The 2025-2026 school year marks the beginning of a major new sport in the DGN community. 17 states across the U.S. have officially sanctioned girls flag football as a high school varsity sport, with 17 more currently running flag football test seasons, or “pilots,” to gauge the popularity of the sport. Illinois was one of the first states to sanction the sport, with the first official IHSA-recognized season taking place in the 2024-2025 school year. Now, DGN athletes can take part in history, and participate on the girls varsity and junior varsity flag football teams, marking the second-ever year for the sport in the state.
When starting a new team from the ground up, there are plenty of hurdles that present themselves. Colleen O’Neil, DGN PE teacher and head coach for the girls varsity flag football team, recognized a few of these challenges right off the bat.
“It’s new to everybody; flag football isn’t really a sport that a lot of female athletes would have played previously, so with competing we’re learning everything so that we’re actually able to get to that point of competitiveness,” O’Neil said.
While there are difficulties with creating a brand new roster, O’Neil sees positives as well. While none of these athletes have a background in high school flag football, a vast majority of them come from backgrounds in different sports.
“I think that the fact that we have so many different sports, especially the team sports, we’ve been able to find ways to kind of connect them so that what we’re doing makes sense outside of football,” O’Neil said. “For example, blocking isn’t the same as what it is in football, it’s basically like setting a basketball screen, so being able to connect it to things like that has been helpful.”
One of the things that DGN prides itself on most is the unwavering support from the community. DGN consistently has huge showings for their athletics, and girls flag football has had no issue reaching those numbers in popularity and fan turnout in their first season.
“It’s pretty great, but I feel like it could be improved in the next few years as the program starts to grow,” junior Alena Mossman said.
Some athletes still feel a certain stigma around the sport, especially when those in the community draw the parallel to boys football.
“There’s a lot of people in the community that are supportive about football and excited to see it happen, but I think that it’s also a little controversial,” sophomore Otis O’Daily said. “People compare it too much to tackle football when it’s a different sport, so it can come off as almost not a real sport.”
There is a sense of pride in the athletes, with many excited to begin building their legacy, and the legacy of the sport, in the school.
“It’s pretty litty. We’ll be the first people to be in the books and be remembered for that,” sophomore Angelina Geyer said.
The girls flag football team will wrap up the last week of September, and playoffs will begin shortly thereafter.
