SEATTLE — For the first time since 1999, the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has sanctioned a new sport. Girls flag football is now an officially recognized high school sport in Washington, following a vote by the WIAA’s representative assembly last week.
The vote needed 60 percent approval to pass; it received 22 “yes” votes and 12 “no” votes.
Girls flag football has been offered for several years at schools in Washington — mostly in the Seattle-Tacoma area — and has grown in popularity, with 83 schools around the state fielding teams.
The sport has received support from the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks, who have spent more than $500,000 in grant funding to help launch girls’ flag football in the state.
“This is a historic moment for our state and an exciting milestone for all the girls flag athletes in our region who now have the opportunity to play at the highest level,” said Chuck Arnold, President of the Seahawks and First & Goal.
WIAA representatives also voted 29-6 to change transfer rules for student-athletes.
After establishing initial eligibility at a high school, students may now transfer one time during their four-year high school career, but only within designated transfer windows.
Under the new rule, a student-athlete who transfers will be ineligible for varsity competition for 40 percent of the maximum number of allowable games played the previous year. This rule only applies to situations in which a student would have been ineligible for the entire season under previous rules.
It also does not apply to students whose entire family relocates to a new residence. Those students are eligible at their new school without penalty.
Two amendments regarding transgender athletes were changed to advisory-only votes and both failed. The first would have limited participation in girls sports to only biological females. It received 58.5 percent of the vote.
A second proposal to create boys, girls and open divisions for all students, only received 13 out of 53 votes.
McClatchy News Service and Peninsula Daily News
