In a groundbreaking development for local high school sports, Elk Grove Unified School District announced that high schools in the district will have to offer a new sport, girls flag football. 

Title IX is a federal law ensuring that students are offered an equal number of sports opportunities regardless of gender. The influence of Title IX has been pivotal in bringing flag football to EGUSD schools. High schools now offer an equal amount of sports for boys and girls, seeing as there was no female sport equivalent to football, until this year. 

Cosumnes Oaks recently started training their inaugural girls flag football team in the spring and are preparing for a very eventful upcoming season. The addition of the new sport marks a significant milestone in the school’s athletic history and reflects a broader push for greater gender inclusivity in sports.

Flag football rules do differ from regular football. 

Without using physical contact, the athletes will have to use speed along with strategy to pull flags and score points. Instead of going for a classic kick at the end of a touchdown to gain additional points, flag football rules allow for the players to score again either starting from five yards for one point or from ten yards for two points. 

“I find it interesting that they removed the punt return and wonder what the reason was,” Anastasia Manganti, a sophomore on the team, vocalized. 

Along with rules, the field dimensions are different as well. The field is 80 yards by 40 yards and has two end zones that are 10 yards each. 

“I think it’s interesting that we play on a smaller field than the boys when in other sports we play on the same-size fields and courts,” said freshman team member Eleanor Meredith. 

The Cosumnes Oaks team, composed of players from various grade levels, is already showing promise in their practices. 

The team consists of 25 players, including four captains. The coaches asked the girls to decide amongst themselves and select four captains to help lead the team. A majority of the girls had some prior experience playing from powder puff, a yearly game where boys cheer and girls play flag football.

Head coach George Smith had previously coached football and grew up playing the sport. He is the Athletic Director at Cosumnes Oaks and personally took it upon himself to be the girls coach.  

“With starting a new program, I wanted to ensure that I was going to give a good experience for the girls to have. I have a background in coaching and playing football, so I feel like this would be a good fit, me working with the team,” he said. 

Coach Smith has expressed a lot of enthusiasm about the team and believes his players will do well this season in the Delta League.  

“I’m really excited about the upcoming and inaugural girls flag football season. I feel we have a great team, we have a great group of girls. I’m very excited about the season and looking forward to it,” he said.

The athletes are equally as excited as their coaches. 

“I think our team culture is developing fairly well. It’s a good and fun environment,” said junior Amiah “AJ” Hathorne. Hathorn does have one concern, however. “I do wish some of the girls had more of a competitive mindset about winning and progressing in the sport as a team. It’s only our first season though.” 

Despite this, Hathorne said, “I feel like we will be one of the more difficult teams to play in the league and I feel like we got promise.” 

The introduction of girls flag football sparked some comments from the boys football team about their opinions on the addition of the sport. 

“I think it’s a very fun thing to do. It’s very inclusive,” said senior Deven Steffan-Oxnaes, who has been playing football for three years at Cosumnes Oaks. “I would definitely attend our girls flag football games.” 

Tre Dumlao, a senior who has been playing football all four years at COHS, says it’s time for the guys to support the girls on and off the field. 

“I would attend the girls’ games to cheer them on because they always come to our games,” he said. “I would ask my teammates if they would want to go because we’ve played the sport so much, and we can probably help teach some of our techniques.” 

He also acknowledged the importance of the sport being available to a wider group of people. 

Dumlao added, “Having flag football now is a big opportunity for others to finally play a sport that anybody can play, and it’s very fun to watch.”