Women’s flag football launches in New York

As the spring high school sports season begins to wind down, it marks the successful completion of the first high school girls’ flag football season in New York State.

For players like Syracuse West’s Caroline Menon, it’s an opportunity to embrace a girls’ high school sport that’s more physical than others.

“It’s really nice to play a physical sport as girls because we play a lot of sports where the referees are really light and make it a lot easier and with less contact,” Menon said. “This sport has become so new when we actually have to play really hard and really tough.

Menon is one of hundreds of people across New York State participating in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s new girls’ sport.

“I’m a huge Bills fan, so once I saw football was on offer, I had to play like the Bills,” Menon said with a smile.

Caroline enjoys success on the field. Leader, his coach Stephen Brice says that many of his teammates admire him

“She does everything right in practice,” Brice said. “She’s the first on the field. She’s the first with her friends. She’s the first in the group. You know, she comes to me when she makes a mistake. She comes to me when she needs help, even if everything goes well, she is always ready to learn and that is a very good quality for your quarterback.

But more importantly, she is a leader in the classroom. She is Corcoran High School’s valedictorian for the Class of 2024, showing her peers that success comes in all forms.

“You can do both,” Menon said of athletics and academics. “And I think being an athlete, a competitive athlete, has made me even better in the classroom. I mean, I’m a very competitive person. I hate losing and I love winning and I love working hard. And it shows that working hard in the classroom helped me work hard on the field and vice versa.

She is somewhat of a pioneer that other girls can follow.

“I’m really happy that we’re setting this precedent for young girls,” Menon said. “I know a group of young girls that want to play. I know I wanted to play when I was younger and it’s really great to be the first group of people and play at a high level and establish the standard in terms of being competitive and serious in training and serious in matches and composing ourselves on the field.

A sport that has grown so quickly and will continue to grow even after Caroline and her teammates play their final high school game.

“There are girls who are ready to get off the track,” Brice said. “There are girls in the hallways at Corcoran High School who are like ‘maybe I should have played,’ and you know, we’re going to practice this summer and I hope they make the switch or they will simply join us to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

“I think once we continue, once we start building our JV teams, it will become a huge sport and probably a big varsity sport in a short time,” Menon said.