Spring sports schedule to know if Friday nights would bring crowds or another night.

[23andCounting]

8 hours ago, Julio said:

If the IHSAA would use their heads, they would play this in the Spring Season.  Then you would have 4 girls sports in each season.  Volleyball, Soccer, Golf and Cross County in Fall.  Wrestling, Basketball, Swimming, Gymnastics in Winter.  Tennis, Softball, Track, and Football in Spring.  Much more balanced than 5 in fall, 4 in winter, and 3 in spring.

Is it a good idea for football to compete with track? That being said, I would think Fall is the better time. 

[btownqbcoach1]

16 hours ago, 23andCounting said:

Is it a good idea for football to compete with track? That being said, I would think Fall is the better time. 

better than football competing with golf, volleyball, soccer, and cross country. 

18 hours ago, Basementbias said:

Love how JV is all over the place. Some have Saturday mornings. I'm used to Monday evenings for JV as being the norm. 5th/6th is Saturday morning. Middle school normally Tuesday with nothing on Wednesday for church groups, and back in the day Thursday for Freshman. 

Think Spring might be the best option for girls flag. I don't pay enough attention to the Spring sports schedule to know if Friday nights would bring crowds or another night.

We play MS on Thurs vs the Friday night opponent

Play some JV early in the season on Saturdays. but I want my Saturdays mostly free, so we still play the majority of those games on Mondays. 

Edited April 25, 2025 by btownqbcoach1

[rob]

How many refs are busy with baseball in the spring?  Personally I do football and football only so I wouldn't mind spring flag.  I have ref'd flag in South Bend and also Unified so I'm game.

If you check the IHSAA list of sports there are more women's sports than men's, since flag.

[Sparty]

17 minutes ago, rob said:

How many refs are busy with baseball in the spring?  Personally I do football and football only so I wouldn't mind spring flag.  I have ref'd flag in South Bend and also Unified so I'm game.

If you check the IHSAA list of sports there are more women's sports than men's, since flag.

Can’t last 

[adambetz]

1 hour ago, Sparty said:

Can’t last 

So insightful

[23andCounting]

4 hours ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

better than football competing with golf, volleyball, soccer, and cross country. 

Do the golf and cross country types have any interest in playing football? I think a lot of those speedsters on the track team would love the opportunity to compete on the gridiron. 

[btownqbcoach1]

1 hour ago, 23andCounting said:

Do the golf and cross country types have any interest in playing football? I think a lot of those speedsters on the track team would love the opportunity to compete on the gridiron. 

Don't most cross country ppl run track? 

[Southside]

On 4/24/2025 at 3:53 PM, Basementbias said:

Think Spring might be the best option for girls flag. I don't pay enough attention to the Spring sports schedule to know if Friday nights would bring crowds or another night.

As a parent of a player, I can honestly tell you that CROWDS were not a thing for Girls Flag Football.  Also, some of the games were not played on football fields.  They played one week in a city park and one week was on a high school baseball field.  

 

My daughter's team had some basketball players, a couple softball players, and some track athletes.  My daughter's main sport is actually gymnastics. 

Edited April 25, 2025 by Southside

[23andCounting]

8 minutes ago, btownqbcoach1 said:

Don't most cross country ppl run track? 

Long distance I would imagine. Not the typical sprinters you'd want to recruit for the football team. 

[Sparty]

3 hours ago, adambetz said:

So insightful

If you are educated enough, you understand.  

46 minutes ago, Southside said:

As a parent of a player, I can honestly tell you that CROWDS were not a thing for Girls Flag Football.  Also, some of the games were not played on football fields.  They played one week in a city park and one week was on a high school baseball field.  

 

My daughter's team had some basketball players, a couple softball players, and some track athletes.  My daughter's main sport is actually gymnastics. 

Sad and not right.  

[Basementbias]

44 minutes ago, Southside said:

As a parent of a player, I can honestly tell you that CROWDS were not a thing for Girls Flag Football.  Also, some of the games were not played on football fields.  They played one week in a city park and one week was on a high school baseball field.  

 

My daughter's team had some basketball players, a couple softball players, and some track athletes.  My daughter's main sport is actually gymnastics. 

Wonder if it is a large school vs small school or gender for the sport issue or the amount of sports at the same time. Love to see it grow in smaller schools (3A-1A). I wasn't a huge fan of flag but it has grown on me. My stepson played it for his former school in Ohio from at least 1st/2nd to 4th grade and then joined me in tackle for his 5th & 6th grade years in Indiana. In that time we had a flag league in the area that served 2 or so schools. Believe with naming & school pressure and/or liability they went to just serving the school they were associated in name. Being affiliated with the tackle league for both, I was asked about having a flag league for the other school. I somehow got things rolling in short order and have their league up & running. The turnout has been bigger than I expected from players & parents/supporters. We have a couple of girls playing but if we had a HS girls flag team I bet we could get more. 

[JustRules]

15 hours ago, Basementbias said:

Wonder if it is a large school vs small school or gender for the sport issue or the amount of sports at the same time. Love to see it grow in smaller schools (3A-1A). I wasn't a huge fan of flag but it has grown on me. My stepson played it for his former school in Ohio from at least 1st/2nd to 4th grade and then joined me in tackle for his 5th & 6th grade years in Indiana. In that time we had a flag league in the area that served 2 or so schools. Believe with naming & school pressure and/or liability they went to just serving the school they were associated in name. Being affiliated with the tackle league for both, I was asked about having a flag league for the other school. I somehow got things rolling in short order and have their league up & running. The turnout has been bigger than I expected from players & parents/supporters. We have a couple of girls playing but if we had a HS girls flag team I bet we could get more. 

I think flag is much better for the younger kids. Everyone gets to play the skill positions, run/catch/throw the ball. When my sons played youth tackle football in elementary school it was more running into each other an falling down than tackling. There would be that one kid who has figured out how to tackle, and he would run all over tackling people. That's no fun for everyone else. Plus it's much safer. Wait until the kids are bigger and stronger to get into blocking and tackling.

[JustRules]

Officials advance for various reasons. For the most part, many college officials are qualified to advance to the next level after a couple years. Those advancements get tighter the higher you go. Women and minorities are sometimes moved a little faster than others, but they are all still qualified to do it. SIblings and children of current officials are often moved faster. Former college and NFL players are moved faster. People who are fit are moved faster than those who carry a little extra weight. Younger officials will move faster than older officials. So many different factors. But no supervisor is going to promote or keep someone who isn't holding their weight. Sara Thomas was VERY qualified to work the Super Bowl. She paid her dues moving up and has proven to be an excellent official. She may have said others were more worthy but that's because officials at that level are very humbled to be in that position and know almost everyone is qualified to work that game. Many officials at the D3 level are good enough to work the highest levels but haven't had the opportunity to move up. There is a lot of luck and timing to make it happen. But if you can't officiate, you won't advance. Or you won't stay.

[Sparty]

These are all HUGE issues why the number of officials are declining that nobody wants to speak about.  

[btownqbcoach1]

On 4/25/2025 at 4:01 PM, 23andCounting said:

Long distance I would imagine. Not the typical sprinters you'd want to recruit for the football team. 

5 v 3. Just seems like simple math to me.... 

If we talking about having the athletes that sports is most applicable to flag football, we'd definitely want it in the spring so we can convince the soccer team and volleyball players to play. 

[btownqbcoach1]

On 4/26/2025 at 10:14 AM, Sparty said:

These are all HUGE issues why the number of officials are declining that nobody wants to speak about.  

Our society is becoming soft? 

Disclaimer--- officiated A LOT in my life.... never understood why you'd be thin skinned as an official. 

Next-- nothing should EVER leave the sports arena/field. No parent/coach has a right to do something like that... 

But if words bother people as an official, they should grow up.