In American culture, football has been a symbol of masculinity and is typically associated with men. Girls don’t like football, people say. Girls don’t want to play football, do they?
The stereotypes we perpetuate are not always correct—many girls across the country have begun to play flag football over the last few years, and it is a continuously growing sport. According to the National Football League, “There has been over a 40% increase in girls’ flag football in high schools over the past five years, and it will only continue to grow.” The majority of female football players do not have access to high school teams yet, meaning once more states start to approve it, there will be a drastic increase in players. Many states are seeking to sanction high school flag football teams, though only eight have obtained approval so far. It is a very new sport, and many schools are still trying to get their handle on it. Izzy Greene, a player on the team, comments on her hopes for the future of girls flag football. “ I think it would be great to have different levels and have more join. I love that it is becoming more dispersed around the area”.
The Agoura High girls football team had a groundbreaking first season. Even though it wasn’t perfect, with an overall record of 6-6 – ranked 15th overall in the Los Angeles Metro Section- they still made massive strides towards a future filled with success. “It was challenging but worth it.” Peyton Walkes, a freshman on the team says. At the start of a new program, there are always going to be challenges, but they overcame them.“There were a lot of upperclassmen who guided all the underclassmen and they would hype them up and all that. The community and how we relied on each other was amazing.” Walkes says.
The addition of the sport was historical, and the way the team bonded with one another shows how much it can bring people together to start something new. Their strides toward the future of high school sports will continue to be huge, and they look forward to another successful season. The sport’s addition was the start of something big, a new movement across the country.
The coach, Julian Patton, commented on the growth the girls had over the season. While their season had a rocky start, “By the end of the year, we were pretty successful, we beat Westlake, a nationally ranked team at the time.” While the team had struggled at first, they managed to end up succeeding more than they ever thought possible. What’s more, according to Patton, the most rewarding part of the season was seeing that for “A couple of girls, football had become their sport.” Once they were given the opportunity to start playing, a lot of girls took to it. Overall, the season definitley ended up being the start of a successful flag football program.
The sport will only continue to grow in popularity on a national scale as well. Many girls are interested in having the chance to try something new. Thousands of girls have started to participate in a traditionally male sport, and it’s only going to continue to grow. Women’s flag football was officially approved as a 2024 Olympic sport, truly indicative of how big the movement is.
The opportunities these girls now have access to are revolutionary and will only continue to grow. Currently, American girls have 1.3 million fewer athletic opportunities than boys, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation. However, that gap will continue to close over time, but only if we continue to take action. The strides we have made are helpful, but we need to continue to work to give girls as many opportunities as boys have.
