Sometimes a flag in football is a good thing

There’s one more opportunity this summer for Aledo High School girls to learn flag football fundamentals and for program organizers to gauge interest in forming an official team.

 The clinic will take place at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 9, at Aledo’s Vierling Field.

There have been three clinics in July and August led by Richey Delgado, who moved to the area in 2025 and who has a long and vast resumé when it comes to flag football.

Delgado is a coach and scout for the U.S. National Team, leading the 14U boys team in 2025 before joining the staff for the 17U boys team this summer that won a gold medal in June. 

Delgado played tackle football at Perrin-Whitt High School before starting to play flag football as an adult from 2008-2016. He’s been coaching ever since.

He coached flag football at Founders Classical Academy out of Frisco and started many club teams in the North Texas area, one of which is a girl’s high school team called the Texas Fury DFW who won the NFL Flag Regional title in 2025 and qualified for nationals.

When Delgado moved to this area in September 2025, he started talks with Aledo Athletic Director Brandy Belk to try and get a program started.

“Since I was moving to the area, I decided to try and utilize my skillset and some of my passion for flag football into this,” Delgado said. “Hope I can bring it here.”

While one clinic had to be rescheduled due to lightning, Delgado has reported double-digit attendance in two of his three clinics so far. He hopes as the word gets out more girls will show up since he sees flag football as a complement to any athlete from any sporting background. 

Flag football is a growing sport, with a 37% increase in participation among ages 6-17 since 2015 according to USA Football. A lot of the growth has come from the increase in girls participation.

This has led to girls flag football becoming a varsity sport in 23 states since 2019. With Texas being as football obsessed as it is, it is seen as just a matter of time before girls flag football joins the University Interscholastic League.

Until then, the Dallas Cowboys organization has been running a spring league for high schools to participate in with more than 100 high schools having already played in leagues past. 

A good number of girls for Delgado and Belk to see for the Aledo club to compete this spring would be somewhere around 15.

With the sport growing, more colleges are adding the sport to its athletic program providing college opportunities for girls playing flag football. In 2028 the sport on the men’s and women’s side will be featured in the Summer Olympics for the first time.

“Part of what these clinics do is help educate the community what flag football looks like,” Delgado said. “A lot of the girls I coach on my club team have multiple college offers in flag football. What I am finding in these clinics is most people do not know that world exists. My goal is to educate and hopefully find people who are passionate about it and give another opportunity for these girls.”

Annalise Rachels, an Aledo athlete who is going into eighth grade, already plays volleyball, basketball, soccer, cross country, and track. Adding flag football was initially her father’s idea.

“But I really wanted to try it out, and it seemed really cool,” Rachels said.

Jaidyn Girdner is an incoming ninth-grader at Aledo. Her sibling’s participation in the sport made her curious to try it out.

“My younger sister, because she played, wanted me to try it,” Girdner said. “I tried it, and I liked it.”

Belk said she is excited about the possibility of offering another avenue for Aledo athletes to participate in a sport and everything that can come from it.

“We need to give Richie enough time to get it going here as a club,” Belk said. “Once UIL sanctions it, he would have to step back from the high school team and work with the youth.”