Written by Carter Graham
In the chaos of high school extracurriculars, where the color guard rehearses their routines with large bright flags sweeping back and forth, the marching band walks in unison with the distant sounds of football pads colliding from a practice field. It’s a typical Tuesday night at Heritage High School, and the Girls Varsity Flag Football team is about to kick off.
Led by Junior linebacker and wide receiver, captain Addi Dills’ face is painted with the familiar eye black spectators many see on Saturday or Sunday, reminiscent of Ray Lewis or John Randle. Dills, a three-sport athlete, also plays basketball and runs track.
Dills had heard of other schools starting flag football teams in years past, but it wasn’t in the cards for Heritage High School… until this year.
“I had heard of teams around here, especially in the Atlanta area,” Dills said. “That’s not too far from us, so I just kind of thought about it. It seems pretty interesting to get started, and it has been an idea before, but it never came to Heritage. Now it has.”
Georgia is one of just 12 states to officially sanction girls’ high school flag football, but this process wasn’t done overnight. In 2018, the Atlanta Falcons created a pilot program where 19 local high schools in Gwinnett County could participate in girl’s flag football. After just one successful year, in 2019, the Georgia High School Association (GHSA) sanctioned girl’s flag football.
Arthur M. Blank Foundation developed this program to provide young women the opportunity to engage in this sport and has seen a massive rise in participation, “This monumental progression has opened doors for countless student-athletes, empowering them to pursue their passion for the sport and strive for excellence at the collegiate level and beyond.”
Six years after the pilot program was initiated in the local Atlanta area, flag football finally entered the picture at Heritage High School.
The next step, once getting approved by the GHSA, was finding a head coach. Spanish teacher and coach Alan Broom agreed to take the job, but even he wasn’t sure the team would ever come to fruition.
“I thought it was a joke,” Broom said. “I didn’t think it was gonna happen. That’s why I agreed to it. Then, the next thing I know, I’m getting a call from the central office asking if I was really gonna do it. Okay, I guess I’m doing it then. So it’s kind of a shock, but it’s really been a lot of fun. The learning curve has been steeper than I anticipated, and it is not football.”
With flag football being such a new sport in the grand scheme of athletics, challenges are still prevalent, including travel, understanding the rules and even finding opponents. Heritage has had to travel two or more hours for much of the inaugural season to find opposing teams.
Coach Broom realized he had been teaching a rule wrong in one case.
“I found out a new rule that I had been teaching wrong the whole time,” Broom said. “That’s not only humiliating, of course; I owned up to it because you have to do with kids. I told them, I’m learning.”
With the multitude of challenges of starting a program from scratch, it takes a strong community of coaches and players to overcome what many may see as obstacles to success.
Every team is composed of assistant coaches, and the good teams have the very best. Dills quickly pointed to their assistants as another reason for their success, “I really don’t think Broom could have done it without them. They do a lot. They do a whole lot more than I think most people on the team, which is huge.”
Coach Broom pointed out his team’s leaders, including seven seniors, who have been critical leaders for the squad since its inception.
“They’re 100% the culture,” Broom said. “Everything we’ve done, we’ve relied on them. They’ve done everything exactly the way we wanted to go on it. They’re all about team. Our motto is GAS. That stands for gratitude, attitude and sisterhood, and they have absolutely lived up to that mantra.”
The most rewarding part of team sports is the community it cultivates and the many life lessons sports teach players about themselves and the world around them. Coach Broom understands this game can provide a unique opportunity for everyone involved.
“I got to know some kids that I would have never met other than having them out here,” Broom said. “We have three exchange students I would have never known were in the building had I not been a part of this. So it’s really been cool to learn about different kids around here and different cultures, for that matter.”
With the sport’s growing popularity and the potential of schools putting more resources into the sport, the future of Heritage flag football is bright.
“Hopefully, we get some more kids interested in it,” Broom said. “Who knows what we can do? Sky’s the limit.”
When the Heritage girl’s flag football team ran on the field Tuesday night, they took the lead and never looked back. Dills and the defense didn’t let their opponent cross the 50-yard line. The constant pursuit of perfection is the culture they’ve instilled in their underclassmen, and with the graduation of the team’s initial group of seniors, these leaders can look back and be proud.
They did something that very few can: they formed a team out of two-hour bus rides, braided hair, and chasing down flags.
Tuesday Night Lights
Written by Ava Nessell
Ponytails and flags whip wildly behind the players as they make their way to a touchdown under Tuesday night lights. While Girls Flag Football might not have a primetime Friday night spot, the new high school sport proves interesting and far different from traditional tackle football.
Girls Flag Football is an emerging sport with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA), which allowed this sport in high schools in April 2024, and Georgia High School Association (GHSA), which allowed teams in December 2019.
For Heritage High School’s head coach Alan Broom, the rule difference between flag football and tackle football proved challenging.
“The first two or three weeks I found out a new rule that I had been teaching wrong the whole time…the learning curve was so much steeper than I thought,” Broom said.
Players compete on a 100-yard field with 80 yards from goal line to goal line and two 10-yard end zones, which is 20 yards less than traditional football and on a thinner field. Flag football has seven players on the field at one time rather than 11 players like traditional football.
Flag football calls for players to wear a belt with two visible flags on either side. Pulling one of those flags is the equivalent of a tackle. Any contact is strictly prohibited and will result in a penalty.
Because of the lack of contact, players must use screens to block runs and their arms to block passes, much like how defense is played in basketball. In fact, the sport is more like basketball than tackle football, said Heritage High School’s captain Addi Dills.
The game of flag football is about speed instead of strength. For the 10-minute quarters, the clock continuously runs until the 2-minute mark.
“Your offense and defense line are no longer supposed to be big powerhouses, typically you want them to be quick because they are not going against resistance anymore like in football,” Heritage High School’s assistant coach Cole Gray said.
Despite being a variant of “football,” flag football could not be more different with emphasis on agility and strategy versus brawn. Flag football may be new and confusing, but its uniqueness is sure draw audiences in for a Tuesday under stadium lights.
Meet the Storytellers
Ava Nessell is a senior communication major minoring in honors at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She is a social media expert skilled in crisis communication. Nessell is a section editor for Rising Rock. Nessell is well-rounded in photography, written work, and audio production. As an avid equestrian, she is passionate about capturing the beauty in the natural world. Nessell is dedicated to telling stories about agriculture and land conservation. To see her work, visit her LinkedIn profile, and for further inquiry, contact her via email at zlv928@mocs.utc.edu.
Liomar Mercedes-Sosa is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga pursuing a Theatre major with a minor in Communication. He is a visual storyteller with photography and videography skills. He works as a Scenic designer for the Center for Creative Arts. He loves covering musicians and His goal is to amplify Black and Latino stories through his creative projects. To connect with Mercedes-Sosa, email him at vcz224@mocs.utc.edu.
Emily Petitt is a junior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, majoring in Communication and minoring in Business Administration. Petitt’s goal is to preserve a community’s history and authenticity using her creative skill set. Through classes at UTC and community outreach organizations, she has experience in social media writing and management, graphic design, and photojournalism. Petitt is driven by her commitment to fostering genuine connections with those she meets. To collaborate with Petitt, contact her at xtt836@mocs.utc.edu.
Mia Liu is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga majoring in Communication with a minor in Psychology. Liu’s passion lies in designing, editing, and expressing herself through her work. She enjoys being creative through visual arts and has shared her work on social media platforms. Liu has experience with editing personal content and creation of graphics. With her experience in Photojournalism, she wants to capture moments of life and share stories with the community. Liu seeks to gain more opportunities and expand her skills in storytelling through her involvement with Rising Rock. After graduation, she aspires to have a career in the marketing and event planning industry, and her interest in working abroad comes from her desire to travel. To contact or connect with Liu, reach out to her at szy168@mocs.utc.edu.
Carter Graham is a senior at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, double majoring in Communication and Business Management. He currently serves as the Assistant Sports Editor for the UTC Echo and is a freelance writer for the UTC communication department. Sports have always been Graham’s passion, and he loves telling stories by dissecting games from a tactical perspective and human interest point of view. Graham has written for NBA TV covering professional basketball as well as the collegiate side of the game for the Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook. To contact him, reach out to DFL237@mocs.utc.edu.