Reporting by Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The push for girls flag football has had the NFL behind it for decades, and more recently the International Olympic Committee came on board.
Now there’s another smaller but nonetheless powerful backer in Wisconsin officially working to add the sport to the list of those sanctioned at the WIAA varsity level, the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.
With that unified voice, the movement is picking up steam.
“I knew that if we were going to get further faster that I think the WFCA is the heartbeat of all things Wisconsin football and they’re the juice,” said Michelle Marschel, who has become the organization’s representative for girls flag football.
“So we needed to loop them in to continue to fan the flame of support. They were like, yeah, we’re in.”
Marschel, the coach of Mukwonago’s club team, has been a position coach and freshman coach in the traditional 11-player game. She took on the new role at the WFCA’s spring clinic, where for the first time the group dedicated an entire session to flag football with high school and college coaches and athletic directors participating and WIAA representatives attending.
The developments provide the most focused effort toward formalizing flag football at the Wisconsin high school level after years of hodgepodge growth.
Girls flag football has been around for decades, just not here
Florida was the first state to launch a competitive girls league in 2003, and now about 20 other states sanction the sport with another two dozen in the discussion stages, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, the governing body for high school sports in the United States.
The NFL has been active for more than 30 years in making football more accessible to children. Its NFL FLAG initiative counts more than 830,000 participants.
Around Wisconsin, ad hoc high school leagues have popped in the Milwaukee area and Fox Valley in recent years, and the Green Bay Packers have been involved by providing $5,000 reimbursement grants to schools with club or intramural programs as well as hosting clinics and competitions.
Retired Packers great Donald Driver is involved in bringing an NFL FLAG girls high school league to Wisconsin this fall involving schools from Racine, Kenosha and Whitefish Bay.
“I think one of the exciting potentials about this is how kids who have never played a sport in their life can come out and play it because it’s so new and everyone’s learning it,” Marschel said. “Everyone is at various levels, but pretty much at a baseline.
“Like Divine Savior Holy Angels, they’re seeing the power and potential in the future of this coming down the line and jumping on board early. I would prefer it to become sanctioned so that any person in any building that this is happening, or they co-op with, [who is] a student in a school system can play.”
Different rules, seasons create obstacles
But because of the way girls flag football in Wisconsin has grown up, there is no single format for play and set of rules that apply, nor is there a standard season.
Some play five-on-five; others seven-on-seven on a different sized field. Many schools play in the fall. But the biggest Milwaukee-area league, with games played at Muskego’s indoor practice facility, played after the 11-player season to allow more experienced coaches to be involved and to spread demand for time on the field.
“Mostly the coaches that are doing this work right now, it’s almost like they’re club leaders,” Marschel said. “They’re having to find their own funding, they’re having to find their own fields. They’re having to create their own schedules, enlist athletes.
“And it’s making it very hard for coaches to get good at the game because everywhere we show up, there’s a different set of rules. And then it’s making it hard for the athletes to get good at the game because again, whose flag are we playing today? Are we playing Franklin’s flag? Are we playing Port Washington’s flag? Are you playing Mukwonago’s flag? And so, we’re really looking forward to the standardization.”
The Packers are aware of 36 schools with teams and another 27 that have expressed interest, said Ryan Fencl, football outreach manager for the organization. He is confident there are others as well.
College opportunities on the rise for girls flag football players
The Packers hosted about 50 girls and 10 college coaches for a scouting combine in March.
A hub for women’s flag football tracks more than 250 teams from junior colleges through the NAIA to NCAA Division I in club or varsity competition, including two Division III varsity programs in Wisconsin, UW-Oshkosh and Marian.
Division II UW-Parkside announced in January it would add flag as a varsity sport in the 2026-27 school year, becoming the first NCAA university in the state to offer flag scholarships.
“The majority of the people that I talk to do want the seven-on-seven because the college link is really important,” Marschel said.
The Packers also plan to host a state championship tournament in the fall for teams that have won their conference championships in the spring, summer or fall of 2026, Ryan said. The date hasn’t been finalized.
Starting a flag football team is challenging for high schools
While the $5,000 Packers grants are invaluable in defraying start-up costs, athletic departments and boosters still must fundraise to cover travel and scramble to find qualified coaches and officials. There’s no instant remedy for those issues.
“Most of the time when I do talk to people, I don’t get too much of an adversarial response,” Marschel said, “more just like, I’m facing this and this and this, Michelle, so I’m having a hard time seeing how.”
As the NAIA has had for prospective programs within its small college organization, the WFCA has sample budgets and other resources available for schools interested in launching programs.
“I just have a lot of practical information or people to point them to, to be supportive mentors,” Marschel said. “I pretty much get now, like, two coaches a month who approach me.
“It’s been even hard for me with my 11-man background to understand the nuances. So here’s some really great resources that can bridge that gap or get you further faster in the conceptualization of the game.”
For a new sport to be considered by the WIAA Board of Control for sanction, 5% of schools must participate during the same season. For there to be a sanctioned tournament requires 10%. Numbers aren’t far off, Marschel said.
How soon could girls flag football become an official sport in Wisconsin?
The question of a best case scenario for a timeline for girls flag football to be officially recognized has two answers.
The Packers and WFCA say it could come within a year, and involved teams are interested in that happening as soon as possible. But a tie with the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles – the first Games to include men’s and women’s flag football – also makes some sense.
“If they did a study right now, how many people try track after [seeing] Usain Bolt, I bet the numbers are higher,” Marschel said. “So I was thinking, gosh, if we could start it now … that would be a natural way to flow with the momentum.”
Why is girls flag football important?
Marschel has a simple sales pitch to people from a traditional football background when it comes to explaining the value of the non-tackle version to teen girls.
“I said to them, if football were to vanish tomorrow, like it never existed for you, you never could play, how would your life be different?” Marschel said. “I just know that’s why these men put all this time and hours and effort into this because of what it did in their lives and they want that for other people.
“Kaylee Knaak, she’s the Packer player of the year, just amazing young woman. She was a dancer prior to this, and we are finding that the majority of women that are trying the sport never played a sport in their life. They’re finding the love of their life in this sport.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
