By Dominic Scianna
The Chicago Bears, in conjunction with the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), hosted a historic announcement on February 14 with news that Girls Flag Football will be a new state-sanctioned series with competition beginning in the Fall of 2024.
“Anytime you get an opportunity to make history is incredibly special,” said Bears President Kevin Warren, as he welcomed a standing room only crowd of dignitaries, media, coaches, players, and photographers to the PNC Center at Halas Hall in Lake Forest.
Warren also noted that this exciting idea and collaboration between the Bears, the IHSA, and the Chicago Public League (CPL) had come full circle in just three short years, and now it is only fitting on Valentine’s Day that this exciting initiative will be remembered for years to come for empowering young and talented female athletes who will compete in a state series centering around girls flag football.
“You have our word as an organization that this will be one of the most important cornerstones for the Chicago Bears to carry forward,” noted Warren.
Spearheading the initiative as early as 2019 with the first conversations about girls flag football was the dynamic duo of Juliana Zavala, Senior Director of Girls Flag Football and Elementary Sports for the Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Sports Administration, along with Gustavo Silva, Manager of Youth Football and community programs for the Bears. They worked tirelessly to expand and engage schools in order to begin participating in 2021 and were able to land 22 teams that first year.
Those participation numbers swelled to include more than 100 schools, 60 of which were CPL affiliates, as well as teams from Rockford, the West Suburban Conference and numerous other schools and conferences across the state for the 2023 season as expansion was needed to accommodate so many interested high schools.
“I want to thank you, Gus (Silva), for all his hard work and what you’ve done,” Zavala said. “This is your vision and you brought it to our attention at CPS in wanting to start girls flag football in the Chicago area.
“We joined forces with you in 2019 for the first CPL season and we can’t believe it but we did it. This is a historic day for all of us. Now the girls have a league of their own and this is just the beginning. Now they can hold their heads high and say, ‘We Do Belong.’”
Craig Anderson, Executive Director of the IHSA, said he marveled at the quick turnaround of interest, structure, and positive numbers of schools ready to play which prompted a vote by the IHSA board of directors for sanctioning in such a short period of time.
“The kind of growth that this sport has gained in 3 short years is unprecedented in the 100-year history of the IHSA,” he noted. “We are announcing today that girls flag football is officially sanctioned as an IHSA sport, and the first-ever IHSA Girls Flag Football State Championships will be held the weekend of October 11-12 (site to be determined) in the Fall of 2024.
The CPL was well represented at the official announcement in person at Halas Hall by Zavala and notable senior administrators: Ali Muhammad, CPS Deputy Chief for Student Readiness from the Office of College and Career Success, CPS Executive Director of Sports Administration David Rosengard and CPS Senior Director of Sports, Mickey Pruitt – as well as girls flag football players and coaches from Lane Tech, Solorio, Simeon, Taft, and Mather High Schools.
“I have the opportunity to start a legacy with my school in flag football and with the Bears,” said Morgan Ellis, a junior girls football player at Simeon who attended the press conference. “We grew up thinking that there was just boys football, and wondered why they didn’t have football for us. Now we can show them we can be just as tough and dominant and I say to all the girls that want to play – ‘Don’t be intimidated. We are now able to show what we can do.’”
The feeling is mutual among coaches who have embraced the initiative and waited patiently to see the day come when it would be a full-fledged sport with state championship aspirations.
“We were one of the first flag football pilot schools in 2021 and I remember thinking how is this going to work and what was this going to look like,” said Taft coach Germaine Padilla, whose team won a CPL girls flag football city championship in 2022.
“I wanted to become a part of this from Day One. I’m happy for the girls to give them other avenues and opportunities to move on to college with a chance at a scholarship offer – but more importantly, we’re excited and blessed to be a part of this whole environment.”
Rosengard and Pruitt were instrumental from the beginning to foster the relationship with the Bears. They pursued funding pipelines that could bring this dream to reality when Zavala came to them with a CPS-Bears proposal for competition in the early planning stages that were interrupted by the COVIID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“To know that Chicago Public Schools and CPL took something that was an idea also supported by the Bears and ran with it, and now it’s blossomed into a state series is remarkable,” Rosengard said. “The other thrill to me personally is the opportunity it presents for these young ladies. It’s an honor to be a part of it and to now nurture this new sport moving forward with the IHSA.”
Many partners were brought in for essential support financially. Much thanks goes out to companies like NIKE Inc., for providing all team jerseys, pants, footballs and pads, the Chicago Bears for soft-padded helmets, spikes and equipment, as well as Buffalo Wild Wings, Gatorade and others who would support the cause. But the lion’s share of work still fell to Zavala and Silva to get the ball rolling to recruit coaches and teams to make it all possible.
“Someone had to roll up their sleeves and that’s what Juliana (Zavala) and Gus (Silva) did. They promoted and asked can we do this, and can we do that and we responded YES, YES, YES, LET’S GO. They did all the things that needed to be done and those successful efforts got us here today,” added Rosengard.
The Bears and the IHSA put on a masterful show for what will be remembered as a great day of celebration for women in sports and a new girls flag football program that is sure to evolve, expand, engage, and excite thousands of future young women all throughout the City of Chicago and State of Illinois for years to come.
If you don’t believe it – take it from a former Chicago Bear who knows what it’s like to win on the biggest stage during his NFL career, and a girls flag football Bears State Series Champion from Lane Tech, that this sport is on the cusp of something big and is here to stay as she furthers her career in college.
“It’s amazing because there are so many opportunities for these girls and they’re already being treated like rock stars because colleges are coming to them with scholarship offers,” said Pruitt, a CPS employee for more than 25 years, and former linebacker with the Bears and Super Bowl Champion with the Dallas Cowboys.
“These are the feel good stories that you will get surrounding this sport and it’s just the beginning.”
And for a CPS student-athlete who is graduating and won’t get a chance to participate in Year One of the IHSA State Series, but has already laid the groundwork with her stellar play in girls flag football in the CPL – it has afforded her another stage of growth in her athletic career from the sport that she will cherish forever.
“I plan to go to college and play flag football next year,” said Lane senior Sadia Rodriguez, who was an All-State and All-Conference selection in her senior season. “I’m getting offers right now and haven’t made up my mind yet but will make my final decision later this year.
“It just means a lot for the girls that come after me to have this opportunity that really changed my life by playing in a sport that I love so much.”
