District 219 approved girls flag football as an official sport at the board meeting on Dec. 5. Both Niles West and Niles North will offer it in the fall of 2024 as a sport exclusively for female athletes. Practices will commence on Aug. 12, 2024, with teams of 14 players rotating in on games of seven against seven. A pre-season will likely occur over the summer as a camp, open gym or weight room hours for any interested female athletes.

Set details about girls flag have not been sent out yet, but informational meetings are scheduled to be hosted in either March or April.

“Girls flag football is an exciting new sport that we will be offering next fall, it’s really been gaining steam across the entire United States in the last couple of years, and especially last year in the state of Illinois because the Chicago Bears got involved. A lot of the professional teams have been pushing girls flag as an option for different grade levels in high schools over the past couple years, and even boys flag as well, as maybe a different safer option for people to participate [in],” Niles West Athletic Director Dr. Dana Krilich said.

The Chicago Bears decided to sponsor the IHSA State Series for girls flag football to inspire young girls and allow them equal opportunities in the world of sports. The last couple of years most central suburban leagues, CSL, schools except for Vernon Hills, Niles North and Niles West have offered flag football as a club. Now that IHSA approved it as a sport, over 100 high schools in Illinois have decided to implement the program.

“We’ve spoken at our AED meetings and we expect every school except for Vernon Hills to have it… So we will have a conference CSL schedule, we are being told that we will probably be able to schedule up to 25 games…it looks like we’ll probably play on Thursdays and Saturdays,” Krilich said. 

The IHSA has found a growing interest in flag football because of the difference in physical contact, compared to regular football. Additionally, parents have also shown a preference for the non-tackle aspect. In flag football, the substitute for tackling is pulling off another player’s flag from around their waist.

“I think flag football, in general, is growing for both boys and girls and…with the addition of girls wrestling in the winter, I think there was a demand and a call for it…the Chicago Bears were involved in helping bring it to high school sports, so they thought that a good time for it would be in the fall because that is football season,” Assistant Athletic Director Milo Cejovic said.

IHSA approved state tournaments for girls wrestling three years ago, which caused an influx of girls to join the sport and compete in the same types of matches that boys do. Following that, IHSA was inspired to come up with girls flag football to give girls the same physical contact opportunity that boys have in the athletic world.

“I do think that these types of opportunities–girls wrestling teams [and] girls flag football teams, really start to open up those doors, start those conversations and build awareness, and I think that again Niles West has been an awesome support in building these types of communities for girls, for women, and I can only hope that it continues to improve,” Niles West Wrestling Coach Caitlin Casey said.

Although girls have been welcomed to join the football team, it has been male-dominated at West for years. But with increasing participation in Powder Puff, the impact of girls wrestling and the equal opportunities that girls would receive, the D219 Board decided to vote yes on girls flag football.

“I think it’s a good positive thing that they are trying to get a sport similar to football for girls, considering most sports in high school are presented to both genders and football is one of [those] sports that only has a boys team,” sophomore Madeline Vega said.

All girls are welcome to join next year, if you are interested informational meetings will be held this month.