Culver-Stockton to field women’s flag football

CANTON, Mo. — Culver-Stockton College will add a women’s flag football program that will start competition in 2028. A news release from the college confirmed this news on Thursday.

Athletic Director Pat Atwell said that the college will name its first head coach in the near future. That coach will have all of the 2026-27 academic year and everything leading up to the 2027-28 academic year for recruitment.

Flag football squads under National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) rules currently average 24 players.

“I think it is the perfect time to add women’s flag football to our sport offerings at Culver-Stockton College,” said Atwell. “The sport is growing at an almost unprecedented rate at the high school level. With the support provided by the NFL, it’s likely to succeed.”

The growth of the sport is hard to overstate. The NAIA added the sport as its 30th championship sport earlier this year. In its inaugural season, participation would double within a year from 19 members to 35. It will be a sanctioned sport within the National Junior College Athletic Association starting in 2027-28. The NJCAA is the athletic sanctioning body of junior and community colleges.

Atwell notes that high school numbers are climbing just as quickly, with 68,000 girls playing the sport during the 2024-25 academic year. 26 states currently sponsor or sanction the sport. The Illinois High School Association currently sanctions the sport and has been since 2024. Meanwhile, the Missouri State High School Activities Association is on track to follow suit effective with the 2027-28 academic year.

Regarding the Wildcats’ home conference, the Heart of America Athletic Conference, six member schools already field teams.

“Putting together a schedule will not be difficult,” Atwell said. “The National Junior College Athletic Association has also elevated the sport to championship status, so that is another group of potential student-athletes that we can tap into.”

For Culver-Stockton, the addition is also an investment in a student population that performs well in the
classroom.

“It is always exciting to add another sport and to provide an additional sport for young women, as their academic profile and retention rate tends to be very high,” Atwell said. “We look forward to hiring our first-ever head coach and helping them recruit this inaugural class.”

Jake Leonard, Executive Editor-In-Chief

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Jake Leonard, a broadcast media and journalism veteran, is the editor-in-chief of Heartland Newsfeed. Leonard is also GM and program director of Heartland Newsfeed Radio Network, wrestling editor and contributing writer for Ambush Sports, a contributing writer for My Sports Vote and Midwest Sports Network, and a former contributor to Bleacher Report and Overtime Heroics. He resides at home in Nokomis, Ill. with his dog Buster.

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