Girls Flag Football On a Win Streak, But Who Knows About It?

The first time a flag football player was spotlighted onto national screens was during the 2023 Super Bowl commercials. The MVP of the Flag Football World Games, Diana Flores, was being chased through the stadium as NFL players, celebrities, and even her mother attempted to pull her flags. At the end of the commercial, Flores joins other flag football players and ends with the quote, “To the women pushing football forward, we can’t wait to see where you take this game.”

In 2023, almost 500,000 girls between the ages of 6-17 played flag football, according to the National Federation of State High Schools Association. That’s a 63% increase from 2019, and the statistics are expected to skyrocket now that the sport is an official Olympic category that will be played in the 2028 Olympics.

East’s very own flag football team is at a solid 4-0 in the DPS level as of September of 2024. At practice, girls show up with not only a positive attitude but a competitively-aggressive one as well. Between girls fighting for the ball in a game they call mosh pit to girls diving for flags in scrimmages, it definitely is not a sport for the weak hearted. It’s grown so much that there have been unconfirmed suggestions of starting a JV team as well. 

JT, a senior and the team’s quarterback, said that “...every girl should check [flag football] out.” and it’s so cool to see “girls pushing themselves and trying a sport that others would typically feel that’s not for them since traditionally [football] is seen as a male sport in general.”

Flag football at East is not only a space for girls to push themselves out of their athletic comfort zones, but it is also a place of community and an “outlet” for them. With a sport that is now available at the collegiate level, one would think that East would be supporting the team, however, the school’s support hasn’t reached its potential.

On the official Denver East website under Athletics and Girls Flag Football, there is no updated information concerning the teams win or loses, score, or game summary. There is also no information of the roster for the ‘24-’25 season. During some of the first meetings for flag football, no players were informed through any letters, emails, or social media announcements about the opportunity to participate in the Fall sport.

Many students and teachers don’t even know what sport is being played when girls wear their jerseys on game-day. Some players have said that they heard wrong announcements over the PA for games, and that the school doesn’t typically announce the sport to the general student body. Coach Candice Malone also expressed how she felt about East’s support for the girls saying, “I am disappointed in the lack of support we receive from East. The girls work hard out there and to not be able to feel or see the support from the school is discouraging.” She also went on to say, “Denver East girls flag football has had a successful season, three years in a row, with little to no support from East.”

On the other hand, there have been more posts on Instagram through the @denvereasths and the @denvereaststuco page, giving the team their own post for their September 10th game against Bruce Randolph.

As JT mentioned, she wishes to see the same amount of attention that is given to other female sports given to flag football as well saying, “I want to see that in flag football ‘cause it’s just as respectable and competitive as those other sports.”

As this growing sport continues to expand on the national and international level receiving more and more attention through organizations like the NFL. In addition to being a sport that is predominately empowered by women, why isn’t East doing something more to support their own girls?