Flag football is a game played by people of all ages and genders. Often it is played at family gatherings or by groups of friends at parks and in open fields. In recent years, however, it has become a more regulated and competitive sport, with many leagues for all different ages being created. In Illinois, girls flag football at the high school level has taken off this year.
Flag football will make its first Olympic appearance at the 2028 games in Los Angeles. There will be both a women’s and a men’s competition. This is a huge moment for the sport, as neither flag football nor American tackle football for either gender has ever made an Olympic appearance.
“The Chicago Bears had a lot to do with flag football getting off the ground this year in the state of Illinois,” Athletics and Activities Director David Rohlman said.
The 2024 season is the first that the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) officially included the sport. Over 800 schools participated, and many more began to consider adding the sport. After Kaneland High School’s annual homecoming powderpuff game, there was a spike in interest. . Junior Maddie Zehelein was one of the most active people pushing to add the sport at Kaneland.
“She was the founder,” powderpuff coach and potential flag football coach Daniel Ponczek said. “She came up to me in practice one day asking about it, and she has done a phenomenal job of taking over and getting everything, talking to Rohlman, things like that.”
Together, Ponczek (or Ponz, as he is more commonly known) and Zehelein set up an informational meeting to gauge the interest of current freshman through junior girls in joining the team. An estimated 40 girls attended the meeting, and at least 10 more reached out expressing interest but could not attend.
At the meeting, both Ponz and Rohlman addressed the girls by talking about the potential future of the team and the challenges to its creation. The large number of attendees was a positive sign, for whether or not incoming freshmen were interested, there were more than enough people for a team.
The idea for next year is that there will be one varsity team, split into offense and defense. As the program grows, then other levels like junior varsity (JV) or a freshmen/sophomore team could be added. Ponz said that he would much rather have multiple levels than cut people.
After-school practice be from 3-5 p.m. Offense and defense would likely be broken up to each practice twice a week as well as together on Fridays. It could, however, be more than that based on how tough the competition is. Games would take place on Saturdays.
“I know games will be Saturdays, and like Rohlman had said they will be round robin, which means three games on Saturday, which I think is exciting because our games aren’t insanely long either,” Zehelein said.
This system has worked rather well for the first season. But issues due to the newness of it all have arisen. Sometimes a team has not shown up due to miscommunication and thrown off the schedule for the day. Referees are still learning the game and how the rules differentiate from tackle football. Rule book confusion across all parties has been an issue.
This is expected for a sport that is new to not only the high school level, but the whole country. When people played it before, each family played by their own rules. Although they all followed the same general rules and guidelines, the details differed.
The newness has created other issues as well. One problem involves the fields and game space. Like tackle football, it is best to have a turf field. Natural grass fields take a lot of wear and tear over the course of a football season.
Most high schools have turf fields, which can weather the bombardment against them. Kaneland, however, has a natural grass field. The tackle football team does not practice in the stadium and uses the land around Kaneland instead. Due to our geographic location, it should not be hard to find more space for a girls flag football team, but it would still result in more wear during games on the field.
“I have spoken to several schools around us, one being West Aurora,” Rohlman said. “They do have turf, but I would like to find some schools that don’t have turf and see what kind of wear and tear they saw on their field this year.”
Another challenge that must be considered is money. This is important for things like coaches and equipment. With flag football being so new to high school sports, it is not entirely clear what equipment is necessary and most important. Kaneland’s budget for sport and activities has not gone up in the last couple of years despite more sports and activities being added. This does not mean that any new sports or clubs cannot be added but that they must be carefully considered. Coaches also need to be paid. When the Kaneland boys lacrosse team was formed, it took a couple years for the coaches to start being paid.
Despite numerous challenges, students remain hopeful for the future of a team as early as next year. Many girls enjoy playing football and would love to be a part of a team.
“I used to play football when I was little, and my brothers play football and we are just very involved when it comes to football,” Zehelein said. “And so the fact that there will be a girls team would be pretty epic.”
Since the initial meeting, Zehelein has reached out through emails to the girls who expressed interest to create a list of girls who are committed to play on a team should Kaneland have one. She has been taking as many steps as she can to ensure the future of the team.
“I know that there is a lot of perception and rumor out there that we are adding flag football next year,” Rohlman said. “That has not happened. We have not agreed to that.”
