One of the fastest-growing sports in America is girls’ flag football and Doug Gloyd is trying to stay ahead of the curve.
The Trigg County High School athletic director began a girls’ flag football league that wrapped up play this week. He said 35 girls signed up and nearly 24 girls met each week at the school’s co-curricular building for practice with games ending the season the past two weeks.
“I’ve been a fan of flag football for years. Our girl participation numbers are low, and I’m just trying to create opportunities and ideas for these girls just to get them involved,” Gloyd said. “Granted, this is not going to help our catch-up numbers as far as our participation numbers and such. However, I do think in a year or two that at some point, this may be a sanctioned sport.”
Gloyd also says it gives him and other coaches in the school a chance to watch the girls play and maybe get them involved in a sport for the first time or get them to play multiple sports.
“The goal for me is I want these girls to know that they can play something else besides the sports that they’re playing because we’ve got girls that are representing the golf team, cheerleading, cross country, basketball, soccer, volleyball, and wrestling, and most of those girls are one-sport girls. At Trigg County, we need these girls, we need all these kids to start playing multiple sports.”
Gloyd has also been impressed with the camaraderie shown by the girls in grades 9-12.
“Each week we see the smiling faces and the happy faces. I have not heard one negative comment so I’m hoping they can translate something here to the other sports as well. They seem like they enjoy it and they’re having a blast with it,” Gloyd said.
The rules are specific to Trigg’s league – a smaller field and three downs to get a first down.
For freshman Lily Eagleson, who also plays softball, it was a chance to try something different.
“It’s something new and it doesn’t hurt to try something. You also get to hang out with all the other girls that play sports that want to try something new,” she said. “I think it’s going really well because when we play, you see girls smiling and having fun. It’s totally different.”
Aliviah Norwood plays basketball in the winter and throws shot and discus in the spring. She’s also been around football her entire life so flag football was a no-brainer.
“I came out because my dad was a coach and so I’ve always been around football and always enjoyed it,” she said, adding the experience has extended beyond the playing field.
“I’ve talked to a whole lot of new people and I’ve just surrounded myself with a whole bunch of athletes and people I can be around.”
Girls’ flag football is not a sanctioned sport by the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA). However, the Tennessee Secondary Sports Athletic Association (TSSAA) voted earlier this year to sanction the sport for the current school year.
Tennessee calls it an “emerging sport” and will be treated as all the others but a state championship will not be immediately offered.
According to the Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle, flag football participation increased from nine Williamson County Schools in 2022 to 48 total schools this season. There are expected to be at least 70 schools in Tennessee playing in 2025.
The Tennessee Titans helped begin a pilot program for nearby schools in 2022 after over 600 girls there showed an interest in playing.
Eight states – Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, New York, Florida, Georgia, and Nevada — have sanctioned girls high school flag football, while 20 other states have pilot programs.
12 high schools in Louisville and several others in southeast Indiana also began pilot flag football leagues to gauge interest. The Louisville league played its tournament this week with over 100 girls taking part.
Gloyd thinks the addition of girls’ flag football as a sanctioned sport will happen in Kentucky sooner than later.
“I think in a year or two they will start taking a look at it. In the meantime, we’re going to put some feelers out and see if there is some other interest from nearby schools,” he said, adding it doesn’t cost a lot to start a program.
“I want to give a shoutout to the Cadiz Rotary Club. They did help fund us and buy some of the stuff we needed to get this thing going, but with our facilities, you know, this was a perfect time and opportunity to do flag football.”
One group not included in the recent experiment was the middle school because they are in the middle of their basketball season. But Gloyd said that could change in the spring.
“Maybe after Christmas, we might give them a shot. Who knows?”
Trigg County already has an athlete playing flag football at the collegiate level. Olivia Noffsinger, a two-sport standout in soccer and basketball, played her first season at Campbellsville. The college game is a 7v7, fast-paced game that is an emerging sport in the NAIA. CU is the first collegiate team in Kentucky and the seventeenth team nationally to offer the sport.
(Photos by Ashlyn Brown)
