Behind Colts' $1 million investment, girls flag football on path to be IHSAA sanctioned sport

Indianapolis Star

30-04-2025

INDIANAPOLIS — Since the age of 7, Ava Cousin always considered herself a basketball player. She probably always will. But last fall, at the urging of teammate Wilma Gardner and assistant coach Destiny Starks, she decided to try a new sport last fall:
Flag football.
'I didn't think I would be very good,' Cousin said.
She was wrong. She learned the wide receiver routes and football lingo, mostly from her father, Patrick, and Lawrence North girls flag football coach Donny Mimms. Almost instantly, Cousin recognized the similarities from her familiar confines on the basketball court to the football field.
'I was actually a really good defensive player in basketball, so I was used to reading what the offensive player was doing coming down the court,' Cousin said. 'I think that translated for me to be able to read the defense (as a receiver) in football.'
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Lawrence North, in its inaugural flag football season, went 5-1 and won the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference championship. It was a life-changing experience in multiple ways for Cousin, who attended a talent camp at the University of St. Francis in Fort Wayne and was offered a scholarship. St. Francis is the first Indiana college to offer women's flag football and will begin play in the spring of 2026.
'We've been preaching about (flag football) opening doors for girls and them taking a chance on themselves,' Mimms said. 'Now we have three girls signed to go to St. Francis to play flag football. Two of the girls were on the bench on the basketball team and weren't sure what they were going to do next. To me, it's just about having confidence in your school, your school climate and getting this opportunity to your girls. You don't know what that opportunity is going to be.'
Girls flag football is up for vote on Monday at the Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors meeting to officially become an 'emerging' sport, as girls wrestling and boys volleyball were recently before becoming recognized IHSAA sports in 2024-25. Girls lacrosse, a spring sport, was voted through as an emerging sport in August, starting in 2025-26.
There is a lot of momentum, support and financial backing behind girls flag football nationwide, particularly in NFL markets. Locally, the Colts made a $1 million investment from the Irsay family to help support and sustain a goal of 100 teams playing girls flag football in the fall of 2025. In its 'Road to 100' initiative, the Colts will invest up to $10,000 per school to help offset the costs associated with starting a program, including jerseys and a USA Football equipment kit.
The current number of schools participating is 59 … and climbing. The standard to become a sanctioned sport is 100 schools. The sport appears to be on a track to get there after eight schools participated in an initial pilot league in 2023, followed by 27 schools participating last fall.
'The ultimate goal is to be sanctioned as a varsity sport,' said Andy Matis, the senior manager of football development for the Colts. 'We're still continuing to recruit every single day and we've seen a lot of growth in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, South Bend and the northwest part of the state.'
Indiana's growth in girls flag football follows a nationwide trend. According to numbers provided by the National Federation of State High School Associations from August, participation doubled (20,875 to 42,955) in the sport from 2022-23 to 2023-24. There are already 15 states that have fully sanctioned girls flag football, including Washington just last week. The International Olympic Committee announced in 2023 women's and men's flag football would debut as part of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
At schools like Ben Davis and Warren Central, interest level is high. The maximum roster size is 25 players, but both schools could support junior varsity teams if there were enough opponents to play.
'You have to keep in mind what is best for the kids,' Ben Davis athletic director Heather McGowan said. 'For us, there are a lot of kids who have never played a sport before. Whether they got cut in middle school for soccer or volleyball or basketball. Now there are new opportunities for kids who want to play and maybe just not talented enough to make another sport. Now, here is a brand-new opportunity for them to come in and learn together at the same pace.'
Growing the sport
Of the 32 Class 6A football programs in the state, 14 are committed to having girls flag football programs. There are another seven in 5A and 18 in 4A. There are just nine, so far, in Class 3A and lower. But 11 schools have committed that don't even have a football program.
Laschelle Hatcher, the girls flag football coach at Ben Davis, said the opportunity to come in on the ground floor of something new and unique has been appealing for her players.
'I've had some girls come in and say they like coming into this because it gives them a chance to be part of a sport but also aren't intimidated because the sport has been around for so long,' Hatcher said. 'It gives them an even platform to start out at the same time and then grow with it.'
Among the larger schools in Central Indiana to start teams are Ben Davis, Cathedral, Lawernce Central, Lawrence North, North Central, Pike, Tech and Warren Central. The advantage for larger schools is more available practice space. But Mimms said it does not even take a full football field — or even half a football field — to get in a practice.
'I notice and recognize the fears, but I think you can work to overcome those barriers,' said Mimms, who added eight of the 25 players on his roster had never played another sport. 'I think once (Lawrence North coach Pat Mallory) saw the momentum we had he'd say, 'We're going to watch film for an hour if you want the field first.' But we'd practice on the softball field. That was our normal spot. I think any school worried about facilities, you just have get along and be creative. Every program should want another program at their school to be successful. If you want to do it, you figure out a way.'
In addition to facilities, some athletic directors have voiced concerns about taking away athletes from another sport. The fall sports slate for girls already includes golf, cross-country, soccer, volleyball and Unified flag football.
'A lot of the concerns we've heard are either facilities or the timing in the fall, especially from smaller schools not wanting to pull girls from other sports,' Matis said. 'Especially with the absence of a state title. Our biggest growth is the bigger cities in the state. Where we're hitting our biggest roadblock is in the rural parts of the state because of the travel for them to find seven games.'
For the upcoming fall, there is a postseason tournament planned. Teams will be required to play a seven-game regular season to be eligible for the tournament, though they can still participate in the season even if they do not meet that minimum. Teams in the MIC plan to play the same opponent in tackle and flag within the same week. There are also opportunities in flag football for multi-game events in the same day.
Ben Davis, one of the original programs to participate in a jamboree the Colts hosted in December of 2022 and part of the first eight-team league in 2023, was the first opponent for the start-up Lawrence North program last fall. Mimms had his team ready. Ben Davis scored in the final minute, winning 20-16.
'I told my girls, 'All that stuff that makes you mad during the day, bring that out here,'' Mimms said. 'I don't think (Ben Davis) thought we'd be prepared like we were. But it was a great game all the way through. They were begging me to play them again.'
Ben Davis got upset in the MIC tournament and that rematch did not happen. But Hatcher said she has learned a lot from watching Mimms infuse the Lawrence North program with a competitive edge. He was aggressive about adding other games and finding extra practice time. There are no requirements for the number of practices, though the Colts are recommending between one and four times a week.
'He's done a phenomenal job,' Hatcher said of Mimms. 'His competitiveness is bringing it out in other coaches as well, not just the girls. I would like to learn from him and plan to take it and use it against him.'
'I learned something new every day'
Abrielle Alexander, like Cousin, was a basketball player first. She also played goalkeeper in soccer. The Lawrence North junior had no experience with football other than watching games on NFL Sundays with the family.
Coming out for the team opened a new world for Alexander, who also played receiver for the Wildcats.
'I always thought receivers ran long routes,' Alexander said. 'Then I learned you can take short routes and run. It was like, 'Nice, I might be tired but I can still run a short route and get long yards off of that.' I learned something new every day. We learned from each other, learn from our mistakes and more about each other.'
Mimms believes as the sport continues to grow and trickles down into the younger age groups, schools that offer girls flag football will have an advantage in attracting multi-sport athletes.
'If a girl has been playing flag football growing up or has an interest and your school doesn't offer flag football and another school does, you are going to lose out,' Mimms said. 'Some of these schools aren't looking at the entire picture or planning for the future.'
IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig said at the athletic directors meeting last week at Plainfield there are no emerging sports on the horizon after girls lacrosse and flag football. He said he understands the concerns over finances, facilities and administrative oversight to take on new sports. But he believes the worry over spreading athletes too thin is unfounded.
'The concern is a student may drop playing soccer to go play girls flag football,' Neidig said. '(The schools') experience is that has not been the case. I think the whole thing with boys volleyball is we've seen a whole new group of kids participate and we've certainly seen that in (girls) wrestling. It just opens up additional opportunities.'
For Cousin, Alexander and others, doors opened that they did not even know existed before last fall.
'It is only going to get better the more teams there are,' Alexander said. 'The whole experience is really fun. Our team is like a family and we're like sisters.'