The dream of playing women's flag football at the collegiate level is now a reality for athletes in the Philadelphia area.
Immaculata College in Chester County hosted the inaugural Atlantic East Conference (AEC) Women's Flag Football Championship last weekend, the first of its kind for a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) conference.
“Women's flag football has never existed in the NCAA before, but here we are,” AEC Commissioner Jessica Huntley said. “If you don't see it, you can't do it.”
In June, the AEC announced plans to partner with the NFL and RCX Sports to become the first NCAA conference (Division I, II, III) to offer varsity women's flag football. Centenary University, Immaculata University, Marymount University, and Newman University jumped at the opportunity to participate in the first year.
Flag football will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028. In recent years, the sport has skyrocketed in popularity across the United States, especially among girls. The NFL is a big benefactor.
Locally, the Philadelphia Eagles launched the Eagles Girls Flag Football League in 2022. The league started with 16 teams. The Birds recently announced that the league has expanded to his 96 teams. This is an increase of almost 600% in just two years.
“All that's really important to us is making sure everyone can play,” Eagles Youth Football Community Relations Manager Dan Levy said. “I’m excited to get these girls on the field and meet their leaders.”
Interest at the high school level caught the attention of Huntley and her team at AEC.
“We're doing it at neighborhood high schools, so why not at the collegiate level?” Huntley said.
Across the country, women's flag is played at the junior college level. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) also sponsors women's flag football in more than a dozen of its organizations in 10 states.
“I felt like I had a chance here because I didn’t have a chance at the NCAA level,” Huntley said.
Immaculata University head coach Joe Trainor said he is happy to have his team on the ground floor for women's flag football at the NCAA level.
“We have young student-athletes currently exploring the possibility of playing in college, and we feel it is very special to be on the ground floor of this movement,” Trainor said. . “It's amazing. I've never seen anything like it. There's been a huge uptick in support, interest and participation.”
The trainer is knowledgeable about coaching. Although he has been a college football coach for decades, he never imagined he would be on the sidelines for such a groundbreaking moment in women's flag football.
“There's a lot of nuance in women's flag football that doesn't exist in the men's game, and I think that's what makes it really cool,” Trainor said.
Trainor said he sees Immaculata as the birthplace of women's basketball, pointing to Immaculata's history with the school's women's basketball team taking the world by storm in the 1970s, and said he hopes Immaculata will also join the women's flag football movement. said it was natural.
“In my opinion, this is a landmark moment,” Trainor said.
Inmaculata College freshman Natalie Dodd started playing flag football as a high school senior in Northeast Philadelphia. When she learned that Immaculata would offer women the opportunity to play flag football, she was excited and grateful to be able to continue playing the sport she loves.
“I was very, very excited and immediately emailed my coach to let him know I was available to play,” Dodd said.
In his 2024 State of College Sports Address, NCAA President Charlie Baker spoke about embracing new opportunities for women in sports and increasing enthusiasm for women's flag football.
Marymount University won the inaugural AEC Women's Flag Football Championship. The AEC plans to host more women's flag football events next year. Leaders expect more NCAA schools to begin sponsoring the sport.
“It's going to spread like wildfire,” Huntley said.
