Stacey May
Mount St. Mary’s Athletics recently announced that they will be adding a new Division 1 Varsity sport: Women’s Flag Football.
Brad Davis is in his second year as Athletic Director with the Mount. , “We’re always looking to grow through athletic enrollment and do things that we think can be really successful for the university.” Davis explained when asked about this addition.
"Flag football is a sport that is growing rapidly across our country, it’s not necessarily growing rapidly at the Division 1 level right now, so we have a marketplace where right now we are the most visible school in the country. I think we can really leverage that. I also think that this sport has exploded at the high school level, in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Every high school in Frederick County sponsors it now and has a JV team, so there's a ton of local students who are participating at the high school level-- they don’t have anywhere to go for college. I think we can provide a great avenue for that.”
Frederick County Publics Schools (FCPS) was the first county in Maryland to pilot women’s flag football in the 2023-2024 school year. Since then, many other Maryland counties and schools have started women’s flag football teams. Mount St. Mary’s will become the first university in the north and south to offer it at the D1 Varsity level next school year 2025-2026.
Women’s Flag Football is being sponsored by Under Armour. Mount St. Mary’s is an Under Armour School, and Under Armour is sponsoring women’s flag football at the 2028 Olympics. Davis expects many partnership opportunities in the future.
The competitive season for women’s flag football will be in the spring, but there may be opportunities for practice and scrimmages in the fall for the team.
The Mount is currently identifying potential coach candidates, and then the coach will lead recruiting efforts. About 30 local high school seniors have already filled out recruiting questionnaires, and there will be an opportunity for students who are currently at the university to be walk-ons. There will be 25 girls on the team, and they will play 7-v-7 on the field.
“I think five years from now there’s going to be 100 schools in Division 1 that have the sport,” Davis said. “We’re in on the ground floor and looking forward to seeing it grow.”
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