In recent years, women’s flag football has risen in popularity, with many colleges starting clubs to compete with one another. Due to the surge in participation, the sport may be added as an official sport in the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) Emerging Sports for Women program.
The NCAA Committee on Women’s Athletics will review the sport’s popularity, impact, and other factors like finances and statistics to determine if the sport should be added to the Emerging Sports program. The Emerging Sports program has added six women’s sports competing at the championship status, including ice hockey, water polo, and beach volleyball. This program has allowed many women in college to have more opportunities to pursue sports that were not available before.
“In the 2023-24 academic year, (The Emerging Sports) collectively included nearly 14,000 student-athletes, about 6% of the total student-athletes competing in NCAA women’s championship sports, according to the most recent data,” the NCAA said in a statement.
In order for the sport to be considered at the championship level, at least 40 schools must sponsor the sport. With the possible addition of women’s flag football as an NCAA sport, more sports for women may be added at the collegiate level.
“The growth of flag football will be exciting to watch in the NCAA as women’s sports continue to generate more visibility and opportunities for female student-athletes to excel academically and athletically,” chair of the Committee on Women’s Athletics and executive associate athletics director at Charlotte Ragean Hill said in an interview with NCAA.
Women’s flag football has not only been popular for college athletes but has also made a difference in high school athletics. Over 10 states include women’s flag football as a high school sport, and many other schools have powderpuff for girls to have an opportunity to play flag football.
“I think that having women’s flag football as an NCAA sport will bring more attention to women’s sports,” freshman King Barbour said. “If girls are passionate about the sport, then they should have the opportunity to go to college for them.”
