BY CHERYL SHUMWAYNorth Country This Week

POTSDAM — A new girls flag football program has kicked off with almost 50 girls in grades one through six participating in the county-wide program.

“We're proud to share that 49 girls have registered to play in the inaugural year of North Country Girls Flag Football, an incredible start,” said Co-President Dalan McHenry.

Participants are from across the region, representing the Potsdam, Canton, Colton, Norwood-Norfolk, and St. Lawrence Central school districts. 
“We’ve made a strong effort to invite and reach out to nearly every district in St. Lawrence County. To our knowledge, this is the only girls flag football program for grades 1–6 in the area, said McHenry.

North Country Girls Football holds practices at Potsdam’s Pine Street Arena fields on Tuesday and Thursday starting at 5:30 p.m.

A 35 minute game is played every session, along with skills training.

The long-term vision is to see the program grow year by year, expanding into neighboring towns and eventually developing community-based teams that can play against each other in local match-ups.

The  coaching team includes Makenzie and Shawn Burns, Rachelle McHenry, Jeremie Keleher, Paul Goulet, Cassidy Collins, Thomas Potter, Dalan McHenry, and John Smith.

“Our goal is to provide more opportunities for young female athletes and support their development as they move into scholastic sports,” said McHenry.

“While most junior football programs in the area offer co-ed flag football for grades K–2, we’re proud to offer a space dedicated to girls beyond those early years. If the schools/Section X does not pick up a program for the girls next year, we have already been in talks of how to offer this program to 7th and 8th grade girls,” he said. 

New York Flag Football has grown to 200 high school teams in the past few years, according to Maxpreps.  In nearby Section VII, there are now  11 teams, with Beekmantown, Plattsburgh making it to NYS State playoffs last year.