MURFREESBORO – Welcome to Titletown, where high school state champions will be crowned this week in baseball, softball, boys soccer, tennis and track in what is known as Spring Fling.
But what about boys and girls lacrosse and girls flag football?
The day is coming when more sports will be added to the list of TSSAA-sanctioned competitions, starting with the 2023-24 school year when the next classification cycle begins.
Here, though, is the dilemma for TSSAA: How does the association add boys and girls lacrosse along with girls flag football in what is already a jam-packed four days of spring sports state tournaments during Spring Fling?
In short, they can’t. Talk to TSSAA executive director Bernard Childress and other members of his staff and they won’t deny those sports are likely on the horizon. The question is how you handle those state tournaments with already sanctioned sports.
Here’s how you expand
Childress, who retires July 1 as executive director, acknowledged that in its current format it would be difficult to add sports to Spring Fling. Right now, the schedule is at its peak.
Childress said to add sports would mean extending Spring Fling from a week-long event to either a week-and-a-half or two weeks.
LIVE UPDATES:TSSAA Spring Fling 2022: Live updates from spring sport state tournaments
TSSAA BASEBALL:TSSAA baseball state tournament 2022 schedule for Spring Fling
TSSAA SOFTBALL:TSSAA softball state tournament 2022 schedule for Spring Fling
This isn’t a new concept. The TSSAA already holds the decathlon and pentathlon events for track and field the Thursday and Friday prior to Spring Fling.
The location of lacrosse and flag football would be something the TSSAA and Rutherford County Chamber would have to decide. Girls flag football, if the Tennessee Titans and all other parties agree, would be ideal at Nissan Stadium.
Lacrosse has overcome setbacks
Lacrosse already has been approved and shut back down once.
Then in April, the Legislative Council turned the sport down again, but set it for an agenda in December. While anything can happen in these Legislative Council meetings, it seems like it would be a slap in the face for the Council to turn the sport down yet again when the lacrosse community has answered every question and remedied every issue the TSSAA has raised.
So barring something unexpected, lacrosse should be a slam dunk.
And then there is girls flag football. This sport appears ready to explode when allowed to expand across the state. It was only offered in Williamson County in 2022 and sponsored by the Titans. The Titans are trying to add more counties in 2023, likely Davidson County and perhaps Rutherford County. That should get them about 35 schools participating.
The idea is keeping it centrally located to allow teams to play each other and let it grow that way before expanding statewide.
It’s up to the TSSAA to take it from there. And once offered statewide, girls flag football may be as popular as football. Watching this year’s season-ending tournament at Nissan Stadium showed how competitive and athletic these girls teams are on the field.
Reach Tom Kreager at 615-259-8089 or tkreager@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Kreager.
