Women’s flag football was officially offered as a sport for the first time in Panther Creek history in the 2023-2024 school year.
After years of trying to create a way for high school girls to find opportunity in a male-dominated area, Wake County partnered with the NFL’s Carolina Panthers this year to make a women’s flag football league. 19 schools participated in this program, including schools near to PC like Apex, Green Level, and Athens Drive. Many girls showed interest in the sport, whether they had played before or not, and teams were formed quickly in preparation for the season.
One player who had played previously was sophomore Darcy Yuckman. She told PCNN that she had played in middle school, and although the league was “technically co-ed” she “played in a mostly boys league”. This is what made her so excited to join women’s flag football. A commonly held belief is that girls don’t enjoy watching or playing football, but Darcy disagrees: “I watch football all the time with my parents and grandparents, throw [the ball] around, and I just really enjoy playing the sport”.
Bringing football to a wider demographic was certainly a risk by Wake County. No amount of funding that went into would have mattered if there hadn’t been interest. People doubted that there would be enough girls for a team, let alone for them to be any good.
But PCHS proved them wrong.
“We did have a full team,” said Sarah, a player on both flag football and the basketball team at Panther Creek, “and the coach was really nice and knowledgeable.”
Darcy added on to her thoughts as well. “I was excited, I didn’t really know what to expect, this was the first season that’s ever happened… we got out there, started playing around… and we just sort of clicked and it was great.”
One thing that both players found amazing about this new sport was the community. “We just got to know each other,” Darcy said. “What our strengths were, what our weaknesses were, and how we could support each other.” For the season as a whole, she thought the team chemistry was what made it great: “I was scared that that wouldn’t happen and it might not be as fun, but it did happen, and that made it so much better.”
Both looked forward to the next season with ways to improve in mind. For its inaugural season, women’s flag football did very well, but expansion is on the minds of the players. “The season they chose to do this year affected the turnout,” thought Sarah. She believed a lot more girls would be interested if the timing didn’t conflict with their season.
There were only three weekends of tournament-style games for the entire season, and only a week’s worth of practices before games began. Darcy noted that the three games per day were a lot in a short amount of time, and Sarah agreed that “if they had a longer season next year than they did this year there’ll be more of a turnout from other sports.”
Both girls see the potential that flag football has to grow at PC over the next few years. “We had plays,” said Sarah. “We had an organized time, our warm-ups, our lineup, we had decided positions and everything.” Even though the team only had a few players with flag football experience, they ended up winning four of their games this season. Darcy was admittedly impressed with the talent. “Pretty much everyone had never played before and we came out there and we won games. That’s crazy to me.”
And the way to grow is already here, as Darcy looks do get more people interested. When asked what she would say to girls considering joining next season, Darcy had a simple message: “Go for it!”
“It’s not a sport that a lot of people, especially girls, have access to” She said. “But just go for it! You never know what might happen. It might be your favorite sport; it might be something you’re incredible at.”
So there we have it. The first season of women’s flag football has ended, but the community that has been created goes on and looks to continue growing. So if you’re considering joining next year, take a page out of Darcy’s book and just “go for it!”.
