A New Pathway: Why Women’s Flag Football Could Be a Game-Changer for Young Athletes | FIT
When the University of North Alabama announced it’s adding Women’s Flag Football as a scholarship sport, I felt a mix of pride, hope, and skepticism. Pride in my alma mater, hope at the possibility of a shift in girls’ sports, and skepticism about how well the system will support it long term. But I also see something powerful in this move, an opportunity to reshape pathways, reward true athleticism, and alleviate some of the injury risks we see in specialization.
Here’s what this really means, how it can change youth sports culture, and how it plugs into what I’ve long said about injury prevention (yes — back to ACLs again).
Broadening the Talent Pool: More Doors, Not Just the Usual Ones
For too long, scholarship paths in women’s sports have been narrow: basketball, soccer, volleyball, maybe softball. Realistically if your goal was simply to get a scholarship to play collegiate athletics it’s in your best interest to find a niche sport, not the usually suspects. If you didn’t grow up with geographic advantage, top club exposure, or freakish size, your ceiling was artificially capped (which is why the niche sports are a great option). Flag football changes the lens:
Multi-sport crossover: Girls who played soccer, basketball, or track — especially those who were fast, agile, with good spatial awareness (this is why specifically say basketball & soccer), now have another legitimate lane to pursue.
Rewarding raw athleticism: Flag doesn’t demand you be tall, post up, or bend it like a midfielder. Speed, quickness, vision (spatial awareness), and reaction matter.
Retention of diversity in sport: Instead of burning out on one sport or quitting due to lack of opportunity, athletes can pivot. This could slow the drop-off rate in late high school, because they’ll see alternate routes rather than exit the game altogether (or simply get cut and never play “competitively” again.
In sum: this is a carve-out for gifted athletes that might not otherwise have had an opportunity.
Injury Prevention & the Specialization Trap
Here’s where the move becomes even more strategic from a sports performance POV. We’ve seen the youth sports world double down on specialization, club travel, “always on” training. But specialization carries a heavy burden: overuse injuries, burnout, and structural breakdowns; especially in girls.
Let me lean into my own work on ACLs for a moment. In an article I wrote for The FIT Facility, “What Can Female Athletes Do To Help Reduce The Risk Of An ACL Injury?” I laid out how female athletes are significantly more susceptible to non-contact ACL tears, especially when load, asymmetries, and neuromuscular patterns aren’t managed well. The FIT Facility
Some key takeaways from that piece:
Female athletes are often 9× more likely to suffer an ACL injury (particularly non-contact ones).
These injuries often happen during deceleration, cutting, landing, or sudden stops — movements baked into basketball, soccer, and field sports.
But many risk factors are trainable: correcting muscular imbalances, improving neuromuscular control, programming symmetric single-leg work, managing load, etc.
So here’s the pivot: if flag becomes a viable path, coaches and athletes can reduce the year-round grind in one high-risk sport and instead diversify training.
That decreases repetitive stress, gives joints recovery time, and fosters broader physical development. In simpler terms, fewer overuse wear and tear injuries in knees, hips, and soft tissues.
If we encourage girls to remain multi-sport until later, instead of forcing early specialization, we give their bodies more time to adapt and develop. Flag provides that alternative.
Where Will the Players Come From?
I believe the best players as a whole will come from basketball and soccer (as mentioned earlier).
Basketball Players → Natural Flag Athletes
Basketball players also check every box:
Lateral quickness. Defending in basketball is essentially the same as flag defense — short shuffles, reactive cuts, mirroring opponents without grabbing.
Court awareness & spacing. Just like in soccer, hoops players constantly read traffic, cut to open space, and react to others’ movement. Plug that into flag routes and you’ve got instant advantage (many of the best TEs in the NFL have been former basketball players).
Short burst power. A first step off the dribble or exploding into a fast break is the same as exploding off the line of scrimmage and finding open space in the field.
Soccer Players → Natural Flag Athletes
Soccer players grow up developing many of the same movement skills required in flag football:
Constant acceleration & deceleration. Flag football is built on stop-start movement — bursting forward, stopping on a dime, cutting laterally. Soccer players live in that cycle.
Spatial awareness. A midfielder or forward has to read spacing, anticipate angles, and move without the ball. That’s identical to reading zones and finding seams in flag football.
Endurance + repeat sprint ability. Flag doesn’t demand 90 minutes of play like soccer, but the ability to recover quickly between sprints is a massive asset. Soccer players will have a great foundation to build speed and power upon.
Why These Sports Translate So Well
Both basketball and soccer players already spend years mastering reactive agility, multidirectional speed, and spatial intelligence. These are exactly the pillars of flag football success.
And unlike a specialized softball pitcher or a volleyball middle blocker — whose skillset is highly specific — soccer and basketball players have been developing general athleticism their whole careers.
That’s what makes this shift so powerful:
Girls who didn’t have the height for D-I basketball or the club pedigree for D-I soccer still carry the athletic traits flag football values most.
These athletes are “plug-and-play” ready. They don’t have to unlearn a skill set — they just apply their existing movement patterns to a new game.
It validates being broadly athletic, instead of narrowly specialized.
Why Coaches and Parents Must Lead This Shift
For me, this isn’t just about UNA adding a sport. It’s about shifting the entire conversation around what opportunity looks like for female athletes.
As someone who’s lived the grind: a two-time HS Defensive MVP, a Collegiate Offensive Center All-American, All-Decade team member, and later a college strength coach — I know how narrow those doors can be. Too often, athletes are told their shot depends on fitting into a single mold, joining the right travel club, or being blessed with the right body type.
This is why I’ve always leaned into coaching with a broader philosophy: build athleticism first, specialize second. Flag football now gives young women a tangible reason to follow that path. It rewards the kid who worked on her speed, agility, and strength — even if she didn’t check the club sports boxes.
As coaches, parents, and advocates, our job is to:
Encourage multi-sport participation instead of funneling kids into one lane too early.
Educate athletes and families on the dangers of overuse and the value of broad athleticism (see my past work on ACL prevention).
Champion new opportunities when they arise, even if they don’t fit the traditional sports narrative.
If we do that, we’re not just preparing kids for flag football — we’re preparing them for healthier, longer athletic careers.
Wrapping It Up
Women’s flag football at UNA is more than just another line in the athletic department’s press release. It’s an opening for athletes who may not have had an opportunity otherwise. It’s an antidote to the unhealthy pressure (social and physical) of early specialization, and a sport built on the very qualities that make kids fall in love with playing in the first place.
If of universities and college do this right, they won’t just adding another team. They’ll change the youth sports landscape for young women across the nation.
If you’re a parent who wants to see your athlete develop the speed, strength, and all-around athleticism that translates to every sport — our Sports Performance or Youth Performance programs at FIT are built for exactly that.