Women’s flag football is on the rise in Durham public high schools. 

The first women’s high school programs started in the 1990s and have grown ever since, but it took until 2022 to reach North Carolina.

Women’s flag football is currently offered at 119 schools in the state. It will also be a 2028 Olympic sport.

High school women’s flag football started during 2022 in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district, sponsored by the Carolina Panthers. By 2024, Wake County schools launched a flag football program with a $50,000 grant from the Panthers to fund equipment and uniforms, according to the Raleigh News & Observer. 

In June, flag football expanded into Durham County. 

The county joined in during the 2023-24 school year, with multiple schools forming teams, including the Southern School of Energy and Sustainability. They’ve had a flag football team for about two years, and won the Durham Public Schools league last season.

The school’s athletic director, Brian Nunn, said he saw lots of interest from the beginning and the novelty of a women’s flag football team made recruiting easy.

Nunn said over 50 girls attended the team interest meeting. 

“I mean, we have your basic sports, but football was one that intrigued these young ladies,” Nunn said. “So, once I put it out that we were having a team, recruiting was not the issue.”

David Hackney, director of athletics for Durham Public Schools, said over 80 girls attended interest meetings across multiple schools. Some schools formed multiple teams because of high participation. 

For girls not participating in many extracurriculars, Hackney encouraged them to join women’s flag football as part of his goal to grow the sport. 

“We also wanted to attract the young lady that may not be a great soccer player, may not be a great basketball player, may not be a great volleyball player, but has an interest in being active and doing something different other than those sports and so, we thought it was a golden opportunity,” Hackney said. 

Flag football can be more than just a hobby for some students, like senior Sidney Dash. She plays wide receiver at Jordan High School, and flag football gave her a new path to college – she’s been recruited by Barton College in Wilson, North Carolina. 

Dash grew up as a gymnast and wanted to be on a team in college, but joining the flag football team changed her focus and she started looking at schools for both sports.

“When I finally got like, recruited, I was ecstatic. I was so happy,” Dash said. 

The next step is for the Durham Public Schools to apply to be a sanctioned by the North Carolina High School Athletic Assocation (NCHSAA) as an official sport. Hackney said DPS applied for this status but they were unsuccessful this school year. However, they plan to reapply in the spring and are optimistic about their chances. 

Nunn also stressed the importance of flag football getting sanctioned for students.

“You have universities and colleges out here offering some money for these young ladies and girls to play flag football,” Nunn said. “So we really need to get on board, like other states in our nation, and put some backing behind these young ladies and get this thing really rolling.”

Nunn said the Southern School team has plenty of resources, including from Hackney and the Carolina Panthers. He is still working on finding field space and time for them to play. 

“Watch these young ladies do what they do because they’re good, and women’s sports is growing by leaps and bounds, and all different – [soccer, basketball, flag football, whatever],” Nunn said. 

Even though Dash graduates soon, she plans to come back to support her teammates, and knows they will support her at college as well. 

Dash said she, like Hackney, wants the sport to become more popular.

“I really want to get other girls to also play the sport and realize that football is not only a guy’s sport, it can be a girl sport too,” Dash said.