Ready, set, hut!! Mississippi kicks off a new high school sport for girls.
The New Orleans Saints, in collaboration with the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA), announced the sanctioning of girls’ flag football. Mississippi will become the 14th U.S. state to have flag football as an official variety sport for girls. Other states with sanctioned girls’ flag football include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Louisiana, and Tennessee.
The popularity of flag football for girls has been growing nationwide for the past 10 years. Flag football will also be an Olympic sport for men and women at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“The Saints contacted MHSAA last year to gauge our interest in a pilot season,” shared LeAnna Dawson, Assistant Director for MHSAA. “Our executive board was impressed with how well the program has done in Louisiana and approved it last October.”
MHSAA is preparing for the inaugural season, which hopes to start in March. Training staff and facilitating teams is still underway. In its inaugural season, the sport will have twelve teams playing six games. The pilot season aims to get a feel for the sport and gauge interest in the student-athletes.
“Since the Saints organization is the lead sponsor, the pilot schools and game days had to be geographically close to New Orleans,” shared Dawson. “All schools selected are within a three-hour drive.”
Those schools include Brandon, East Central, George County, McComb, Meridian, Oak Grove, Perry Central, Picayune, Richland, South Pike, St. Martin, and Vancleav. Venues will include Southwest Mississippi Community College in Summit and Picayune High School.
“The MHSAA plans to move games to campuses in future seasons,” said Dawson. “It will all depend on how the pilot works out.”
The Saints will play a significant role in making flag football for girls a reality in the Magnolia State. Saints staff will train coaches and officials and run the game-day events at no cost to the schools. Nike will provide the flag football equipment and the uniforms.
Softball and track are popular spring sports in Mississippi. The MHSAA hopes this will help reach other female student-athletes and provide additional opportunities to participate in team sports at the varsity level.
“Students who engage in team sports get more than just exercise,” shared Dawson.” Team sports have many benefits beyond physical fitness, including social, mental, and academic benefits.”
Any 9th—12th-grade female student-athlete interested in playing flag football in one of the 12 pilot schools should contact their school for more information.
“For now, flag football is limited to high school girls,” shared Dawson. “But if the interest is there, it could grow to middle school and beyond.”
