Girls flag football is an emerging sport in Missouri at the sixth through 12th grade level, and its future is looking bright.
“What is exciting for me is the data we have from other states suggesting that girls who are playing flag football were students who did not participate in other sports beforehand,” said Jennifer Rukstad, executive director of the Missouri State High School Activities Association.
Girls flag football is a noncontact 7-on-7 form of football in which players pull flags off other players instead of tackling them. Most of the rules are similar to tackle football.
Flag football has gained popularity across the country and will make an appearance in the 2028 Summer Olympics; both men and women have confirmed 5-on-5 tournaments. The NFL has done its part in promoting the event by showing girls’ flag football games across the country during broadcasts on “Sunday Night Football.”
“They have put a lot of marketing dollars in it,” Rukstad said. “They have encouraged the franchises to help encourage the growth in their local area, and the Kansas City Chiefs have been doing that, and I think it’s been effective.”
An emerging sport is one that isn’t fully interscholastic — meaning it is not yet widespread, but middle and high schools have begun to start registering teams.
Last year, almost three-fourths of MSHSAA member schools voted in favor of girls flag football becoming an emerging sport in Missouri. For a spot to get bumped up to provisionally interscholastic, it must have 50 or more schools in three or more board districts participate in one year, Rukstad said.
For girls flag football to make the jump to become fully sanctioned and interscholastic, it needs a second year of 50 or more schools in three or more board districts and a vote of the schools.
Although there are no schools in Boone County that have registered a team, Rukstad said she is confident that, based on the data and popularity of the sport nationwide, the sport could become interscholastic statewide as soon as the 2027-28 academic year.
Matt Perkins, Rock Bridge High School football coach, said he supports the idea.
“I really don’t know when it will make it to Rock Bridge,” he said. ... “Would love to see it make its way into all high schools.”
Shawn Gaines, the football coach at Battle High School, said he sees its potential at Battle.
“The overlying issue right now is facility availability, and the season in which it’s played,” Gaines said. “Flag football in the fall has to compete with softball, girls volleyball, football and boys soccer for space. In the spring, flag football is competing for space with girls soccer and track. Baseball has its field, which has football lines on it.
“I think it’s a fun sport that has the potential to be big here in mid-Missouri if we can find the space for it,” he said.
All told, 39 states have some form of girls flag football. Twenty-two states have piloted a program for girls’ flag football, with the most recent being North Dakota’s partnership with the Minnesota Vikings in February.
Seventeen states have fully sanctioned, or varsity, flag football, with Ohio being the most recent when it began partnering with the Cleveland Browns in the summer of 2025 .
Most recently, the NFL has partnered with TMRW Sports for a pro flag football league. Although it’s still in early stages, it’s expected there will be leagues for both men and women.
