# @lohudsports on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DYeItFbgBQE
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/65628255-lohudsports-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/1a273010c3.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-05-18T10:00:11.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** lohud sports (@lohudsports) — https://gondola.cc/lohudsports

## Caption

Girls high school flag football has quickly grown exponentially in New York.

Somers assistant coach Katie DiChiaro said a big benefit is that the sport is accessible and affordable for most.

DiChiaro fell in love with football as a kid, influenced by her older brother, and grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson playing it at recess and in neighborhood pickup games.

But she really became immersed after joining the intramural flag football team at the University of Tennessee and competing with other athletic women from around the country who took the sport seriously.

“That’s one of my core memories,” said DiChiaro, who now has three daughters. “That inspired me to want to give that feeling to my kids and other women.”

She is credited as the de facto progenitor of the flag football boom in the Lower Hudson Valley.

DiChiaro founded in 2018 the first all-girls youth flag football league in New York, introducing the sport to kids as early as kindergarten and helping develop their skills. She and her friend Jenn Kisslinger also established a local women's league, which the 45-year-old competes in.

“We’re grateful, because flag wouldn’t be what it is here without Katie," said Scarsdale High School coach Thomas Newkirk.

Read more about the growth of flag football in the Lower Hudson Valley region at the lohudsports link in bio.

📹️📸: Frank Becerra Jr. frankbjrphoto / The Journal News/lohud.com
✍: Stephen Haynes stephenhaynes_tjn / The Journal News/lohud.com

#lohudSports #lohudFlagFootball #FlagFootball

## Stats

- **Views:** 5,120
- **Likes:** 505
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 13

## Tags

lohudflagfootball, lohudsports, flagfootball

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