It was an ordinary day. And YES...you did read my title correctly! I find it hard to believe, but following the footsteps of girls wrestling, which saw its historic first season in the state a year ago, the PIAA (Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association), officially announced that girls flag football has been sanctioned as an official, state championship sport, following a PIAA Board of Directors meeting this past Wednesday. "We're thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics," PIAA President Frank Majikes said via a news release. In recognizing the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), we will be initiating development of a girl's flag football rules book in January 2025. This will allow us to develop our process to host a championship." The PIAA, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles worked "in tandem" over the past three seasons to grow the sport of flag football at the youth level, causing the PIAA to designate girls flag football as an emerging sport and kickstarting the process for sanctioning. The release states that girls flag football needed 100 participating teams across the state for sanctioning, and that the Eagles helped form 65 teams in Eastern Pennsylvania, while the Steelers brought 36 into the fold in Western PA to hit the mark. Both teams' owners reacted to the news via the PIAA's official release. "This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania," Eagle CEO Jeffrey Lurie, said, "When we launched our girls' flag football league ini 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule. The sport's organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of girls' flag football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community." "We are exited to see such a groundbreaking moment for the future of girls' flag football," Steeler president Art Rooney II said. "It has been great working with the Eagles to accomplish a sucessful ruling that will now give the chance to compete at a state level. We look forward to seeing how girls' flag football continues to grow in Pennsylvania and worldwide." As for me and my opinion, well I believe that the sport of flag football is still too violent for females. There is no way I would have wanted my daughter to have played flag football while in high school. Wait until you see how violent even girls' flag football can become, and maybe you may not want your young girl to participate. I'm so glad I never had to go through with making the decision for my daughter. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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