In February, the California Interscholastic Federation approved girls flag football as a state-sanctioned high school sport. While Gunn cannot institute it as an official, school-sport for the 2023-24 school year due to league budget concerns, Gunn’s current club team and athletic directors across the region anticipate that it will become one next year.
Despite the sport’s CIF approval, the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League — the high school sports conference that includes Gunn — decided to hold off on implementation until the Fremont Union High School District and Santa Clara Unified School District acquired the funds they needed to start their respective programs. This decision means that schools in the SCVAL conference won’t be adding girls flag football to their official schedules for this school year.
Still, girls flag football will be a club sport this year, associated with the school but not an official seasonal sport or league member. This makes scheduling practices slightly more flexible. “(One of our) big problems is determining when (the team) will have a place to play,” Johansen said. “Since it’s a club sport, they’ll be able to practice on Sundays when school-sanctioned practices can’t happen.”
Once the field times are established, the next issue will be confirming a team coach. Currently, JLS Middle School P.E. teacher Molly Flanagan is set to coach girls flag football, but she has yet to meet the team. Finding a coach wasn’t easy — several of the girls interested in constructing the team, including senior Ashley Sarkosh, reached out to multiple teachers at Gunn before Flanagan came on board. “We asked some teachers, and they already had other clubs or their hands were too full,” Sarkosh said.
Senior Ruth Jaquette also emphasized the importance of having a women’s sport coached by a woman. “A lot of girls have reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, is this real? Because I would totally be willing to join,’” she said. “It’s great that girls can take the lead and (have) coaches who can be positive female role models, because we need more women coaching women’s sports.”
Once schools in SCVAL decide whether they are fully committed to having club teams, and practice schedules and coach availabilities are confirmed, teams in the conference can start playing one another. A recent meeting among SCVAL’s athletic directors on Sept. 6 aimed to curate a list of schools with students interested in a girls flag football team. “We (have gotten a) good idea of which schools will establish the club,” Johansen said. “Then we can make sure that we’re in contact with each other and make a contact list. Hopefully, we can even determine when they would like to play.” As of now, Milpitas High School has a club team, and Palo Alto High School will have one in the spring semester.
Prospective flag football players originally hoped to begin this fall, but the season is almost half-over. While most logistics of girls flag football as a club sport are still being sorted out, there is no shortage of girls on campus who are interested in joining — according to Jaquette, there are over 30 girls who would like to play. Many of the interested juniors or underclassmen may watch it become an official school-sanctioned sport next school year.
To Gunn, girls flag football isn’t just a club sport. It’s an opportunity for girls to try something new and build a community. “It gives people a new opportunity to play a sport,” Johansen said. “I’ve been excited about it since I went to that first meeting in April. We wanted it (as a school-sanctioned sport) this year, especially for our seniors, but unfortunately it’ll have to be next year.”
