Ithaca debuts girls flag football team

In February, it was announced that the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) was partnering with the Buffalo Bills, New York Jets and New York Giants to launch varsity girls flag football in schools across the state. Ithaca High School (IHS) quickly jumped at the opportunity, and the team has begun practicing.

Stepping into the coaching role is Jodi Maddren, who is an assistant coach for both the girls ice hockey and girls soccer teams at IHS. Thus far, 14 athletes have joined the team, which is open to any additional interested students. Maddren talked about the process of putting a team together after accepting the coaching role in February.

“It’s just a matter of getting girls to sign up,” Maddren said. “We put the word out. We put announcements out. I hung a few flyers. We were hoping to keep a squad of 20, and we’ve got 14 at this point. We’re still kind of keeping it loose in terms of if anybody says they’d like to join, we’ll still accept them. It looks like we’ve got about a five-game season.”

That season will start on April 23 at a Section IV flag football kickoff event in Chenango Valley. In addition to Ithaca, five other Section IV schools have launched flag football programs: Union-Endicott, Horseheads, Norwich, Binghamton and Chenango Valley.

For Ithaca, the Little Red are looking at a mixed bag of athletic experience on their roster. When it comes to flag football, though, it’s a clean slate for everyone across the board.

“We’ve got some [players] who don’t typically play any other sport,” Maddren said. “We’ve got some girls who are cheerleaders. We’ve got a hockey player. We’ve got a couple soccer players. It’s a mix. What’s nice is that Ms. [Samantha] Little said that because we’re in Section IV, kids could dual-roster. I think that was a deterrent for some people in terms of coming out for flag football was that they already played another sport. Turns out you can actually do both.”

The players that have joined have been enjoying the experience of learning a new sport. Maddren commented on the enthusiasm of her athletes.

“The attitude and the energy have been phenomenal,” Maddren said. “They’re just so eager to learn. Anything that we’ve asked them to do, they’ve just said, ‘Yep, let’s do this.’ If we give them feedback on a certain skill, the amount of time it takes to correct that and make it right has been an amazing turnaround. They’re really excited. They’re eager. It’s really cool because everybody in here is on the same playing field, so to speak.”

Maddren brought in Ray Hage, an advisor for Cornell University’s Science and Technology Entry Program, to help out with coaching since he has experience coaching youth sports in the past. In addition to learning the game from Hage’s experience, Maddren has been studying up on flag football.

“Oh my gosh, [I’ve learned] so much,” Maddren said. “This is just our third practice. I bought a couple of books, so I’ve been doing some reading on my own and watching videos and things like that. Being brand new to it, I like to arm myself with as much going into it as possible. I’ve learned a lot.”

Girls flag football is being pushed by the National Football League in an attempt to diversify a sport that has been male-dominated for over a century. Maddren is overjoyed for both herself and her athletes that they get to be a part of this movement.

“It’s an opportunity that makes you think, ‘Where would they have gotten it otherwise?’ Maddren said. “I hope that it will continue to grow. What a great experience. I think it’s very special. The way they were just like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m going to sign up for that. Let’s take a chance. Let’s do it. Let’s see what we get.’ It’s great. It’s awesome.”

The flag football team will head down to Chenango Valley for the Section IV kickoff event on April 23. After that, there are two games against Union-Endicott (which has two teams after over 40 students signed up to participate) and then games against Norwich and Chenango Valley to wrap up its first-ever season.

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