BILLINGS — Girls flag football will be coming to Billings Public Schools this fall.
The motion passed 8 to 1 at the school board's meeting Monday night. Billings' girls flag football team will be joining existing Lockwood, Shepherd and Huntley teams in Yellowstone County.
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"This is a win, not only for your students, but for your school board to be able to offer this in a way that is as low risk as you could ask for," said Shauna Greene, a representative for the Arthur Blank Foundation, at Monday's meeting.
Arthur Blank, the owner of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons, sponsors flag football teams in Montana and other high schools nationwide through his Atlanta Falcons Youth Fund.
This fund subsidizes the first three years of flag football to cover costs like coach stipends and travel.
There are 17 other flag football high school teams across the state, including teams in Butte, Flathead and Glacier.
The executive director of athletics and activities for Billings Public Schools, Mark Sulser, believes the grant will provide opportunities for female athletes in the city.
"We want to provide opportunities for girls... in Billings. It helps us with Title IX numbers. It helps us with opportunities for girls in emerging sports, with flag football being one of them," Sulser said Monday.
Recently, the Billings School Board approved adding boys baseball to the district. Sulser says in doing so, the district must also add a girls sport to comply with the law.
"We want the same number of girls participating to be the same number of boys participating," he said.
One student who is cheering this decision is West High School junior Irelynn Reeve.
Before moving to Billings, Reeve played girls flag football in her home state of Nevada.
"I'm so grateful for the opportunity I got to play at my old high school. I just want to share that with everybody here," she said Monday.
Reeve started playing football her freshman year for the first time, and she eventually became quarterback for both junior varsity and varsity.
"I ended up loving it. The girls were so nice and fun. It's a super fun community. My coaches were amazing," Reeve said.
She attended Monday night's meeting and was one of the forces behind bringing flag football to Billings.
"I love football... It's just a super exciting environment," said Reeve.
The decision comes two years after Lockwood High School added the sport.
Lockwood started with only seven players, but the roster grew dramatically to over 20 last season.
"Just to see how confident the girls came out to play and how excited they were for a football team (was my favorite part). You know, we got shirts that said, 'Girls play flag football too,'" Lockwood's flag football coach, Nycole LaRowe, Monday.
LaRowe is the counselor for the school, the flag football coach, and the girls basketball coach. She told MTN in the 10 years she's been teaching, flag football is her favorite.
"Girls took a lot of pride in being able to play flag football," she said.
The activities and athletics director for Lockwood High School, Mike Erikson supported the decision to add flag football to Billings.
"This is an opportunity for kids for doing nothing, for no cost. So, why not give it a try? And three years from now when the funding is less, make that decision or see if we can fundraise and continue to do this," Erikson said.
He says flag football is becoming more popular every year. Now, NFL teams are more involved in sponsoring girls flag football teams, the sport will be a part of the 2028 Summer Olympics, and flag football is sanctioned in 14 states with pilot programs in Montana.
"Now it's definitely a snowball. It's creating so much momentum," Erikson said.
"This gives a bigger group of kids an opportunity to see something new, to be a part of an emerging sport. I think that's probably the most important piece," Sulser said.
