Bryn Mawr Flag Football

I started Bryn Mawr Flag Football in the fall of the 2021 school year alongside my faculty advisor, Coach Wolf. Flag Football Club’s mission is to create a place for girls to participate in a male-dominated sport. At the 2021 club fair, 60 people signed up to participate in the club, which exceeded my expectations for the inaugural year. Although the club received a lot of initial attention from Bryn Mawr students, the club did not have consistent meetings where many members attended practice. I attributed this to my own lack of knowledge and experience in efficiently running a club and the lack of competition for the team. At the beginning of last year we had no teams to compete against and therefore no goal to strive for.

Last November Flag Football partnered with the Athletics Association to host a Turkey Bowl after Thanksgiving Convocation where many people came out to play in a pick up tournament. Everyone had a great time just playing against each other in some friendly competition, but I had hopes of creating a more competitive atmosphere for Bryn Mawr Flag Football.

In December, I started planning the Bryn Mawr Flag Football Tournament to be hosted in the spring of 2022. I sent emails to Athletic Directors of other girls’ Private Schools in the Baltimore area to generate interest in the tournament. I only received interest from a few schools, including Maryvale. I had heard of Maryvale’s flag football club earlier in the season and was able to get in contact with Assistant Athletic Director, Brian Reese, to ask if they would like to participate. Their team was immediately in and thrilled to get to play in a tournament with other schools. So were Bryn Mawr Flag Football players. The 5v5 tournament was hosted at Bryn Mawr on Saturday, May 14th with two teams from both Maryvale and Bryn Mawr. Maryvale left with the plaque, but I walked off the turf feeling very satisfied that it had gone so well and with a growing sense of excitement to see where this club was going. Throughout all this I had been in contact with Adam Rudel, Manager of Marketing and Football Outreach at the Baltimore Ravens, who I periodically sent updates to about flag football at Bryn Mawr. Once the school year had ended, I sent an update to Adam Rudel and received an enthusiastic response of congratulations on a great year. 

In mid-July I received another email from Adam Rudel asking if Bryn Mawr Flag Football would be able to play at halftime at the Ravens first preseason game and attend Ravens training camp. I had to read that email a few times before processing what they were asking. I have loved football for as long as I can remember and have dreamt of being a football coach since I dressed up as Ravens head coach John Harbaugh for Halloween when I was seven. I immediately responded with a yes because I knew many people would jump at the opportunity to play in a Ravens game. Once I had organized all the players, permission forms, practice, and meeting location we stepped on the field and I was in awe. I realized that I was living the dream I set for myself at seven years old:to coach in M&T Bank Stadium. The 18 Bryn Mawr flag football players and I stood on the field for the Ravens running out of the tunnel and the National Anthem. We then went to our seats to watch the first quarter before we went back to the field at the beginning of the second quarter to get ready to play for 8 minutes during halftime. We practiced the three plays I designed for this game for a few minutes before stepping onto the field. After much anticipation, we anxiously awaited our entrance in the tunnel. We walked single file onto the field at the 2 minute warning and watched the Ravens until they went into the locker room for halftime. We then ran on the field and Bryn Mawr played hard for 8 minutes. It was pretty surreal as I got to coach my team  on the grass the Baltimore Ravens play on. We walked out through the tunnel and went back to our seats to watch the final two quarters of the game where the Ravens held onto their 23-game preseason winning streak.

On the opposite end of the field, teams from Frederick County had the same experience we did. They had also recently developed a flag football program that is looking to take root in Frederick County Public Schools. I met with one of their coaches at Urbana High School in August and we discussed the founding and mission of both programs. Both were founded in the belief that there is a bright future for women in football and that begins with equal opportunities at the high school level. Frederick County Girls Flag Football hopes to see the sport grow to become a varsity level sport across the state of Maryland by the fall of 2024. Their league is modeled after Atlanta Falcons-sponsored leagues in Alabama and Georgia. The opportunity for impact of this sport is valued by many NFL teams and they are committed to helping it develop into a competitive sport nationwide.

Urbana hosted a tournament for Maryland Girls Flag Football teams on Saturday, October 15th, where Bryn Mawr participated alongside Urbana and Oakdale High Schools. The team traveled from Baltimore to Frederick County with some doubt in our ability because we had never played a regulated 7v7 game. The two other teams were much more experienced but we walked away with very large smiles because we had shown up and played hard. Bryn Mawr was led by Gracyn Lambert ’26 who scored 4 touchdowns and kept our momentum going. We left with two close losses and excitement to see how much our team can progress. Bryn Mawr Flag Football is looking forward to a year of competition and excitement from events such as the Turkey Bowl and the 2nd Annual Bryn Mawr Flag Football Tournament. I am excited to share this with the Bryn Mawr community as flag football begins to grow from a club to a prominent sport, not just at Bryn Mawr but in Maryland and across the country.