Starting in the fall of 2026, girls flag football will be an official varsity VHSL sport. The program statewide was led by Lightridge counselor Jennifer Schrader who will serve as the school’s first head coach.
This program has been in the works since 2023 and officially started up as a club in the fall of 2024. The first year there were 98 girls who participated in the program. This past fall that number grew to over 150 girls from over 15 different high schools. Schrader started up the program with the help of the Washington Commanders as well as the DC Divas who are a professional women’s tackle football team based in the Washington, D.C. area and a part of the Women’s Football Alliance. The Commanders have also helped a lot with getting the Director of Athletics in LCPS on board with the program.
“I attended school board meetings, met with school board representatives and met directly with Superintendent of LCPS, Dr. Aaron Spence,” said Schrader.
Now that girls flag football is an official VHSL sport coaches will now be getting paid, extra equipment costs will now be covered, and transportation will now come with no extra fees, which opens up the doors for so many more girls to join in on this sport.
“I’m excited to hopefully make varsity next year and keep playing with friends throughout high school and experiment with this new sport,” said freshman Addison Cushman who also played defense on the team this past fall.
Flag football becoming an official high school sport opens the opportunity for girls to continue playing the sport in college at a D1, D2, or D3 level. This is also a new change in the world of women’s sports because as of 2026, the NCAA officially added women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program across all three divisions.
Many of the girls on the team last year are very excited about flag football becoming an official sport and also all the accolades and benefits that come along with it. Junior Haven Goodwin is one of the players who has been participating in the club since its start up and plays center for the team.
“I’m excited because it’s becoming a college sport and we’re gonna get more recognition for it, which will make an easier recruitment process,” said Goodwin.
The goal for this first official season is for all seventeen Loudoun County schools to participate and have teams. There is also a plan in place to create a spring league that is similar to the fall program to help introduce the sport to girls who have never played before as well as help the seasoned players get some extra training and practice time in.
“We have partnered with the Virginia Hurricanes and Loudoun County PRCS to create a spring league to mimic our high school program,” said Schrader.
The tryouts for the first official season of girls flag football will be at the same time of the other fall sports. The spring club season is planned to start up very soon. Spots for both of these seasons are open to all girls 9-12th grade, and interested students can reach out to Jen Schrader for more details.
