The Arizona Interscholastic Association will offer girls flag football starting this fall.
The AIA said Tuesday that “a significant number of schools” state-wide will be able to field a team, though it’s unclear if any are in Southern Arizona. An AIA spokesman said no Southern Arizona teams had signed up, but that Tucson Unified School District schools may have some interest.
The addition of the sport was the culmination of a two-year process, the AIA said, and consultation with other states that play the sport.
“We’re excited the (AIA) Executive Board has approved girls flag football as a sanctioned sport. We’ll have a state championship in year No. 1,” said AIA Executive Director David Hines. “Our hope is to see fast growth of the sport within the membership.”
Olivia D'Angelo, 16, rubs the foot of Raychel Watts, 16, front, as they and other Redondo Union High School girls try out for a flag football team on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Redondo Beach, California.
Arizona’s girls flag football state championship will coincide with the tackle football championships. Arizona’s flag football rules will include place-kicking, a first among states that sanction the sport.
The number of girls playing flag football in U.S. high schools doubled to 11,000 in the decade leading up to 2018-19, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
In September, the CIF-Southern Section in California voted to make it an official girls’ high school sport. Flag football already is a sanctioned high school girls sport in states including Alabama and Nevada. And it was added as a collegiate sport by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, with colleges in Florida, Georgia, Kansas and elsewhere fielding teams.
Now, Arizona has joined the group.
“Today is a significant step forward,” said Chandler Hamilton coach Matt Stone. “The AIA took chances with these rules compared other states. We looked at a lot of different sources to compile this rulebook.”
Includes information from the Associated Press.
