On April 21, 2025 the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) officially added girls flag football to the list of sports for Washington State. Camas High School (CHS) is tentatively adding it as a sport for the 2025-26 school year.
Girls flag football is the first sport to be added since the addition of girls bowling in 1999.
To add a new sport, someone within the WIAA declares a vote for the sport. Then, they need 20 athletic directors to support the vote. Following this, every athletic director in the state votes, with a 60% threshold to pass the sport.
With the addition of girls flag football as a sport, many schools are choosing to explore options to participate.
“Right now it is sounding like a lot of schools in our area will do it, but they haven’t a hundred percent committed yet, so we can’t either,” CHS Athletic Director Stephen Baranowski said.
Baranowski mentioned that CHS has not posted anything yet about adding girls flag football because they are waiting to find out which schools in the Clark County area are doing it. It is important that CHS has someone to play because it is not feasible to travel to Seattle for every game.
There has been a pilot program happening in the Seattle and Spokane areas over the past two years, with numbers as high as 90 participants on the teams.
Winter is the tentative season for girls flag football, which has caused some concerns about poor weather. The winter season does pose benefits in terms of the number of available players. At CHS, the fall season and spring seasons have more than 200 girls who participate in sports, while the winter season has only 70.
Sports like gymnastics and bowling have smaller numbers, although still sizable. Based on the pilot programs done throughout the state the past two years, flag football will be a popular sport.
“Girls don’t have the opportunity to play football as much, so this provides a good opportunity to do that,” CHS sophomore Delilah Brown said.
CHS hosts an annual flag football game called powder puff football, something girls look forward to every year. Although it has less pressure and practices than the sport of flag football will end up having, the enthusiasm surrounding the sport is encouraging.
“I think [girls flag football] is a good opportunity for girls because I know a lot of them look forward to powder puff games,” CHS sophomore Avery Holderman said.
According to Baranowski, there are a lot of kids and parents excited about (girls flag football) who are reaching out and asking where they can sign up. During a Title IX survey sent out every three years, the community showed considerable interest in flag football as a new sport.
Right now, there are more male participants in sports than female, but it is still within the acceptable margin. If 40 girls play flag football, there will be an equal number of girls and boys playing sports at CHS
“We’re really excited about the opportunity,” Baranowski said. “I think it is going to create an outlet for kids who don’t do any sports and for girls who play soccer, lacrosse and softball.”
