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Menlo School’s Knights all gathered in a big huddle on the sideline of their home field in Atherton, revving up for a flag-football doubleheader on a warm, clear-blue Tuesday afternoon, Oct. 3.
The rallying cry of “Let’s get fired up!” rose from the circle. They sure did. The Knights played red-hot, walloping their counterparts from Skyline High in Oakland 34-0 in the first game and handling business in the second with a 21-2 victory. The Knights had a four-game win streak going after narrowly dropping the season opener last month.
But to the players, coaches and parents involved, this inaugural season of high school girls’ flag football goes way beyond wins and losses. It has brought a fast-growing opportunity for girls to play competitive football that was not available or even thought about in the past.
For the Menlo girls in particular, it has also given them the chance to learn the sport from one of the all-time best – National Football League (NFL) Hall of Famer and San Francisco 49er legend Steve Young, who serves as an assistant coach on the team.
“I'm not sure that we can underestimate the significance of the girls being able to play football,” said Young, whose two daughters, Summer and Laila, play for the Knights. “I was shocked the first time I came out to practice. The girls were so, so excited but not excited in a birthday party kind of way. They're excited in a more fundamental way like, ‘I'm part of something that I've always watched, and now I can be a part of, I can be involved in.’”
Knights Head Coach John Paye expressed similar sentiments. “The girls are just super excited about playing,” said Paye, another former 49er. “They've watched football for years. They’ve watched the Menlo football players, the boys, have so much fun, and now they're finally having fun playing the game.”
Earlier this year, the state athletic governing body California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) approved flag football as an official team sport for high school girls. Schools throughout the state, including scores in the Bay Area, have teams competing this fall.
The CIF approval comes as flag football has experienced soaring popularity among famale athletes over recent years. About 474,000 girls between the age of 6 and 17 played flag football last year in the U.S. — a 63% burst from 2019, according to NFL executive Troy Vincent Sr. in a recent story for the Sports Business Journal.
Some 15,700 girls competed in varsity high school flag football in the 2021-22 season — a 40% rise in the span of three years, according to Vincent, also a former star player in the NFL.
Summer Young, a Menlo senior who plays wide receiver, said she is grateful just being able to participate for one season before graduating.
“I think it's really special,” Summer said of seeing a girl’s flag football program established. “We've never had this opportunity. It's the first year.”
The timing was perfect for Ava Allen, who quarterbacks the Knights.
“This couldn't have worked out better because I'm a freshman, so I get to play all four years,” Ava said. “It's the most fun I've ever had playing a sport.”
Having girls’ flag football also means “growing women's sports here,” she said. “It’s making sure that there are more opportunities like this for a lot of girls as they come up through school.”
Competing in the sport is a way to build teamwork and many other skills, she added.
Longtime football fan David Jones said he is thrilled to see his daughter, Kylie, play a sport that he loves and she’s now very much into.
“I grew up with it,” Jones said. “I've always tried to get her to pay attention, but she's paying a lot more attention now to all things football since she's playing. And I think that's part of the fun of it: You get kids on the field, and they start to really appreciate the game and they're having a blast.”
Despite the lopsided losses for his team at the Oct. 3 game against Menlo, Skyline Head Coach Jonathan Carroll thought the whole flag-football experience for his players has been invaluable.
“It’s so awesome for them to be able to be on the same field as NFL great Steve Young,” Carroll said, adding, “They're still learning the game, but it's cool to watch them. They're great listeners. Most of our girls play other sports, so I think that football gives you maybe a little grit for other sports, definitely some conditioning and maybe a better appreciation for the game when we watch the boys’ games.”
Compared to tackle football, the flag version fields seven players for each team, instead of 11. The field of play is also smaller – 80 yards long versus the standard 100. Ripping off a flag around a ball carrier’s waist instead of tackling means the end of a play.
There might be no tackling, but the game Tuesday between Menlo and Skyline showed that flag football is far from genteel. It had plenty of energy and contact with players running full speed, crashing into each other or falling on the turf trying to make a play.
In one thrilling play, Ava took a three-step drop and flung the football about 30 yards downfield to fellow freshman Laila. The ball just cleared the outstretched hand of a defender but bounced off Laila. The ball wobbled forward and a bit sideways, dropping quickly toward the ground. And then, Laila clutched it knee-high.
She sprinted toward the end zone to the loud, exhilarated cheers of her teammates.
