Girls’ flag football is an official sport in WA, WIAA rules

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) has declared a new sport in the state—girls’ flag football.

Female student athletes will have a new sport to explore, as long as their school offers it. It is the first sport the WIAA has sanctioned in Washington this century. The sport will officially be ratified Aug. 1 for the upcoming school year.

Washington is now the 15th state to sanction girls’ flag football in the country.

Seattle Seahawks’ long embrace of girls’ flag football

“The Seahawks are thrilled with the announcement by the WIAA,” Chuck Arnold, President of the Seahawks and First & Goal Inc., said in a prepared statement. “This is a historic moment for our state and an exciting milestone for all the girls flag athletes in our region who now have the opportunity to play at the highest level.”

The Seattle Seahawks have long been committed to supporting girls’ flag football programs, spending more than $500,000 in grant funding to help launch girls’ flag football teams across Washington.

Girls’ flag football has been explored in public schools in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Northshore, Auburn, Renton, Puyallup, Mercer Island, Federal Way, Highline, and Kent. Nearly 60 colleges and universities offer some version of girls’ flag football on campus.

This decision comes two years after an amendment that would have added girls’ flag football to the list of sanctioned school sports failed to advance in 2023. When WIAA, made up of 53 district-level school administrators, voted on it, the amendment did not reach the 60% threshold required to codify it in state law.

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