GREENVILLE, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - High school girls’ flag football is growing its way into Greenville with the help of the Carolina Panthers.
Over 300 girls from 13 participating Greenville County Schools flocked to Mauldin High School Saturday morning, where they kicked off the inaugural flag football season with a Championship Tournament.
Carolina Panthers Charities was also in attendance, presenting the county with a check for $32,500 to help get the pilot program off the ground. Uniform grants and equipment kits will also be provided.
Darryl Nance, Greenville County Director of Athletics, has been working to establish such a partnership with the Panthers for nearly a decade. He told Fox Carolina he’s “so happy” to see high school girls getting the opportunity to play flag football and have increased access to athletics.
“They wanted this opportunity,” Nance said of the players. “If we’ve got 300 girls playing, I would say 200 of them are first-time athletes for us. They’re part of a team, they’re being coached, they’re learning how to be a teammate, they’re learning unique skills.”
“An amazing opportunity for basically the females,” Mauldin flag football player Catelynn Thompson said. “The boys always have football, the girls never really have anything that they have, but now they have that. There’s so many groups of girls and so many different schools that wanted to do this.”
So far, 17 states have sanctioned girls’ flag football as a varsity sport. It’ll be an intramural, club-level game for Greenville County for now, with the goal of it eventually becoming sanctioned.
Former Clemson football star and NFL player Patrick Sapp, who resides in Greenville, has been a big supporter of bringing girls’ flag football to the Upstate. He told Fox Carolina that Nance has been “inspirational” in making it all happen.
“This is something that we have been dreaming about happening in the state of South Carolina,” Sapp said. “I’m excited for the energy and the young ladies that are here, and more importantly, the young ladies that don’t play any other sports to be inserted into football, flag football.”
The Carolina Panthers are working with schools in both North Carolina and South Carolina to continue growing the game at the high school level.
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