Media release from the Rome, GA City Schools:
Seeing Jared Hughes coach at Rome High School is nothing new. However, seeing Hughes outside on the practice field running players through flag pulling drills is definitely something new and very exciting for Hughes, who has been named the Flag Football Coach.
Hughes will still be the girls basketball coach, but now adds a brand new sport to his coaching resume.
“I’m very excited. It’s a very unique opportunity to start a GHSA program from scratch. I get to help designate what the culture is going to look like from day one,” he says.
The Georgia High School Association added Flag Football for girls as a varsity sport a few years ago, and it is the fastest growing high school sport in the state and one of the fastest growing in the nation. Rome High School is the first school in Floyd County to offer the sport, and with that comes a few challenges.
“A lot of sports, by the time the kids get to high school, we’re not doing as much teaching the sport because they’ve already been playing it for several years,” Hughes says. “Flag football is going to be different, and we’re going to be teaching verbiage, rules, techniques, and other things the players haven’t really been introduced to yet.”
While that might deter some people from tackling the challenge, Hughes just flashes a big smile at the thought.
“When you think about the tradition at Rome High School, this sport is a perfect fit. We are proud that we are the first school in the county to start playing, and it allows us to help build the tradition of our program,” he says.
More than 70 athletes showed up to try outs a couple of weeks ago.
“We had some basketball, soccer and volleyball kids come out and do quite well. The tryout was open to everybody,” he says. “In order to make this work, we are going to have to borrow some kids from sports teams because we know they can be coached, understand team dynamics and have a good work ethic.”
The area season begins in October, falling just after the regular season ends for softball and volleyball. Because of that, Hughes says they can work with those athletes and are also trying to work with athletes who play club sports to make sure they can balance everything out to allow them to play.
Any new team is going to have some growing pains, and Hughes says he has talked to several coaches about starting a program and what to look out for.
“We hope that we initially get those basic fundamentals down and are disciplined. We know we have the athletes to compete, it’s going to be a matter of buying in to what we are doing offensively and valuing the football,” Hughes says. “Defensively, it’s kind of like trying to cover the triple option in football. You have to be aware, and we have to be able to snatch the flags.”
While Hughes is well familiar with what happens during the offseason for basketball, he’s kind of learning as he goes with flag football.
“We are eager to get started. We’ve actually been working on it a lot, putting together just some basic coaching things. I’m just trying to prepare myself and my staff for things to come. When the kids get back in the summer, it’s going to be full speed ahead,” he says.
Rome will be playing a full varsity schedule, mostly because few teams have a junior varsity program at this time. The Wolves will play in an area composed mostly of North Georgia schools, with four of the teams from the area advancing to the state playoffs.
