On Wednesday morning, 37 Maize High School girls gathered in the south end zone of the school’s football field to begin the inaugural season of flag football.
Maize is one of nine area schools participating in the sport this year. Maize South and seven Wichita high schools are also trying the sport for the first time.
Before the first signs of dawn had emerged on the horizon, head coach Shelby Hillman had the girls going through a series of warm-up exercises. Over the next hour, Hillman and two other coaches, athletic director Dan Loving and retired boys football coach Craig Broadbent, took the girls through a variety of football fundamental drills that involved passing, catching and snapping.
The sport is coming to Wichita in large part due to the generosity of the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs run a flag football program called Chiefs FLAG that brings flag football to kids across the region, and last year the sport was played in 11 Kansas City-area high schools for the first time.
This summer, the Chiefs reached out to the Wichita Sports Commission to see whether any area high school athletic directors would be interested in bringing the sport to Wichita.
“It happened really fast,” said Loving, the Maize High athletic director.
“We had a Zoom call a few weeks later and a couple days later we signed up.”
The Chiefs are paying for the uniforms and equipment for all the teams and provided a grant for all the participating schools to help pay for coaches and other expenses, Loving said. The sport is not a sanctioned KSHSAA sport.
Hillman, who also coaches girls basketball at Maize, was asked by Loving if she’d like to take on the task of being the first head coach of the flag football team.
“I love sports, I love Maize High School and I love opportunities for girls,” Hillman said.
“Without hesitation I said ‘I’ll do it.’” Hillman has never coached any sort of football, so just like the girls on the team, there’s a learning curve for her as well.
“A lot of YouTube videos,” Hillman said, jokingly.
“Thankfully I know some other flag football coaches and I just picked their brains and told them to tell me everything I need to know about this.”
Despite taking on the task of coaching a new sport, Hillman spoke of the excitement felt by everyone after the first practice.
“It’s been awesome to see how many people are pumped up about this, she said.
“Thirty seven girls showed up this morning to try out for something that none of them have played. It makes my heart happy.”
The first games by the participating teams will be Sept.
3.
