In this episode of the She Plays Flag Podcast, I sit down with Kelly Bendall, assistant girls flag coach at Milton High School in Alpharetta, Georgia.

Kelly didn’t come into flag football with a background in the sport. She came in as a coach.

With years of experience in soccer and a deep understanding of how to lead and connect with female athletes, she stepped into a brand new game, learned it in real time, and helped build one of the most respected programs in the state.

This episode focuses on what matters when you’re starting out in flag football:

• How to coach when you don’t know the sport yet
• Why relationships come before schemes
• How girls teams build culture differently
• What new coaches should focus on first
• Why female coaches are essential in this space
• What the growth of college flag football means for today’s players

Kelly shares incredible insights into coaching female athletes and leaves us with a clear message:

You don’t need to be an expert in flag football to get started.
You need to be willing to step inside the fence.

Dakota Hughes has lived nearly every chapter of the women’s flag football story.

From a childhood spent throwing the football in the backyard to becoming the starting quarterback for the Atlanta Steam, Dakota’s path eventually led her into coaching and developing the next generation of players.

In this episode, she shares the lessons she learned stepping into leadership at a young age, why adversity and failure are essential parts of growth, and how sports can shape confidence, resilience, and character.

Dakota also discusses the rapid rise of girls flag football and the responsibility coaches carry to lead athletes not just on the field, but in life.

This episode gives us a look at the mindset, leadership, and purpose that continue to shape the game as it grows.

In this episode, I sit down with Clark Nixon, head coach of the Milton High School girls flag football team in Georgia. Clark didn’t come from the flag world. He was a math teacher, basketball coach, and tennis coach who simply loved football and saw an opportunity to create something meaningful for girls in his school.

Starting with just a handful of players and no prior flag experience, Clark and his staff built a program that now competes at the highest level in Georgia.

We talk about what those early days really looked like: recruiting athletes, teaching football from scratch, navigating multi-sport participation, and building a culture that lasts beyond one season.

Clark also shares what it means to coach a sport that is growing rapidly across the country, and why the girls playing today are truly trailblazers for the future of football.

This conversation is a blueprint for coaches, athletic directors, and communities who are thinking about starting girls flag football programs of their own.