The 2025 Imperial Valley Classic kicks off flag football season
In the third year of flag footballs inception in California, the first day of the 2025 Imperial Valley Classic was a success.
EL CENTRO, Calif. (KYMA, KECY) - The girls in the Valley weren't messing around this evening as the 2025 Imperial Valley Classic for flag football started Monday night at Southwest and Imperial High Schools.
The slew of games tonight featured a handful of teams from the Valley, including Brawley, Vincent Memorial, Calexico, Southwest, Holtville, Central and Imperial.
In previous years, other teams from different parts of California made the trip to the Southeast part of the state, but this year, it is a hyper local group of teams.
"In a sense, it does make it pretty special that, you know, we've got all of these valley teams and all of these valley fans will get to enjoy it," said Southwest Athletic Director Ruben Valenzuela.
Girls high school flag football has only been around for three years, so hosting tournaments and getting the word out about the sport is important.
Valenzuela thinks about how it all started three years ago and how special it was for the girls in the Valley.
"I still go back to the day when we started to advertise it around here and to see the number of young ladies that came out to show their interests and to see their eyes just grow and say, hey, I get to play football," Valenzuela said.
At the moment, there are only 17 states that have flag football as a sanctioned high school sport, but as the sport starts to gain more traction, that number will increase, and more girls will be able to play football.
