Relieved, excited and proud': Girls flag football narrowly wins approval from NCHSAA
The next time a high school girls flag football team takes the field and aims for a state title, it will have the blessing of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association – but barely.
Board members voted 9-8 during Wednesday's spring meeting to sanction the sport. It was the narrowest vote of the meeting. By a 10-7 vote, the board also approved the sanctioning of boys volleyball beginning for the 2026-27 school year.
"Relieved, excited and proud," said Eastern Guilford girls flag football coach Daniel Griffith, whose Wildcats won this past season's Guilford County League championship. "We have been preparing for this vote since the season ended. We have had a full offseason of work which includes skill development and our upcoming spring practice."
Griffith said team members huddled in his office to await the vote.
"We all had a range of emotions while watching and stormed out in excitement once it was passed," he said in an email. "The board did the right thing! Our girls are putting in the work and will be ready to go July 29th!"
Girls flag football led to considerable discussion, with some proposing that it be an invitational sport for one year, although that suggestion was contested by the idea that the sport already has been, considering a non-sanctioned state championship was held last November.
With the vote, North Carolina becomes the 22nd state to have a sanctioned state championship for girls flag football. After the initial approval, the board voted 13-4 to play the sport in the fall, another topic of discussion over the last few years because different regions of the state have run pilot programs at different times. Guilford County teams have played in the late fall and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools have played in the spring.
NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said she hoped that the focus wouldn't be on the multiple votes or the split vote, High School OT reported. The original motion only included wording for girls flag football to be sanctioned as a sport for the 2026-27 school year without any stipulation on an exact start date. That led to the 9-8 voted, but a separate vote to establish a start for fall 2026 passed by a more comfortable 13-4.
"I hope that the takeaway from all that discussion is not so much that we had all those votes going on," Tucker said. "It was really about just trying to get it right. And so anybody who is focusing in on the fact that we had multiple votes or multiple recommendations made, they're missing the essence of what was happening. And that was to get it right."
Meanwhile, boys volleyball has seen a dramatic rise nationwide, with a 2025 report from the National Federation of State High School Associations showing that participation has grown from 66,487 to 95,972 in three years, making it the 11th-most played sport. Also, 25 state associations were conducting state championships.
"We are beyond excited that this opportunity has been given to our students," said Northern Guilford boys volleyball coach Melania Montoya, whose 12-2 Nighthawks are the county's top-ranked team this year.
"Our club has worked hard over the past three years to get more students involved and the program has really grown as a result. The sanctioning of Men's volleyball is going to open a lot more opportunities for not just our student athletes here at Northern but across the state," Montoya added in an email.
The sport will be played in the spring season as it has been statewide. It currently has a regular season and postseason system operated by the NC Boys High School Volleyball Association which lists at least 155 member schools.
Other major decisions included the rejection of a decrease in playoff teams from 48 to 32 for Classes 1A-7A and the rejection of a shot clock for basketball.
Also, the board rejected assigning five officials for junior varsity football games, but unanimously approved a requirement calling for two officials per mat for round three and beyond for dual-team wrestling.
In addition, the board approved by a 15-2 vote an increase officiating assignment fees from $150 to $300 for varsity contests and from $100 to $150 for junior varsity contests.
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