News

The Future is Female: Elk River Girls High School Flag Football Returns for 2026!

We are thrilled to announce that Elk River Flag Football will once again serve as the administering organization for Elk River High School Girls Flag Football for the upcoming 2026 season.

Expanding Our Horizons In 2025, we celebrated an incredible inaugural season with 25 pioneering young women forming our first-ever Varsity team. To ensure a strong foundation, we focused solely on a Varsity program last year. Following that success, we are excited to announce that for the 2026 season, we are expanding to include both Varsity and Junior Varsity teams!

A Growing Movement The momentum for girls' flag football is undeniable:

Rapid Growth: The program in Minnesota grew from just four teams to over 50 programs in the Spring of 2025.
National Success: 12 states have already sanctioned girls' flag football at the high school level.
The Ultimate Goal: The Minnesota Vikings and the NFL are working toward sanctioning the sport in all 50 states.
Going Global: Flag football is officially set to debut as an Olympic sport at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

We are honored to continue paving the way for these incredible athletes. Stay tuned for registration details!

Over the past two seasons, we’ve heard a recurring question from families with players reaching high school age: "What’s next if they don’t want to play tackle?"

While sports like hockey have Junior Gold and basketball has House leagues, football players are often left without a place to play once they move past youth flag. We want to bridge that gap.

We are exploring the launch of a High School 7v7 / Flag Football Program designed for athletes who want to keep a football in their hands without the pads or the varsity time commitment.

Could you give us 60 seconds? Please answer these 3 questions to help us build a program that fits your player’s schedule and interests:

9-12 7v7/Flag Football

Our goal is to keep these athletes on the field, active, and playing with their friends. Thank you for helping us shape the future of our league!

Best,

Christian Williams, Elk River Flag Football Executive Director