For the first time in decades, Lutheran High School South has added a new sport to its athletic program: girls flag football. Though a feat in itself, as it’s been years since a fresh sport has been offered, adding this team specifically is particularly monumental as Lutheran South is now the first private school in the St. Louis area with a girls flag football team.
It all started with powder puff.
As many high schools do, Lutheran South hosts an annual “powder puff” flag football game for junior and senior girls around homecoming. This past year saw an unprecedented uptick in interest, with approximately 60 girls signing up to play. This gave Brian Lind — the school’s Director of Campus Life, a science teacher and the longtime head boys basketball coach — an idea: start a school-wide, girls-only intramural flag football league.
“We had 90 kids sign up to play intramural flag football. Now, we’ve never had 90 kids sign up to do anything ever before. So right there we’re like, ‘Okay, this is kind of a big deal,’” Lind said. “That’s when we started hearing about flag football maybe being a high school sport.”
Lind is referencing the recent push by the NFL to increase female participation in football. To help, teams across the country have partnered with schools to fund the creation of girls flag football teams, supplying the uniforms and equipment needed to do so. Lutheran South’s team is backed by the Kansas City Chiefs.
“From what I’ve seen, I haven’t found another private school yet in the state doing this. We are kind of a unicorn with this,” Lind said.
Though similar to typical tackle football, flag football has a few major differences. For one, no tackling is allowed, but it is also a game focused more on speed and skill than size and strength.
“It’s a fast game. It’s an open game. While you throw a football, it is very different. They’re good at it, too. It’s really fun to watch. Give the girls a chance to go out there and do this stuff — they’re performing, they’re adapting to it. They’re doing a really nice job. It’s exciting to see them play and learn,” Lind said. “We’re having success, but also, everybody’s getting a chance to touch the ball. Everybody’s getting a chance to play this game. That’s why we’re doing this.”
“It’s fun because I’ve never done this before. I get to play positions that I never thought I’d actually be able to play and do a sport that I never thought I’d be able to play,” sophomore Olivia Kinser said. “My brother plays football — it’s just a big thing in my family. I wanted to be one of the first people to be able to be a part of the team.”
Though all 25 players on the team are new to the sport, sophomore Elle Willis says it’s been a positive experience, all learning together.
“I think a lot of teams now — it’s just a lot of competitiveness, you’re competing against your other teammates … Flag football, we’re all just supporting each other … and growing as a team,” she said. “It’s brought people together, which is really fun.”
As far as future goals, Lind, Kinser and Willis emphazised their hopes of growing the program and keeping it strong. In preparation, extra jerseys have already been purchased as the 25 originally supplied are all in use.
“Being part of something that’s brand new is absolutely fantastic. I had all the girls sign a football because that’s the kind of thing that we can put in a trophy case. What I want to see is in 20 years from now, this is a successful program and that people can look back and see … they’re the ones that got that thing started,” Lind said. “I want it to become … a mainstay of our school. That’s sort of an expectation. You can come in and play football if you want to, girls.”
