We all know it well. That time of year when the leaves begin to turn shades of amber, ochre, and rust, the air becomes a little crisper with easy passing day, and weekend plans are made around our favorite fall sport: football.
Under the lights, seated in the stands, screaming for your favorite team on third down… there’s nothing like it. While many colleges and universities spend their October Saturdays doing just that, the Goldey-Beacom College (GBC) community cheers on our athletes playing many other sports, like soccer and volleyball.
Until now.
While you won’t be sipping hot cider and curled up with a flannel blanket watching men throw around a football, you will be cheering on the first NCAA Women’s Flag Football Team in the state of Delaware. And you’ll be doing it while the daffodils are poking through the last frost of winter.
Starting in Spring 2027, GBC will play NCAA Division II Women’s Flag Football against other newly formed teams in the region. And we’re ready to pack the stands when the time comes.
If you’re wondering when Flag Football became “a thing,” you’ll have to turn back the calendar to ancient times: the nineties. The NFL launched Flag Football (NFL Flag) as a youth sports camp series in New England in 1994, and by the early 2000s, it had spread across the country in school programs, local park leagues, and community centers like the Boys and Girls Club. Both boys and girls can play Flag Football, but the path to playing professionally was only open to men, until recently.
Ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles where Flag Football will make its Olympic debut, the NFL recently launched professional leagues for both men and women. Additionally, the NCAA introduced Flag Football across all three divisions in 2025, and GBC quickly signed on to begin a league of our own.
It’s no secret that men’s football is an aggressive sport. Sure, players wear gear and helmets to protect themselves, but the long-term effects of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) are a deterrent for many parents considering the sport for their children. We’re seeing it in professional players, and we’re seeing it in our communities as well.
Flag Football offers youth the chance to play the game without the same risk of injury because it’s a non-contact version of the sport. Turn on a Flag Football game and you’ll see players using mouth guards, but not much else. There are no knee pads, no helmets, and no tight pants. In fact, the uniforms are akin to basketball players.
Most, if not all, team sports still run the risk of injury, whether it be from twisting your ankle or just falling the wrong way. Even golf players can sustain an injury with only their caddy standing around. But without tackles, Flag Football offers a safer alternative with just as many opportunities for touchdowns.
For the die-hard American football fans, be warned: the game is going to look a little different. Don’t worry, it’s still an action-packed sporting event with high levels of athleticism on the field, but you won’t be holding your breath as the kicker trots onto the field for an extra point, or to score a field goal.
You’ll see different rules for the quarterback, but she’ll still be throwing or running the ball. A sack is going to feel strange. Rather than tackling the quarterback to the ground, her flag will simply be snatched from her belt before the ball leaves her hand. And you’ll still get a good kick if a team decides to punt away on fourth down.
Watching clips of the sport on ESPN, you’ll see a lot of familiar plays stripped down. Some of the run game mimics the swiveling turn abouts that Saquon Barkley pulls when the right moment strikes. Without players waiting to tackle you (they’re just reaching for your flag), there’s a spaciousness to the game that isn’t there in men’s football. Sure, players can get tangled from time to time, but there’s no clump of bodies preventing a player from running the ball, no direct hits to bring a receiver to the ground, and, for all the Philly sports fans, no tush push.
Despite less contact, there’s still intense physicality to the game. To avoid having their flags taken players contort their bodies, twisting and avoiding their opponents, all while running at the same time. It’s incredible to see. Even watching highlights of NFL Flag championship game can have you on the edge of your seat, willing the ball to arc out of the quarterback’s hands and into the arms of a receiver standing in the end zone. At the end of the day, it’s still football.
Our starting line-up for Women’s Flag Football this season is largely made up of current GBC students from other athletics teams, and recruitment is well underway for transfers and newly graduated high school students. Aiyana Adams, (class of 2028), came to GBC as a track and field star, who also dabbles in cross country to keep her training fresh. She’s an ambitious psychology major with dreams of getting her master’s in education and opening her own daycare.
For her, playing Flag Football provides opportunity and room for growth within athletics. She says, “Flag Football brings a new culture to sports at GBC. It allows women to play the sport that we all love watching, and it helps us build a relationship with football in a new way.”
Because the team is so new, positions haven’t been set yet. Aiyana is a short distance runner, thriving in the 200-, 400-, and 800-meter races, which means she’ll likely be a receiver or a safety given her speed. “I won’t be a quarterback because I don’t have an arm,” she jokes.
For players like Aiyana with Flag Football as their second sport, it gives them the chance to develop their athletic skills in a new way, form new team relationships, and build a culture that future Flag Football players can step into.
This year is a huge opportunity for any college-aged women looking to play Flag Football at a division II school. Even if you’ve never played football before, with proper training anyone with the right attitude can learn to play this game. It moves, it requires focus, but it’s a new opportunity.
Coach Tim Griffiths, who is pioneering Women’s Flag Football at GBC, is no stranger to education, nor to football at the collegiate level. As a former division II athlete himself, he knows the landscape and he’s passionate about building a team that’s going to be successful.
Until his appointment as the Flag Football coach, Coach Griffiths served as the Academic Interventionist Coach for Goldey-Beacom College’s Athletics Department. He’s also a skilled educator with years of experience in the classroom and currently serves as a special education teacher at Mount Pleasant High School.
With a strong foundation in education and a former collegiate football player himself, Coach Griffiths is the perfect person to lead the new team. He says, “Other than talent, we’re hoping to attract students with a leadership mindset. We want the type of player that wants to set the standard and build something from scratch.”
With NFL football kicking off this August, then Women’s Flag Football starting in the spring, the GBC community is excited to extend our football season past the Superbowl and cheer on the Lightning, touchdown after touchdown.
Goldey-Beacom College is a Equal Opportunity Employer/Program. Auxiliary aids and services are available upon request to individuals with disabilities.
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