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California to weigh making girls flag football school sport

September 29, 2022 GMT

Syndel Murillo, 16, left, and Shale Harris, 15, reach for a pass as they try out for the Redondo Union High School girls flag football team on Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Redondo Beach, Calif. Southern California high school sports officials will meet on Thursday, Sept. 29, to consider making girls flag football an official high school sport. This comes amid growth in the sport at the collegiate level and a push by the NFL to increase interest. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — School athletics officials in Southern California will ask the state to make flag football an official high school sport for girls.

The California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section voted Thursday in favor of the plan, said Thom Simmons, the section’s assistant commissioner.

The state body that governs interscholastic athletics in California is scheduled to take up the proposal on Oct. 7 and vote on it early next year.

The move comes more girls have been playing flag football in youth leagues and some high schoolers in Southern California have been playing in a pilot league started by the Los Angeles Chargers and LA Rams.

Athletics officials hope that making it an official high school sport will increase participation and help coaches create a pipeline to develop players.

The Southern Section is the biggest of the state federation’s ten regions with more than 550 member schools.