As predicted, girls flag football growing by leaps and bounds, and not just in Illinois
Rachel Karos was correct.
In a visit to Willowbrook High School for a September story on girls flag football, Karos, the Warriors' co-head coach along with Nick Hildreth, said flag football would soon be an Olympic sport.
She's like Carnac.
On Monday the Chicago Bears, leaders in the NFL's push to support girls flag football, announced that the International Olympic Committee added it as an official sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics.
Starting in 2021 with 22 Chicago Public School teams, this fall there are 109 Illinois high schools fielding girls flag football teams in nine leagues.
Willowbrook, incidentally, will host Addison Trail at 6 p.m. Saturday for the title of the West Suburban Gold Plus conference.
Stevenson athletic director Tricia Betthauser said the Patriots will compete in the Lake County MegaConference tournament starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Round Lake High School.
The state finals will be held Oct. 28-29 at Halas Hall, she said. Last season, Willowbrook won state and regional titles and advanced to the NFL Flag Bowl Championship game in Las Vegas.
Not the usual subject
Hearing this summer of a new Illinois High School Association committee dealing with private school and public school issues, thoughts turned to the usual scuttlebutt - separate associations and state series.
Proponents might cite 2022 when non-boundaried schools won six of eight 2022 state football championships, or advanced seven of eight girls volleyball state finalists.
"That's always in the background in terms of what is out there," said Aurora Christian athletic director Dan Beebe, one of 14 athletic directors or school principals on the new Equity committee, split between public- and private-school representation over the IHSA's seven divisions.
Facilitated by IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson, the committee met Oct. 2 in Bloomington for the first time.
Separate associations and state series were among the meeting's approximately 20 topics, but Anderson said it was basically a non-starter.
"I didn't think any of those in the committee seemed to support that, which obviously I am in agreement with. I don't think that's in the best interests of our association," he said.
He said the purpose of the Equity committee is to advise the IHSA board on policy and potential bylaw changes. On Oct. 2 it discussed items such as school classifications, enrollment cutoffs, the "success" factor that raises programs in classification, and the enrollment multiplier assigned non-boundaried schools.
"The main goal is to try to bring some awareness and unity around the private- and public-(school issues). To have a basic understanding around both points of view," Beebe said.
"It's not just about private and public schools - we talked about girls sports and the participation of girls sports," Beebe said.
Anderson said the Equity committee was inspired by the informal Competitive Balance Committee formed by now-retired Wauconda Principal Dan Klett in spring 2022.
"Toward the end of the last school year it was thought the IHSA could benefit from a similar committee," Anderson said.
Wauconda athletic director Mark Ribbens is a member of the CBC. He attended CBC meetings in the spring and in September and said discussion within the group - a blend of public and private administrators from schools large and small - "was not adversarial at all."
They talked about things such as co-op bylaws and working with the IHSA to start a digital transfer portal so athletic directors can more easily monitor transfers.
Ribbens is pleased the IHSA established the Equity advisory committee.
"I think all the ideas and things we kind of wanted to get going with the IHSA, that it's a formal committee and there will be a bylaw or two coming from this committee, it's great," he said.
Warrior 1A pose
After a grueling Oct. 13 morning Yogalates class at Wheaton Sport Center, I saw an attendant seated at a table near the entrance, recording entries for the Class 1A Timothy Christian girls tennis sectional.
Scheduled at the indoor courts both Friday and Saturday, the host Trojans were there as well as Glenbard South, IC Catholic, Montini, Wilmette's Regina Dominican, Des Plaines' Willows Academy and several other teams.
Glenbard South won the sectional led by sectional singles champ Loranza FosterSimbulan. Timothy's Chrystina Lee and Jane Carter won doubles.
Wheaton Sport Center tennis manager Lori Mills said the indoor facility hosts sectionals "whenever weather requires it."
She suspected the last sectional there was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Wheaton Sport Center had previously hosted sectionals for Timothy, St. Francis and Lake Park.
For Timothy Christian, there is a connection. Lori Mills' husband is Keith Mills. He has been Trojans head tennis coach for 20 years, said Trojans athletic director Jack LeGrand.
Congrats
The timing isn't great since the Bears announce their high school coach and player of the week on Thursdays, but for Week 7 the recipients were Huntley coach Mike Naymola and Barrington quarterback Nick Peipert.
Naymola decided to go for a 2-point conversion and the victory with no time on the clock, on the road against Cary-Grove on Oct. 7. It paid off when receiver Jake Witt broke the plane on a play initially ruled short, to give Huntley the 29-28 win. Witt also scored the touchdown that put the Red Raiders in position, on a 10-yard pass from Braylon Bower.
The prior day Peipert, a junior, scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run with 11 seconds left in Barrington's 35-31 victory at Hoffman Estates. Before that Peipert completed 33 of 41 passes for 373 yards and 3 touchdowns. Barrington enters Week 9 unbeaten.
The Bears donated $2,000 to Huntley's football program and $500 to the youth football program of Peipert's choosing as part of the weekly series.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com