Colorado girls flag football continues its explosive growth

Ariana Akey grew up playing football with her brother and friends wherever she could find a game. By eighth grade, she worried she was running out of places to play.

“I started playing with my brother in first grade,” Akey said. “I grew up playing with all our friends in elementary school at recess. At the park every day after school, we’d either play basketball or football, so I just grew up all around it. I loved it when I was little. I was really sad when I started playing in eighth grade because I thought that was it.”

Instead, Akey became one of the faces of a sport that has taken off across Colorado.

Girls flag football became a Colorado High School Activities Association-sanctioned sport in 2024 after a Denver Broncos-backed pilot program helped introduce the game to high schools across the state. Since then, flag football has grown rapidly to approximately 2,500 players, providing girls another fall sports option and creating new pathways to college competition.

Akey, a Mountain Vista High School standout, was named the 2025-26 MaxPreps National Player of the Year and helped lead Mountain Vista to back-to-back undefeated state championship seasons. She also became one of the first high school flag football players to commit to a major NCAA Division I program, signing with Nebraska as the sport expands nationally.

“There was a huge difference between that first and second year,” Akey said. “There was a moment where our coaches told us not to play in the powder puff game, and I was like, ‘Oh, shoot. This sport is actually serious – we’re taking it for real.’ Then when we had that homecoming week game, everyone came out. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh. This is crazy.’ I didn’t think this would be possible for a girls’ sport.”

The rise in Colorado began with the Broncos’ pilot program, which featured three school districts, 25 teams and more than 550 participants. Jim Flanigan, athletic director at Mountain Vista, said the Broncos’ support helped schools take the first step.

“The Denver Broncos came out with a program to start women’s flag football in the state of Colorado, and anybody who put together a team, the Broncos subsidized it through their foundation,” Flanigan said. “We put it out to our community, and we got an overwhelming response that they wanted to do flag football, and we started that year. Broncos kicking in some money to help us purchase uniforms and flags definitely helped.”

After the pilot’s success, CHSAA moved to make girls flag football an official sport beginning with the 2024 season.

“[The CHSAA] got behind the Broncos to start, and then they were very adamant when the pilot was over to bring flag football forward and make it a CHSAA sport,” Flannigan said. “I think that was the biggest thing they did to support it.”

Daniel Simington, athletic director at Legend High School, said the sport’s staying power became clear during the pilot.

“Halfway through the first pilot season, watching those girls and how good they were and how much fun they were having, along with our school support, I just felt like this thing was going to be really big,” Simington said. “Then the first year of it as a CHSAA sport, we looked at the registrations and saw enough girls for three teams. It took off really fast.”

Flanigan said Mountain Vista saw the same immediate interest.

“Interest level was high from the get-go,” he said. “We put out a survey, and people responded that they would want to do it. It seemed like — due to the overwhelming response — it was something we needed to do.”

Supporters say the sport’s growth is not only about football. It is also about giving girls another chance to join a team, compete and represent their schools.

“I think what girls flag football has done is provide a second sport for our athletes,” Simington said. “Our roster is full of basketball girls, soccer girls, tennis girls — all of our different sports now. It’s given our athletes another sport to compete in.”

The high school boom is also reshaping youth sports. Simington said recreation programs in Douglas County have expanded as younger girls see a clearer path to playing in high school.

“The Parker rec center now has flag football programs that are really strong with the girls,” Simington said. “Before the rise of high school flag, those youth organizations weren’t even on their radar, and now that they see the popularity at the high school and the recognition that CHSAA has given the sport, there’s a need for it.”

That growth is part of a larger national moment for the sport. Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, and colleges are beginning to add women’s programs. Nebraska became the first Power Four school to announce women’s flag football and has since moved up its first competitive season to spring 2027.

In Colorado, the sport’s rapid rise has been driven by schools, the Broncos, CHSAA and athletes like Akey, who finally have a high school path in the game they grew up loving. For Akey, that path meant eighth grade was not the end, and she’s ready for whatever’s next. 

“We’ll see what happens after college and everything,” Akey said, “but if that opportunity [the Olympics] presents itself, I’d love to be there.”