California on Friday approved a plan to make flag football a girls’ high school sport amid a surge in the game’s popularity and a push to get more female athletes onto the field.

The move by the California Interscholastic Federation — the statewide governing body for high school athletics — makes flag football the official girls’ sport in the nation’s most populous state for next year 2023-24. The plan was unanimously approved by the organization’s federal board in Long Beach, said Rebecca Brutlag, a spokeswoman for the agency.

Paula Hart Rhodes, president-elect of the CIF Southern Section board, said the goal is to get more girls involved in high school sports and tap into a widespread love of soccer among many who don’t like tackle. Southern California schools from Long Beach to Corona hope to field teams in the fall, and the approval allows districts to add sports to their budgets, Hart Rhodes said.

“You can love the game of football and hate being picked on, but still want to be involved,” Hart Rhodes said. “Flag right now aims to get more girls involved in athletics by adding another sport that we know girls across the country are interested in but don’t want to play tackle for a variety of reasons.”

The move adds California to a growing list of states that have added women’s soccer to their high school athletic programs, such as Alabama and Nevada. of New York State high school community sports association made a similar move this week and expects to host its first state girls flag football championship in the spring of 2024.

The California vote comes amid a surge in interest in flag football among youth players in recreational leagues and growing support from the NFL and teams like the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers. run a high school pilot league for girls in Southern California.

The number of schools that signed up to participate in the pilot and those selected for it, as well as the young players who took part in it, were considered by many to be pioneers in the sport.

Paul Schmidt said participating in the startup was exciting for his 14-year-old daughter, who had never played flag football before trying out for Redondo Union High School, one of the schools participating in the league. He said making the sport official should make it easier to secure time on the field, and it would give a boost to a tight-knit team of girls who have come together to start something new.

“She loves it, loves it. It’s exciting to play a new sport,” he said.

The growing interest in flag football, in which no one is tackled and the game ends when an opposing player pulls the flag from the ball carrier’s waist belt, comes amid concerns about the risk of concussions and other injuries from flag football.

In the decade leading up to 2018-2019, the number of girls playing flag football in American high schools doubled to 11,000, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.

Without CIF approval, California high schools could organize flag football clubs. But coaches said allowing official interscholastic competition would likely lead to more schools fielding teams and creating a pipeline of players.

Troy Vincent Sr., the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations, wrote in Sacramento Bee that times have changed since he played professional football, which was then “generally considered a man’s game.” He said high school players could play in college and beyond as universities also grew the sport.

Vincent is also pushing for flag football to be added to the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

“It’s no longer just a backyard game for pick-up games for girls during family holiday gatherings,” he said.