Touchdowns, perfect spirals and ten-yard lines: In the past, Urban has had a co-ed varsity flag football team, though there has never been a tackle football team. Students are now trying to start a girls varsity flag football team in the fall of 2026. They are currently gauging whether there is enough interest to form a team. The team would be open to female- and nonbinary-identifying students.

However, there are challenges in forming the new team. “We don’t have enough girls that are willing to commit to playing,” Director of Athletics Joe Skiffer wrote in an email interview. In order to form a team, the athletics department would need around 10 more girls, on top of the five who have already committed to the team.

The potential formation of the team reflects a nationwide trend. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which writes rules for high school sports, the number of girls playing flag football increased by 63% between 2019 and 2025.

Jiselle Perez ’29, who plans to join the girls team if it runs, spoke on her experiences playing co-ed flag football on the Urban team as the only girl on the team.  “It was hard for me to … connect with people on the [co-ed] team. [With] girls flag football, it’s easier to connect and easier to make friends,” she said.

Ari Wayne ’27, who also plans to join the team, reflected on flag football’s role in women’s representation in sports. “Typically, football is seen as a sport for men, for people that like tackling each other [and for people] who like to be rough,” she said. “There’s no professional women’s football. You don’t see that in the way you see professional women’s soccer or basketball teams. … It’s hard to try something new if you don’t see someone like you in the media.”

The new flag football team would give girls the opportunity to join the historically male-dominated sport of American football, without the dangers associated with tackling. The risk of injuries in flag football is much lower than in tackle football since flag football is a completely non-contact sport: Players carry flags on their belts, and a play ends when a player with the ball has their flag removed by a player on the opposing team. 

“One thing about normal football is that it is incredibly dangerous. So many people have brain damage [from playing it]. Tackle football is too dangerous for me to consider playing,” Wayne said. “[With] flag football, I get the best of both worlds. And especially with a girls team, I get [to play with] people that are very similar-minded to me: girls who love the sport [but] who maybe don’t want the tackle part of it.”

Potential players remain hopeful about the possibility of a girls flag football team in the fall and encourage others to explore the possibility. “I would say, give it a try,” Wayne said. “It’s new for the school, and it’s new for everyone, and it could be a really good opportunity to meet new people and try out football.”