Van Buren County High School will add flag football to its spring sports lineup this year.
With basketball season over, Head Coach Shane Hall said the school can get cranked up with the new sport. Hall said he hopes this gives Van Buren more opportunities to grow their other sports.
“There’s not a lot of knowledge about flag football, there’s not a lot of expectations of what football even is.” Hall said. “Being able to bring that up here is exciting. Everybody that I’ve talked to is excited, including parents, and getting to see some football.”
Hall said the team practices on the baseball or softball fields depending on availability.
“My plan from the get-go was to see if we can do this, as well as still have the softball.” Hall said. “Unfortunately, from my understanding they just didn’t have enough interest from girls playing softball and that’s why they’re not having the softball team.”
Van Buren began talks on the sport last year. Hall said several schools in the Upper Cumberland and Middle Tennessee area are adding flag football.
“We do not have a place up here currently for us to play.” Hall said. “We do not have a football field to play on, so my hope is we continue to build this program.”
Hall said he hopes this season and seasons going forward will help Van Buren in adding junior league flag football down the line.
The season for Van Buren flag football begins with a doubleheader on March 25.
