Megan Valentine tackles something new

May 6, 2024 Andy Furman

A girls’ flag football game in a New York City park. NYC Parks Department photo

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Megan Valentine has always been ahead of the curve.

The director of athletics and recreation at St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn has been a believer to “see it – and be in it.”

And she will be at it again on Saturday, May 18, when St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn hosts the very first women’s Evolution Flag Football Clinic at The Hill Center, 212 Vanderbilt Ave., Brooklyn.

“Women’s flag football is growing,” Valentine told the Eagle last week in a phone conversation. “The numbers are exploding.”

In fact, Valentine claims women’s flag football is the fastest growing sport among high school and college women. “Probably, women’s wrestling is right next to flag football,” she said.

The daylong clinic commences at 10 a.m. with a session recommended for participants with fewer than two years of experience participating in girls’ flag football, Valentine notes. The second clinic session is set for 3 p.m. with participants with more than two years of experience in flag competition.

Megan Valentine, the director of athletics and recreation at St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn.
Photo courtesy of St. Joseph’s University Athletics

And those clinics will serve as bookends to a “Women in Football” panel discussion.

“I did a lot of networking and cold calling to fill our panel,” Valentine says.

It shows.

Dana Sparling, executive director of the Women’s Gridiron Foundation and former VP of Operations and general manager of the New York Sharks Women’s tackle football team (2002-2018), as well as a receiver for the U.S. National Flag team will serve as a panelist.

Need we say more?

But dare we do.

Kandice Mitchell, a Team USA Tackle Football team member; LaTonja Lee, former athletic trainer for the New York Sharks women’s pro football team; and Sarah Parady, director of on-campus recruiting and social media for Columbia University football, are also panelists.

For the participants, the clinics will provide skills and flag football drills, according to Valentine. “Our clinicians,” she says, “will be a mixed group of men and women.”

Joining Sparling as a clinician will be Jim Kelly, former head sprint football coach at Caldwell University; Don Sellari, former safety and linebacker at Rutgers University; and Frank DeMaio, former quarterback at Caldwell University and the program’s career leader in yards, completions, and touchdowns.

The growth of women ‘s flag football certainly goes far beyond The Hill Center at St. Joseph’s University.

The NFL is even involved.

The New York Jets’ support of girls’ flag football began in 2011 with the Public Schools Athletic League (PSAL), becoming the first NFL club to help launch a varsity girls’ flag football league.

“The Jets donated flag football belts and balls for us,” Valentine said. The New York Jets will support close to 200 girls’ flag football programs domestically in 2024, according to published reports and over 3,000 participants.

While St. Joseph’s University may have plans to start an NCAA Division III flag football team, Valentine says the school will probably start with a club-based team at first.

Presently, there are 15 National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) colleges that offer women’s flag football. Four of those schools are in Florida, the rest are suited mostly in varying Midwest and Southern states, including: Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Tennessee, Georgia, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Mississippi. Others are located in California.

The first NCAA school to launch a women’s flag football program was Immaculata University in Pennsylvania. “The Atlantic East Conference,” said Valentine, “now competes in women’s flag football.”

Megan Valentine is always looking for firsts. Prior to joining St. Joseph’s Universality, she was the first woman to hold the title of director of intercollegiate athletics at SUNY Polytechnic Institute.

While serving in an athletic administrative role at SUNY Fredonia, Valentine introduced a pioneering seminar on “Engaging and Empowering Female Leaders in Intercollegiate Athletics.”

Evolution Girls Football Clinic will take place on Saturday, May 18, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at St. Joseph’s University, The Hill Center, 212 Vanderbilt Ave. Registration will cost $100, $25 for the panel discussion only. Visit sjbkathletics.com/gffclinic to register.

Andy Furman is a Fox Sports Radio national talk show host. Previously, he was a scholastic sports columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He may be reached at: [email protected] Twitter: @AndyFurmanFSR