Flag football is a new sport that is taking the country — and Elmore County — by storm. Elmore County High School is the second school in the county to add the sport with the assistance of a grant from the Atlanta Falcons and the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation.
This partnership between the Falcons and the Blank Foundation provided grants to 10 Alabama high schools to establish a girls flag football program for the upcoming season.
“Given the enthusiasm and support for the game of girls flag football in Georgia, the Falcons utilized a similar model to bring the game to Alabama in 2021,” the press release detailing the grant stated. “That year, Alabama launched a pilot program for high schools and three years later became the eighth state to sanction girls flag football as an official high school sport. This fall, more than 130 Alabama high schools will offer girls flag football as a varsity sport for their student athletes.”
Prior to the announcement of the grant, students and families from Elmore County began showing interest in starting a flag football program. ECHS principal Jason Eason heard his community and began researching the requirements to get a brand-new sports program off the ground.
“We sent out an interest survey,” Eason said. “Like 40 or 50 girls said they were interested. We thought we had a need and we wanted to fill it.”
When Eason posed the question of who would take over the program to the faculty, former softball coach Tranum Blackwell jumped all over it. Even with Blackwell at the helm, there were still a plethora of logistical hurdles to overcome before the team could come into fruition. Enter the grant.
“It was kind of unique timing, because we just started talking about (flag football),” Eason said. “We put in for the grant to see if we could get it, and we actually were one of the teams chosen. And so it really just came at perfect timing, us starting the program, the email came in and then we just started that process.”
Flag football in Elmore County is like a baby fresh out of the womb — no one really knows what it’s going to look like.
“I don’t really know what to expect,” Blackwell said. “But there’s not a place where we have gone to people (and they haven’t said), ‘Oh, I’m so excited to come watch.’ I have really high hopes for this season, (but) let’s just try and see what happens.”
