It was another ordinary day. Turned the page in my Sports Section of my morning newspaper and there was the headline.."Girls flag football next PIAA sport?" The sub-headline followed with: Sport is on track to be sanctioned by the governing body in July, could kick off in 2025. Well, this was all news to me! Seems that girls flag football has moved closer to becoming a PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) sponsored sport in the near future. The PIAA board of directors approved the first reading of a document that would sanction girls flag football by a 30-0 vote at its monthly meeting this past Wednesday. There will be two more readings, with the final one scheduled for July. If girls flag football becomes a sport, there could be 25 schools hosting teams in the near future. There are now 103 schools in the state that are allowing the sport to be considered for official status. The Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers, with support from the NFL, have sponsored local leagues the past three years to help get the initiative off the ground. Representatives from the Eagles and Steelers were in attendance at Wednesday's meeting. There are presently 65 teams in the eastern part of the state. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Eagles launched a girls flag football league in 2022, which featured 16 schools from the Philadelphia Public and Philadelphia Catholic leagues. It expanded to 38 teams in 2023 and to 65 this year, including some schools in Montgomery and Chester counties. Currently the league has more than 1,000 girls playing. According to the PIAA website, the only school in District Three, where my school is located, that has flag football is nearby York. "We are very appreciative of the board of directors' support and taking this first step to sanctioning girls flag football." PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association) president Frank Majikes wrote in a press release, "We have a lot of work to do, but with the support of the Eagles, Steelers, and the NFL, we're hopeful of creating a solid foundation for girls flag football that will develop the sport for years to come." This spring 36 teams from western Pennsylvania competed in five divisions, playing six regular season games according to the Tribune Review. A championship tournament will be held Sunday at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. According to the National Federation of High School Associations, nine states have sanctioned girls flag football. In 2023, about 500,000 girls aged 6-17 played flag football, a 63% increase since 2019, according to NFHS president Karissa Niehoff. The sport also was approved by the International Olympic Committee in October, and athletes will compete at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 2028. So...how do you feel about your daughter playing football. Yeah...I know it says flag football....but you know how rough that sport can become. I'm assuming they will wear pads and a helmet, but......there will still be broken bones and concussions. Would I want my daughter playing football? Well...I'm just so glad I don't have to decide that since she is past high school age. How will you react when your daughter or grand-daughter asks to play flag football. Are you ready for the broken bones and perhaps some serious injuries? And...don't say it will never happen, because you know it will!! I thought that's why they came up with field hockey as a fall sport! I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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