HONOLULU — Hawaii will become the 12th state in the U.S. to sanction girls’ flag football as an official high school sport, the Hawaii High School Athletic Association announced Thursday at press conference at McKinley High School.
All five athletics leagues — Oahu Interscholastic Association, Interscholastic League of Honolulu, Big Island Interscholastic Federation, Maui Interscholastic League, Kauai Interscholastic Federation — have approved the sport for the coming 2024-25 school year. At least three needed to do so for an HHSAA state tournament to be held. Girls’ flag football is the first state championship sport the HHSAA has added in 20 years.
In its inaugural year, girls’ flag football will be implemented as a spring sport.
“With the potential for over 1,000 females statewide who could participate in the inaugural season, these young women will pave the way for female high school student-athletes in many areas,” Hawaii DOE superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a press release.
The development appears to be a major Title IX achievement for the state, particularly in the wake of the landmark settlement reached in the federal class-action lawsuit against the Hawaii Department of Education and the OIA regarding gender disparities in athletics at Campbell High School. First established in October and finalized in February, the agreement assigned an independent evaluator to complete routine assessments at Campbell High in accordance with a seven-year compliance plan.
The lawsuit was filed in 2018. The DOE renewed its Title IX committee in 2019.
Dana Takahara-Dias, the deputy director for the City and County of Honolulu, was reportedly involved with the committee upon its renewal. Among many to credit for the introduction of girls’ flag football in Hawaii, Takahara-Dias was instrumental in the initiative.
“Part of Dana’s efforts and Campbell and the OIA is they want to create more girls’ opportunities in sports,” Amemiya said. “And one of the rising sports nationally is girls’ flag football.”
Almost two-thirds of state high school athletic associations in the U.S. have girls’ flag football as a sanctioned or pilot program, per the NFHS or National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations. Soon, it will be an Olympic sport.
The 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles will feature men’s and women’s flag football for the first time in the history of the event.
Sitting HHSAA executive director Chris Chun told the Star-Advertiser earlier this summer that the NFHS is in the process of creating an official rulebook amid the sport’s rising popularity.
“They’re going to start writing rules for this sport, so we’re going to be one of the states participating and helping create a uniform [rule] nationwide for girls’ flag football,” Chun said.
Several organizations have committed to donations to help fund the sport.
Among them, the Hawaii Medical Service Association has offered up $50,000 worth of protective headgear for all 44 public high schools with the Marcus Mariota Motiv8 Foundation expected to provide $20,000, per Amemiya.
“Mahalo to our generous sponsors to provide this historic opportunity for our female student-athletes,” Hayashi said via press release.