Flagship football goes up locally

When Dadrian Cosby, athletics manager for the Statesboro Bulloch County Park and Recreation Department, saw the portal’s girls ’flag on football team television during the Super Bowl, she knew it was time for the recreation department to take action and start offering girls’ youth tickets in Bulloch County.

We’ve talked about starting girls ’flag football in particular about their success at Portal High School, the sad Cosby. When I saw the girls on the portal being on the teams as part of a Super Bowl ad, all I knew was that we had to offer it here through the Bulloch County Parks and Recreation Department.

On Monday night, the first step was taken toward measuring local interest when 20 girls showed up for the first of two football camps, which also served as a presentation for many girls. Some members of the Portal flag football team were also there to help hand out.

We were pleased with the turnout today, Cosby said. We had some who told us they couldn’t make it today but are there on Wednesday. We are going to move forward with the league regardless of the numbers. We may have to combine some age distributions, but we’re going to make it work.

The current plan has three different age groups, starting with a division of 78 years old, followed by 9-10 year olds and then 11-12 year olds in the oldest age group. Enrollment will be with other fall sports, including boys ’flag and football and soccer.

We’re going to do it seven by seven just like they’re going for the GHSA, Cosby said. We want the team to have 1-12 players. The rules are the same as in the GHSA, with a few changes depending on age groups.

Cosby is the 2021 state athletic president who oversees all GRPA tournament games in the state of Georgia. One of the first things he implemented since taking last November was getting girls ’flag football to the state of Georgia.

We knew flag football was coming, but the success on the Portal really forced us to get this up and running here as soon as possible, Cosby said. We plan to host the first-ever state championships at the GRPA in Cherokee County in the first week of December.

Cosby feels that a city the size of a portal can produce what they have been able to do, he is sure there are other girls in the county who might bring similar skills to the series.

We have a lot of fast girls here in town, Cosby said. I feel like how popular football is and the success in Portal Bulloch County supports the program. We hope to give them not only a chance to have fun but also hopefully be able to feed high schools in the next few years.

Cosby knows about 15 recreation departments will be offering flagship this fall. He says about 30 percent of recreation departments are likely to have flag football this year, and he hopes that when they see success, it will continue to grow.

The SBCPRD will host a second camp / briefing for girls ages 7-12 on Wednesday at 6:00 a.m. at Mill Creek Park at Field 16.