After two seasons of a high school girls flag football pilot program in Williamson, Davidson and Montgomery counties, the TSSAA voted Tuesday to authorize the sport for the 2024-25 school year.
The TSSAA Legislative Council voted unanimously to authorize girls sports. It will remain a spring sport. The council voted to make it a fully sanctioned sport.
Participation has increased from nine Williamson County Schools in 2022 to 48 schools, including other counties, this season. The Upper Cumberland region and Hamilton County introduced girls flag football this season to increase numbers. At least 71-73 Tennessee schools are expected to play in 2025, adding 10 schools in Rutherford County and another 13-15 from another county in spring 2025.
The TSSAA cited the growth of flag football at the youth level and increased scholarship opportunities as reasons to consider a sanction. It also found that about 72,000 boys played TSSAA sports last year, compared to about 40,000 girls.
How Girls Flag Football Began in Tennessee
Williamson County Schools launched a pilot program in spring 2022 with support from the Tennessee Titans. At the time, a Williamson County Schools survey found that 650 of 800 female athletes surveyed said they were interested in playing flag football. It was the first interscholastic flag football league in Tennessee.
A year later, Davidson and Montgomery counties joined the Middle Tennessee flag football community. Hillsboro defeated Overton for the first Metro Nashville flag football championship. West Creek defeated Montgomery Central in Clarksville's first flag football title game.
Ravenwood won the inaugural Williamson County championship in 2022 and was champion again last year.
Currently, eight states have sanctioned girls high school flag football, including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, New York, Florida, Georgia and Nevada. Twenty other states have pilot programs. Like the Titans, the Atlanta Falcons have been instrumental in the growth of the sport in Georgia and Alabama. The Falcons helped fund high school teams in both states.
The sport has grown rapidly in the Nashville area. Last summer, a men's professional league, the American Flag Football League, was founded and Nashville received a franchise along with Boston, Dallas and Las Vegas. Fairview football coach Chris Hughes serves as Nashville's coach. The Nashville Nighthawks begin play on April 27 and the AFFL's eight-game regular season runs through June 15 with a championship game on June 22 in Frisco, Texas. The Nighthawks' two home games will be played at Vanderbilt's lacrosse and soccer complex.
Reach sportswriter George Robinson at [email protected] and on the X Platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.
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