By: Jordan Beaudoin I Published: March 3, 2025
The world around us is evolving every day, and here at Kean University in Union, it’s about to evolve even more in the sports world.
Just like several other colleges, Kean will be joining the ranks of developing a women’s flag football team. Another sport that is going to be added onto the roster for both the fall and spring seasons.
The college currently has a total of 21 sports, but with them adding both men’s and women’s wrestling in the fall and women’s flag football to the mix, they will up to 24 and counting.
This spring, women’s flag football will operate as a recreational club, with intentions for the sport to gain NCAA status next spring. The sport is only currently offered to girls if they want to get a group of their friends together and play. However, the college is in the midst of trying to get it to become a part of the NCAA in the future.
Several other colleges have already jumped on the train to add women’s flag football. The colleges that they will be taking on will be Penn State Harrisburg, Eastern College, Penn State Schuylkill, Immaculata College, and the College of Staten Island.
Kean could not be more excited to add this sport into the school’s athletics roster. It’s not every day that you have girls who are interested in playing a sport like this. At the first meeting alone, there were over 20 girls who attended and showed interest in the sport itself. That is without the students who had classes or other obligations to attend the following day.
The college’s assistant athletic director, B.J. Johnson, commented on how the development of flag football is coming along. She has been speaking with the other colleges to get the league started.
Johnson has been with Kean for several years. First serving as head coach of the women’s lacrosse team, until stepping down in 2024 to be the college’s assistant athletic director. She is very much looking forward to having this athletic sport on the roster for this coming year.
“We’re really excited because it’s a different sport,” Johnson said.
The college wanted to bring in this sport and allow it to align with the college’s athletics mission and its diversity objectives. Having women’s flag football will allow Kean itself to open the door and have a wider culture and variety that girls can get involved in.
“It’s giving another opportunity and a different emerging sport, you know this is one of the fastest growing sports in the country,” Johnson added.
The university will also be partnering with the NFL’s New York Jets to help promote this new college sport.
Kean University’s vision is also much different than everyone else’s. Johnson also added on how the women’s flag football team is going to make a difference.
“Hopefully starting out the spring with good interest, obviously they will be going away to play some games and get some real experience. I think it’s going to be a huge learning curve for all of us. There’s a couple of women on the team who played in high school. It’s just making sure that this is the best flag football program moving forward and hopefully it will lead into a varsity program when the time is right,” Johnson stated.
The college is definitely leaning towards its expansion into women’s sports, and this is only the beginning of something new and exciting here at Kean University.
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