The days of powder puff games being the only time area girls can play flag football for their high schools will soon be over.
Tennessee recently became the nation’s 10th state to approve girls’ flag football as a sanctioned varsity sport.
In Hamilton County, 11 public schools are set to participate this fall. Team tryouts will be held on Oct. 21, with a jamboree planned for Nov. 2. The season would begin the following week and end on Dec. 20.
“We are very excited to have the opportunity to field a girls’ flag football team,” said Jared Hensley, the athletic director at Soddy Daisy High School. “Anyone who has had the privilege of coming to watch the powder puff game at homecoming every year knows that our girls love participating in that game and it’s very important to them.”
Although the TSSAA passed a motion last week to sanction girls’ flag football, the association will not award a state championship right away because it is still considered an emerging sport. All such sports must go through a one-year trial period before a state championship is added. However, the TSSAA will work to classify participating schools into districts and regions/sections for a postseason invitational in the first year.