TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — With the backing of the NFL and Nike, girls flag football continues to grow at the high school level. It’s now a collegiate sport at the NAIA and junior college level. The state of Florida was the first to sanction it as a high school sport, and that was 20 years ago.
“A platform like this tournament, where you have so many teams and players, over 800 athletes will compete this weekend, that are all in one centralized place, on a stage that’s got some substance to it is neat and it brings everything together,” said tournament director Ricky Hufty. “Whether everyone can be there, and whether every college can be there, there’s eyes on it from all over the country.”
This weekend, 48 of the state of Florida’s top varsity and junior varsity teams will be in the Capital City for the 12th Annual Capital City Classic, a bracket style tournament that gives teams a chance to compete against the best of the best, and to see this tournament grow to what it is today has been pretty cool.
Growth of women’s flag football to be on displayed during 2023 Capital City Classic Flag Football tournament
“I remember the days we were out there at FAMU DRS and the turf intramural fields over there,” said Hufty. “That was such a nice set up, so inclusive. You look at it now, and it’s nine fields over the fields, and it takes your breath away a little bit because of how much it has grown.”
For the latest on the Classic, follow their Twitter.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
