High School

Indiana's IHSAA approves girls flag football as an emerging sport

On Monday afternoon, the IHSAA Board of Directors approved girls flag football as an emerging sport for the 2025-2026 school year

Andy Villamarzo

Kai Brinkley takes off for a touchdown as Woodinville held off Capital to win the 2025 Washington high school girls flag football title Saturday at Mount Tahoma.
Kai Brinkley takes off for a touchdown as Woodinville held off Capital to win the 2025 Washington high school girls flag football title Saturday at Mount Tahoma. / Photo by Steve Faber

One of the nation's fastest growing sports is making headway on coming to the Hoosier State for the 2025-2026 school year.

According to a report by the Indianapolis Star, the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) passed in a 17-1 vote to add girls flag football as an emerging sport for 2025-2026.

Though this vote didn't approve girls flag football being officially recognized by the IHSAA, over 50 percent of the membership would have to be participating in the sport with teams, per the report.

Per the report, sports like girls’ wrestling and boys’ volleyball in Indiana just were officially recognized this 2024-2025 school year after first being emerging sports.

One of the most recent states to fully adopt flag football as a officially recognized sport within their state's governing body was Washington, who became the 16th such state to do so.

What WIAA amendments passed for 2025? Girls flag football finds end zone in second attempt as sanctioned sport

The following 16 states currently recognize girls flag football as a high school sport:

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

California

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Illinois

Louisiana

Nevada

New York

Pennsylvania

Tennessee

Washington

Montana

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-- Andy Villamarzo | villamarzo@scorebooklive.com | @highschoolonsi

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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.

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