The 84% Calif. high school sports jump that has everyone scrambling
By: Alex Simon, Sports Editor, SF Gate
September 2, 2025
At high schools all throughout the United States, one sport is growing faster than almost any other sport in the country. The National Federation of High Schools runs an annual participation survey, and from 2023-24 to 2024-25, girls flag football saw an increase of more than 25,000 participants. The number of schools offering the sport also nearly doubled, going from 1,777 to 2,736 the following year.
But the biggest driving force behind that growth is in California, where 19,921 girls participated in the sport last school year. California now makes up 29% of all girls flag football players at the high school level nationwide. All of this has happened in just three years.
In a phone interview with SFGATE, California Interscholastic Federation executive director Ron Nocetti said there were big expectations for the sport when California schools unanimously approved adding it in February 2023, after a trial run in Southern California saw 689 girls participate. But how has reality matched up with those expectations?
"I don't think anyone assumed it would grow this quickly," Nocetti said.
The first statewide year in the fall of 2023 was largely a feeling out year, with most California sections not even hosting a postseason. Still, 10,832 girls participated in the sport — instantly jumping ahead of several sports that have been around the state for decades, like girls golf, badminton and both boys and girls lacrosse. The massive initial wave of interest seemingly caught everyone off-guard in that first fall: Dave Grissom, the commissioner of the Central Coast Section, which has schools from San Francisco to King City, told Bay Area News Group in 2023 that he "didn't know if we would have any interest at all," but was "pleasantly surprised" to see the turnout.
But interest wasn't just a one-year blip. According to the CIF's participation survey released earlier this month, the fall of 2024 saw an 84% increase and the number of schools offering the sport just from 433 to 697. With 19,921 participants, girls flag football surged into the No. 8 spot on the list of most-played girls sports.
In the North Coast Section — which consists of high schools in the East Bay, North Bay and along the California coast all the way up to the Oregon border — fall 2024 brought the first section championship. Alameda won the inaugural crown, something that didn't surprise head coach and assistant principal Michael Lee once he saw the team.
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