Flag Football

[gatorman-uf]

I think this is one of the best and worse ideas that the FHSAA ever had. We are on year 15 of a state tournament with I believe 2-3 years before that as a recognized sport, but no state tournament. 

I love the idea of young ladies going and playing the sport instead of just watching from the sidelines. The more intimate knowledge they have of the sport, the better off the sport is, as it increases the number of potential viewers and fans. Anything that gets more people playing a sport rather than playing the Madden version is always a good move in my book. I love the fact the sport is relatively cheap in comparison to most other sports and that there really is no built in advantage for any school. There are no travel teams, there is AAU circuit, there are no "handlers".

I hate the idea of young ladies playing and practicing for a sport that not even the best of them have a chance of continuing beyond high school. Many of these young ladies would be excellent Track and Field participants or softball players. I remember a HoF track coach at an  in-county school praising and hating the idea of flag football for this very reason. 

This is still a mostly large school district and large school program, but is obviously growing if we have to have 2 classifications.

[DisabledAccount]

28 minutes ago, gatorman-uf said:

I think this is one of the best and worse ideas that the FHSAA ever had. We are on year 15 of a state tournament with I believe 2-3 years before that as a recognized sport, but no state tournament. 

I love the idea of young ladies going and playing the sport instead of just watching from the sidelines. The more intimate knowledge they have of the sport, the better off the sport is, as it increases the number of potential viewers and fans. Anything that gets more people playing a sport rather than playing the Madden version is always a good move in my book. I love the fact the sport is relatively cheap in comparison to most other sports and that there really is no built in advantage for any school. There are no travel teams, there is AAU circuit, there are no "handlers".

I hate the idea of young ladies playing and practicing for a sport that not even the best of them have a chance of continuing beyond high school. Many of these young ladies would be excellent Track and Field participants or softball players. I remember a HoF track coach at an  in-county school praising and hating the idea of flag football for this very reason. 

This is still a mostly large school district and large school program, but is obviously growing if we have to have 2 classifications.

I think it is a good thing but me personally i don't want Columbia to get it

 

Mainly because i feel we wouldn't be that competitive in it because I don't think it would connect with the most qualified players and it could cause competition for our softball players which has been successful and one of the few sports out here with a realistic shot of winning a championship 

[SportsNut25]

1 hour ago, gatorman-uf said:

I hate the idea of young ladies playing and practicing for a sport that not even the best of them have a chance of continuing beyond high school. Many of these young ladies would be excellent Track and Field participants or softball players. I remember a HoF track coach at an  in-county school praising and hating the idea of flag football for this very reason. 

There are attempts being made at making it an NCAA sport. 

It's going to be a process and will require more manpower but it will likely get done ......... eventually. 

[OldSchoolLion]

1 hour ago, ColumbiaHighFan2017class said:

I think it is a good thing but me personally i don't want Columbia to get it

 

Mainly because i feel we wouldn't be that competitive in it because I don't think it would connect with the most qualified players and it could cause competition for our softball players which has been successful and one of the few sports out here with a realistic shot of winning a championship 

Columbia is just skeered the girls will excel in it like they do in softball and outshine the boys football team.

[DisabledAccount]

12 minutes ago, SportsNut25 said:

There are attempts being made at making it an NCAA sport. 

It's going to be a process and will require more manpower but it will likely get done ......... eventually. 

That's a very good thing that would help the sport take off

[DisabledAccount]

Just now, OldSchoolLion said:

Columbia is just skeered the girls will excel in it like they do in softball and outshine the boys football team.

If that were to happen it would put more pressure on Columbia football to step their game up 

 

[Joshua Wilson]

On 3/12/2018 at 3:31 PM, gatorman-uf said:

I think this is one of the best and worse ideas that the FHSAA ever had. We are on year 15 of a state tournament with I believe 2-3 years before that as a recognized sport, but no state tournament. 

I love the idea of young ladies going and playing the sport instead of just watching from the sidelines. The more intimate knowledge they have of the sport, the better off the sport is, as it increases the number of potential viewers and fans. Anything that gets more people playing a sport rather than playing the Madden version is always a good move in my book. I love the fact the sport is relatively cheap in comparison to most other sports and that there really is no built in advantage for any school. There are no travel teams, there is AAU circuit, there are no "handlers".

I hate the idea of young ladies playing and practicing for a sport that not even the best of them have a chance of continuing beyond high school. Many of these young ladies would be excellent Track and Field participants or softball players. I remember a HoF track coach at an  in-county school praising and hating the idea of flag football for this very reason. 

This is still a mostly large school district and large school program, but is obviously growing if we have to have 2 classifications.

 

Gatorman... there is a lot of multi-sport athletes that already play. A lot of them play volleyball and basketball already and some do Track and Field while playing Flag. So there is a lot of crossover in this regard. Girls at some private schools have also petitioned to get teams started like Chaminade-Madonna last year, Tampa Catholic this year.

However, your facts on the positives are right. Yes, the sport is growing. 2 classifications now for the third year. Talk is now either expanding things to three classes or expanding the districts out from 16 to 32 in each classification or not that much and go to 24 districts. Things have to be done multiples of 8 when adding districts to any classification. I think the logical step will be to expand to a third class with 16 more districts. Of the spring coaches clinic for FACA, Flag Football had more coaches in their section than the other sports at the clinic. However, that might change some as Football is being shifted from Summer after this year to spring for next year. Will give me the best of both worlds because I will be able to get info from Flag Football for the season while collecting All-State nominations from football. 

[SportsNut25]

For those interested in checking out the state tournament (always VERY exciting): 

 

Boca Raton HS will be hosting the state semis/finals on May 12. [H/T Palm Beach Post]