California eyes making women flag soccer a faculty sport

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Elsa Morin gripped the soccer and launched an ideal spiral. Then the 17-year-old dodged out and in of cones and yanked the flag hanging from one other woman’s belt for a key defensive play.

“One thing about soccer simply will get me actually excited,” mentioned the senior at Southern California’s Redondo Union Excessive Faculty. “I’ve at all times simply wished to play.”

Morin was amongst about three dozen women who lately tried out for the college’s flag soccer crew. The scene at Redondo’s discipline is taking part in out with rising frequency in California and across the nation as women flag soccer soars in recognition.

The variety of women taking part in flag soccer in U.S. excessive faculties doubled to 11,000 within the decade main as much as 2018-19, in response to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

On Thursday, the southern part of the California Interscholastic Federation is expected to vote on making it an official women’ highschool sport. If permitted, the state federation — which governs interscholastic sports activities within the California — would take it up subsequent month with a purpose of creating it an official sport within the nation’s most populous state for the 2023-24 faculty 12 months.

Flag soccer already is a sanctioned highschool women sport in states together with Alabama and Nevada. And it was added as a collegiate sport by the Nationwide Affiliation of Intercollegiate Athletics, with schools in Florida, Georgia, Kansas and elsewhere fielding groups.

Whereas women are allowed to play sort out soccer on highschool groups in California, few do. Flag soccer permits them to expertise the game in a manner “that has all of the information, abilities, and talent and the technique of conventional soccer with out a few of the extra violent components of it,” mentioned Paula Hart Rodas, president-elect of the CIF Southern Part’s council who beforehand coached Lawndale Excessive Faculty’s flag crew.

In flag soccer, nobody will get tackled. A play ends when an opposing participant pulls off the flag of a ball-carrier. It additionally is much cheaper than sort out soccer since no helmets or pads are wanted.

The NFL sees flag soccer as a technique to encourage its feminine followers. The Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers began a pilot highschool league over the last faculty 12 months, giving many women a primary shot at taking part in.

Chase Hartman, the Chargers’ former group relations supervisor, mentioned greater than 70 faculties stuffed out curiosity varieties for the brand new pilot league. The NFL groups chosen eight faculties to start out and offered uniforms and equipment.

“The response was fairly frankly greater than we had been ready for,” he mentioned.

Jake Jimenez, coach of the crew at Redondo Union, mentioned with COVID-19 nonetheless circulating he wasn’t certain what number of women would wish to play. However practically three dozen confirmed up for the primary tryouts final faculty 12 months, and an analogous quantity got here out this 12 months. Jimenez may solely settle for half of them. He hopes that after California sanctions the game, he can construct a junior varsity crew and develop a pipeline of gamers.

“They beloved being the pioneer of girls in sports activities and women in flag soccer,” he mentioned. “We’re actually trailblazers.”

He mentioned he’d wish to schedule video games proper earlier than his faculty’s sort out soccer video games to advertise the crew.

The NFL — which invited a gaggle of pilot league flag gamers to affix tennis legend Billie Jean King for the coin toss on the final Tremendous Bowl — has been driving curiosity at the highschool degree. However flag soccer has been gaining in recognition amongst youthful gamers for years, particularly amid growing concern in regards to the danger of concussions and different accidents from sort out soccer.

Mark Broersma, commissioner of the Friday Night time Lights flag soccer group in Southern California, mentioned women make up a fraction of the 25,000 kids from kindergarten to eighth grade who play every year, however their ranks are rising.

“We see a rise in all-girls groups that roll in and play as a crew,” Broersma mentioned.

Tryouts at Redondo Union had been held on a blistering afternoon. Most of the hopefuls performed flag soccer throughout bodily schooling class in center faculty and hoped to attain a spot on the highschool’s second-ever crew.

Regardless of the competitors, the women cheered one another on as they dodged via cones and spun by defenders attempting to tug the flags. They applauded the quickest sprinter — a soccer participant who determined to attempt one thing new.

The novelty is what drove 17-year-old Aly Younger to the game after she beforehand competed in soccer and observe. Younger had at all times beloved soccer however didn’t exit for the sort out crew, fearing she’d be injured. Then, she discovered flag.

“It’s a enjoyable atmosphere, it’s tremendous aggressive,” she mentioned.

Lately, dad and mom and well being consultants have raised considerations in regards to the danger of head accidents from sort out soccer, significantly amongst developing children, with some suggesting youthful children can be safer sticking with flag. A Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention study from last year, for one, discovered children taking part in sort out soccer had 15 occasions as many head impacts as these taking part in flag soccer.

Morin is among the few women taking part in each sort out and flag. She mentioned she fell in love with soccer after coming to america from France 5 years in the past however was discouraged from initially taking part in with boys by a previous coach who’s not on the faculty.

This 12 months, she’s a working again on the college’s sort out soccer crew and a pacesetter on the women’ flag crew. She rallied the women attempting out for flag even once they fumbled, reassuring them with “you bought it, woman!”

She additionally informed them in regards to the enjoyable that they had final season when their faculty received the pilot league’s championship.

“We bought quite a lot of alternative as a result of it was by no means recognized that women play soccer,” Morin informed a newcomer whereas tossing her the ball throughout heat ups. “It was dope.”