Girls flag football is officially becoming a sanctioned sport under Kansas State High School Activities Association, giving more girls across Kansas the opportunity to compete in the sport.

The Kansas City Chiefs helped start the movement through their ‘Let Her Play’ program, which focused on growing girls flag football across schools.

Junior quarterback Emme Nigh, who helped encourage girls at Baldwin High School to join the team, said getting players involved was important.

“I just had to help reach out to a lot of girls and get them to come out to the practices and see if they liked flag football,” Nigh said.

Nigh said she is excited to see the sport officially recognized.

“Yeah, I’m excited. We have been pushing for this for a long time, so it will be fun to see what comes out of it,” Nigh said.

The BHS girls flag football team also had success at state this season.

“I think we will have a great chance at winning state. We will have a lot more girls come out next year,” Nigh said.

Junior Brooklyn Taylor is also looking forward to the future of the sport.

“I’m so pumped about it. I think it’s going to be a lot of fun,” Taylor said. “We get to compete with more schools and more girls.”

Sophomore center Meleka Floy said she believes Kansas State High School Activities Association made the right decision by sanctioning the sport.

“I think it’s great, and we have a pretty good chance of winning state next year,” Floy said.