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The Atlanta Falcons’ long-term funding and support helped grow girls’ flag football to more than 300 teams statewide
Seven years ago, not a single Georgia high school offered girls’ flag football.
Today, more than 300 schools field teams. More than 11,000 girls are playing.
Coaches across the state say that kind of growth does not happen by accident. They credit the long-term investment from the Atlanta Falcons and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation for helping build the sport from the ground up.
That transformation was on full display during the inaugural Girls Flag Football Week, which culminated in the GACA All-Star Game at the Falcons’ facility in Flowery Branch. Nearly 60 of Georgia’s top players competed in a five-overtime battle that showcased just how far the sport has come.
For the athletes, the moment felt bigger than just one game.
“Most people never imagine playing in a Falcons facility, balling hard,” said Morgan Jordan of Luella High School. “So when I found out, it was just like, well, clearly I am doing something right.”
Skylar Anderson of Locust Grove High School called the experience surreal.
“Being out here, playing with All Stars, the best of the best, it was crazy,” she said.
The game stretched into five overtimes.
“We got to showcase the best of the best,” one player said.
But the story of the night goes back years.
Coach Xavier Sanford of Lovejoy High School has watched the sport grow from its earliest days.
“It has grown exponentially,” Sanford said. “We went from playing on a soccer field to playing at the stadiums,” where tackle football is played.
He says the appeal now stretches across athletic programs.
“They’re falling in love with it. Girls from soccer, volleyball, basketball, they’re all coming, migrating over to flag football.”
In Muscogee County, Columbus High School Head Coach Chris Grier has been part of the program since his district adopted the sport in 2019.
“To see the evolution of it has just been amazing and incredible,” Grier said.
He said the All-Star Game reflected how much the athletes have matured. During the five-overtime contest, players were drawing up plays on the sideline, studying what they were seeing and adjusting in real time.
“They wanted to pull out the whiteboard, they wanted to draw some plays out, they wanted to talk about what they saw,” he said.
The roots of this movement trace back to 2018, when the Falcons helped launch a pilot program in Georgia high schools. What started small quickly expanded, and in 2020, Georgia officially sanctioned girls’ flag football as a high school sport.
Since then, the Falcons and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation have committed significant funding year after year to sustain and expand programs statewide.
Every accredited Georgia high school is eligible for grant funding to either launch a new girls’ flag football team or support an existing one. Grants help cover equipment, uniforms and startup costs, removing financial barriers that often prevent schools from adding new sports.
Coaches say that sustained backing changed everything.
“Having that help year after year, the generosity that the Falcons bring year after year, without them I really and truly believe none of this would have been possible,” Grier said.
During Girls Flag Football Week, that commitment extended beyond grants. All participating players received new gear in a surprise locker room moment courtesy of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and the Falcons opened their own facility to host the All-Star competition.
“The support the Falcons are giving to the development of the game and the girls is amazing,” said Diana Flores, quarterback of Mexico’s national women’s flag football team, who spoke to players before the game. “I just love the passion, the excitement, the love these girls have for the game.”
Flag football is now headed to its biggest stage yet. The sport will debut at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, creating new pathways for the athletes now competing at the high school level.
From zero programs in 2017 to more than 300 today, girls’ flag football in Georgia has become one of the fastest-growing high school sports in the state.
As the All-Star players walked off the field in Flowery Branch after five overtimes, it was clear this is no longer an experiment.
It is a movement that has been built and is still growing.
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