SC Athletic Department Adding Flag
Football
Winfield, Kan., Jan. 10, 2023 — The Southwestern College athletic
department announced on Monday that they will become one of several Kansas
Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) institutions that have added the growing
collegiate sport of women’s flag football, with their first season of
competition set for the spring of 2024. The addition will become the 19th
competitive athletic offering at Southwestern College.
“Southwestern College is excited to be on the leading edge of this
fast-growing and exciting sport,” stated director of athletics, Jamie Adams.
“Flag football is an emerging sport at the National Association of
Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) level and offers a new experience for
student-athletes on our campus.”
The NAIA named women’s flag football an emerging sport in 2020, and has
seen the participation in the offering grow since then. Southwestern will
become the 20th institution to start an NAIA women’s flag football program
since the sport’s inception in 2020, and they will join Bethel (Kan.), Ottawa
(Kan.), Kansas Wesleyan and Saint Mary (Kan.) as another KCAC representative
for the sport. The Builders will play against the aforementioned KCAC
institutions, along with both Midland University (Neb.) and Cottey College
(Mo.).
As a sport, flag football is played in the spring season, and is played
on a field 80 yards in length and 40 yards in width. Another one of the chief
differences between flag football and traditional football is that seven players
from each team will be on the field at one time in a flag football game, which
is four less than the 11 for each team in tackle football. Passing and running
the football are both options in flag football, and in order to end a play, a
defender must pull the flag of the ball carrier from their hip/waist.
“Flag football is a great addition to our athletic offerings,” continued
Adams. “It is a growing sport and uses our on-campus facilities to great
advantage, while bringing in additional dedicated female student athletes.”
Looking forward to the spring of 2024, several important steps will be
taken to insure the success of the newly minted program, including the hiring
of Southwestern’s first ever head flag football coach.
