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While basketball, soccer, softball and golf continue to thrive, all eyes are on flag football as the next emerging sport for girls. In fact, flag football will make its debut in the Olympics in 2028 in Los Angeles and is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing girls sports in America.

Georgia is no exception. During the past year, 310 Georgia high schools offered girls flag football as an official sport for their student-athletes with the state championships taking place at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in December. And 34 of Georgia’s high school have added teams since State Representative Brent Cox, R-Dawsonville, dropped a House Resolution urging all high schools in the state to establish flag football programs for girls.

And if the resolution is approved this session of the General Assembly, Georgia would become the first state in the country to pass urging legislation as a state legislative body.

“It’s great to see the excitement growing around flag football,” said Cox. “Flag football provides a new opportunity for girls to be involved in sports. And now, with this becoming an Olympic sport, this creates a new opportunity for a female athlete to become an Olympian.”

The urging resolution states that “Flag football can help girls develop critical life skills such as teamwork, leadership, and confidence while also providing beneficial physical activity.”

It goes on to say that “flag football is a low-contact sport, with no height or weight restrictions, that is open to girls of all skill levels, and the expansion of high school flag football programs for girls would be beneficial not only to the girls and women joining such programs but also for the community as a whole”

Given the enthusiasm and rapid growth of the game in Georgia, the Atlanta Falcons, in partnership with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, have teamed to elevate girls flag football to become a sanctioned sport across the United States to promote gender equality in sports offered at the high school level.

In 2018, the Falcons launched a girls flag football pilot program in 19 high schools in the state. Following the success of the program, Georgia became the fourth state to sanction girls flag football as an official high school sport in 2020.

Georgia reported almost 5,000 participants last year, and the Georgia High School Association held its third state championship last December – where the girls play alongside the boys in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

This year, the Falcons, in partnership with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, announced every Georgia high school will be eligible to receive a grant to either launch a girls flag football program or support its existing program for the upcoming season.

And to elevate the sport even more, flag football has now been added to the program for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles along with T20 cricket, lacrosse (sixes), baseball/softball and squash.

“This is an exciting time for girls flag football, and a great opportunity for Georgia to lead the way with its support of the sport,” said Cox.