As flag football continues to rise across the country, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA), the oldest historically Black college and university (HBCU) athletic conference, continues to lead the way.
Backed by the approval of the NCAA, the conference became the first HBCU league to add women’s flag football as a varsity sport. During the 2026 NCAA Convention held near Washington, D.C. from Jan. 13-16, the Division Cabinets unanimously approved the addition of women’s flag football to the Emerging Sports for Women program, effective immediately.
When a sport is added to the Emerging Sports for Women program, created in 1994, it is formally recognized by the NCAA. The program is intended to help institutions provide more athletic opportunities for women and more options for schools, to help that sport reach NCAA championship status.
Eight sports from the program have reached championship status: beach volleyball, rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling and women’s wrestling. Both stunt and acrobatics and tumbling were also approved at this year’s convention.
The first woman to serve as CIAA Commissioner, Jacqie McWilliams-Parker, also serves as chair of the NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact (CAOI), which oversees the program.
McWilliams-Parker has played a key role in elevating women’s flag football, supporting the conference’s 2024 announcement to launch women’s flag football at seven of its member institutions beginning spring 2025.
The launch was backed by a grant awarded from the RCX Sports Foundation to the conference as a part of their mission of “Sports for All.”
Junior Kai Gibson is a part of the Howard University women’s flag football club, Howard Dream, and expressed her happiness with this move in women’s sports.
“I think it’s an amazing thing,” said Gibson, a public relations major. “I know people used to have powder puff in high school, and there was just like one game, but the fact that there’s a season with scheduled games is huge.”
“Everyone knows how male-dominated football is, so I’m so for women being able to do the same thing a man can do, because we definitely can, and not be held to a standard of only doing female-dominated sport,” Gibson continued.
At Howard University, Jomah Watson, director of Blackburn University Center & Campus Recreation, oversees intramural and sports clubs. Watson spoke about Howard Dream and their competitiveness.
“Our women’s flag football program has been a strong sports club for the university and has been striving since before I even came in 2017,” Watson said. “Before, I was at another institution in which we used to also compete against Howard University’s flag football team, and they were very competitive. I think the program has broken some barriers.”
Before the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), Howard University was a part of the CIAA (formerly Colored Intercollegiate Athletic Association) and was even one of its founding institutions. However, many variables led to Howard and six other institutions departing from the league, one being their desire to compete at the highest collegiate level.
Junior Siena Britt, team captain of Howard Dream, has been a part of the program since her freshman year. Britt shared her experiences throughout those three years and why she is hopeful that the MEAC will follow suit with the CIAA.
“During my three seasons at Howard, we have participated in the HBCU Unity Bowl tournament, where we are two-time champions,” said Britt, a legal communications major.
“Experiences like this show that the talent and competition already exist within HBCUs; formalizing it through the MEAC would only elevate the sport and provide greater exposure and structure for student-athletes,” she continued.
Also part of the Howard Dream, but with goals of competing beyond the collegiate level, sophomore Tylar Smith has been in the process of trying out for the USA Flag Football National Team. Smith has been attending talent ID camps and recently went to the USA Football Select Bowl 2025 over the summer.
“At the talent ID camps, which is like the tryout, I was pretty nervous, ” said Smith, a human performance major. “The girls were really tough, like they don’t play around and they really want to get to the next level. But it was a pretty cool experience. I got to develop some new skills and increase my football IQ.”
The CIAA held its inaugural Women’s Flag Football Championship last April, where Winston-Salem State University claimed the title. A year later, the conference added women’s flag football as a sponsored varsity sport starting during the 2026-2027 season. This, in addition to the sport’s scheduled debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, marks a milestone for women’s flag football.
Copy edited by Daryl R. Thomas Jr.
