After five years as a pilot program, girls’ flag football was officially sanctioned as the 35th Varsity sport in New Jersey by the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) in May and will become a Varsity sport at Columbia High School next year.
As of this year, there were about 4,200 dedicated students playing for 140 girls’ flag football teams in high schools across the state. New Jersey has become the 21st state to incorporate girls’ flag football as a Varsity sport, while 19 others are currently experimenting with pilot programs.
Flag football was only introduced to CHS last year, but participation in the sport has proven to be exponential.
“The interest is definitely there,” Chenae Earle, head coach of girls’ flag football at CHS, said in an interview with the Village Green. “[Flag football] will just keep growing.”
Earle believes that the state’s recognition of girls’ flag is long overdue. She hopes that its official status as a Varsity sport will give CHS the opportunity to refine the flag football team, continue competing against proficient high schools, and build a strong identity in the upcoming years.
CHS Girls Flag Football. (Photo courtesy of Shayna Campbell)
CHS girls’ flag football will see its full first season as a Varsity sport in the 2026-2027 school year alongside other schools in the state.
Shayna Campbell, a Junior at CHS and member of the girls’ flag football team, explained in an interview with Village Green that the sanction “means a lot to me because it [shows] how much the sport has grown and become recognized.”
Campbell has been interested in playing flag football since 8th grade, but only had the opportunity to join a team when it was introduced to CHS in the beginning of her sophomore year. “I’ve always had a soft spot for football, but growing up, it felt like it was mostly a sport for boys,” she said.
The presumed gender roles of sports are also a part of why girls’ flag becoming a Varsity sport is so significant, as it will bring female athletes more recognition and credibility in a male-dominated space.
CHS girls’ flag is only a year old, while the players are currently competing against high schools that bear well-established teams. Earle says that having a Varsity team will give CHS the opportunity to shorten the experience gap by having more rigorous foundations and expectations.
There are other challenges surrounding flag football at CHS due to its recent inclusion. Coach Earle said she believes that the school’s detention policy interferes with practice time due to girls’ flag being played in the Spring season, and CHS Athletics Director Sjoquelyn Winstead points to the current lack of a turf field for consistent practice.
Now that Varsity girls’ flag football has a home at CHS, children 7-14 in South Orange and Maplewood, who are now learning the sport in the SOMA Flag Football league through the South Orange Rec Department will be able to keep playing when they get to high school.
“I feel excited to be part of something that is creating more opportunities for girls in athletics,” says Campbell.
Robin Van Nostrand is a 12th grade student at Columbia High School who is working with Village Green as a paid freelancer through a grant from the NJ Civic Information Consortium.
The CHS flag football team. Next year, players will be able to play Varsity. (Photo courtesy of Shayna Campbell)
