Jimmy Morel is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Desert Edge High School for AZPreps365.com

Interest in girl’s flag football has been growing rapidly over the past few years. As of last year, there were only six schools that had a girl’s flag football program. 

Heading into 2023 there will be around 37 schools participating in the girl’s flag football program and it will only continue to grow.

“Flag football has been an incredible addition…It gives female athletes the opportunity to experience the bright lights of high school football,” said Athletic Trainer Curtis Johnson.

Desert Edge is among those 30-plus schools and looks forward to raising the bar for girl’s flag football. 

“The process of adding another sport has been challenging because right now it’s in the spring so we have different athletes out on the field than we will have when it’s in the fall,” Head Coach Andra Rogers said. 

It’s hard to hit the ground running with something so new to schools around the state, but things were relatively easy for Desert Edge when bringing in this new sport.

“The district handled the initial costs since it was a pilot year,”  Athletic Director Jason Linn said when talking about the funds for the program.

While Linn didn’t state a specific number that the district funded, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times funding for girls’ flag football falls between $2,000 and $2,500 when including the equipment. 

“I believe we are going to run it just like our other sports. With a club fund, then try to build a booster club,” said Rogers.

“Ms. Tamee Gressett and Mr. Jason Linn worked tirelessly to make sure they had high-quality facilities and equipment for the young ladies to be successful in our inaugural season,” said Johnson.

Desert Edge does already have some of the equipment required to start the season even before the district gave them funding.

However, work still remains ahead for Desert Edge as they are still in need of a couple more coaches. The pay for the coaches seems to be working the same as other sports that are available at Desert Edge.

“Coaches are all paid the exact same way. We get a stipend from the district,” said Rogers.

Desert Edge and the team are looking for coaches with a passion and love for the game, “We also need a couple more coaches to join the staff that is energetic, love football, and have a love for our athletes,” Rogers said.

Desert Edge will be prepared when the season rolls around and as schools head to the fall season the preparation and funding for girl’s flag football continue to increase and the Scorpions are doing everything possible to put their best foot forward.