Freshman Danielle Schanck grew up watching the Steelers on TV with her family, and she has gone to pro and high school games, at Acrisure Stadium and Baldwin. But she never got to play the sport until this spring. 

Baldwin has introduced an intramural girls flag football program this year, with the plan being to compete against other area schools next year. Schanck knew right away that she wanted to play, given her love of football.

“I just fell in love with the sport from watching a lot of the games,” Schanck said. “I later found out that flag football was approved to be a sport at Baldwin, so I decided to try it.”

Before the announcement of the new program, Schanck thought she wouldn’t get a chance to play football until she was a junior, for the annual junior girls vs. senior girls Powder Puff game. 

“I wanted to participate in the Baldwin Powder Puff game, but they only accepted juniors and seniors, so I never got the chance to play until I found out about flag football. It made me super excited,” Schanck said.

Freshman Sophia Franklin’s family also loves football, but she did not have much of an interest when she was younger. She believes that joining the flag football program helped her become better acquainted with the rules of football and flag football. 

“It was never something I thought I would have been interested in because I never really knew much about the rules of the game,” Franklin said. “But when I saw that flag football was a new sport at Baldwin, it seemed like something fun to do.”

Sophomore Kelsey Meyer, meanwhile, became interested after hearing about flag football programs in other districts.

“I honestly joined because I heard my friends from other schools talk about it, and they made it seem so fun, so I wanted to play too,” Meyer said. “I also watch football here and there, so it’s nice to have the chance to play.”

The NFL and its teams are supporting the growth of girls flag football throughout the country. According to the NFL, 15 states, including Pennsylvania, have sanctioned girls flag football as a high school varsity sport. 

Locally, the Steelers are promoting and financially supporting the growth of the sport.

Mike Marchinsky, senior manager of alumni relations and youth football for the Steelers, said that Ambridge, the Ellis School, Moon, North Allegheny, Shaler, and West Allegheny started girls flag football programs in 2022. This year, there are 50 schools in the region participating.

“Our goal is to promote the game of football to boys and girls of all ages, in both tackle and flag football,” Marchinsky said. “We wanted to help get the girls flag football as a sanctioned high school sport in Pennsylvania, and we were able to get that done.”

The Steelers’ involvement also includes a stipend for equipment needed for those teams. For Baldwin, the Steelers purchased flag belts, footballs, and jerseys for the two Baldwin intramural teams.

The push to expand the sport is ongoing, he said.

“Now we are also focused on colleges, with seven local colleges playing in our program this spring, plus a few others that have already announced varsity sport status,” Marchinsky said. 

For this spring, the Baldwin girls have been divided into a Gold team and a Black team, based on the Steelers’ colors.

After a series of practices, the two intramural teams faced off in a game, which the Gold team won, 15-11. Together, all the girls will scrimmage Seton LaSalle on June 5 at home. 

School security guard Di’Andre Hicks coaches the Gold team. 

“I got involved to give these girls some guidance, so they can come out to the field and do something that they love,” Hicks said. “I think the girls signed up to learn who they are, or try something different. … They are the ones putting in the hard work and effort as a unit during the games.”

Meyer, who plays quarterback for the Gold team, said she has learned a lot this spring.

“The biggest thing I have learned is how to play quarterback and the thinking process of timing when throwing the ball and the importance of footwork,” she said. 

She said that the intramural game provided her key memory from the program so far. 

“My favorite moment was my team winning our first intramural game and being able to see the teams come together to learn the game and enjoy playing competitively against each other,” she said. 

Junior Kendall Santilla, also a member of the Gold team, said she has enjoyed playing.

“My favorite part about the sport is seeing how competitive we got whenever the Gold and Black teams were separated,” Santilla said. 

She is looking forward to next year, when Baldwin will compete against other schools.

“I am excited to play against the teams because whenever the Black and Gold team separated, you can still tell that we are all on the same team, just split up,” Santilla said. “I just think it will be exciting to see how we will play against other teams, and how our competitiveness will change.”