The myriad of athletic programs available to Austin Independent School District (AISD) students continues to grow, with a new sport now making its way onto the playing field. Girls flag football is a newly created opportunity for girls to participate in football, breaking barriers of a male-dominant sport.
The expansion of athletic opportunities for girls has resulted in girls flag football rising in popularity both in LASA and in Austin. AISD’s girls flag football teams for its high schools this year culminated in a mini championship and will continue to grow as the teams get bigger until they eventually become University Interscholastic League (UIL) teams with a proper season and full-fledged school programs. Crystal Victorino, the AISD area athletic coordinator, was one person behind the program and its logistics.
“It’s gonna be a two-week tournament, and each of our 13 schools is gonna be represented by a team,” Victorino said. “So they can have up to 20 athletes on their team, and it’s gonna be girls only. The first week, they will be playing four games per day.”
This year, there will be a few games where the girls play against each other. In 2026, it will have a full season as a UIL sport. This starting program will also provide current seniors with the opportunity to play flag football before they graduate.
“Next year is when we’re gonna have our full pilot program where we’re gonna be with the NFL league,” Victorino said. “But this year, because we started talking about it, I really didn’t want to leave out the girls who are graduating this year.”
There are already many girls in AISD who have signed up to be on the teams and are ready to start playing. Larger high schools are holding tryouts because so many girls are interested.
“Within 24 hours, we had over 100 girls already signed up for the interest form,” Victorino said. “The goal was to get at least 20 girls signed up. Every school has girls signed up, but there are a few schools that need to have tryouts at this point.”
At LASA, official programs are currently in their early stages, and more than 30 girls indicated interest to participate. Less formal activities have already been taking place, such as LASA Sports Medicine’s 7v7 coeducation fundraiser and a girls-only Powderpuff tournament. Senior Abby Aardema, a student athletic trainer for the Sports Medicine class who helped run the fundraising competition and participated in the Powderpuff program, described the difference between the tackle football many schools already play and flag football.
“With flag football, you can’t actually touch the person,” Aardema said. “Usually there’s less rules about rushing the quarterback, and usually, the quarterback can’t run. With tackle [football], to get the player down, you tackle the person, and if their knees touch the ground, then they’re down. But with Flag, you just have to pull the flag, so it’s a lot less physical.”
LASA’s annual Powderpuff tournament has been going on for two years. According to Aardema, its popularity helped support the idea for the coed 7v7 championship.
Christian Denison is a program director for Neighborhood Sports, and he runs the All-Girls NFL Flag League in North Austin and in San Antonio. Neighborhood Sports runs numerous youth programs with a mission of fostering community involvement in sports.
“We run our NFL Flag Girls league year-round, with each season lasting seven weeks,” Denison said. “Every team plays 6 regular season games, followed by a playoff tournament where all teams qualify, giving every girl the chance to compete for a championship.”
This program brings in players new and old every year to play, and it continues to gain more and more popularity. Denison designed it to be a welcoming and open space for girls where they can learn new skills and grow their abilities.
“They say girls flag football is the fastest-growing sport, and we see it happening right before our eyes,” Denison said. “Just a few years ago, our league had three to four teams across three age divisions. Now, in just three short years, we’ve expanded to double-digit team counts in each division, and we’re still growing.”
More and more states like California, New York, and Florida are introducing official flag football programs into high schools, bringing the current total to 14. According to Denison, the ambitious but cooperative environment supports girls to make them feel more empowered and active.
“Our goal here at athletics within Austin ISD is teaching more than the game,” Victorino said. “We’re building that confidence to go out and be out in the world, gaining friendships, being able to develop and build the confidence and the strength and those leadership skills to just go out into the world.”
The AISD program begins in May for the starting championship games. They will play on May 16 and 17 and have their final game on May 23, 2025. Next year, the formal season will begin. To Denison, the future of girls flag football is bright.
“It’s already a sanctioned varsity sport in several states, and it’s only a matter of time before all 50 states follow suit,” Denison said. “We’re committed to making sure every girl in our community knows that this opportunity exists, and that she belongs on the field.”
