The San Padro Pirates are leading the City Section in girls flag football.
After the Paris Olympics the announcement came that at the L.A. 2028 games, flag football will be played by both men and women.
Flag football for high school girls debuted this past year, and San Pedro is at the top of L.A. City rankings followed by Marshall, Eagle Rock, Birmingham and Garfield.
And Palisades Charter High School? It did not have a team.
Two men, Chuck Price and Tharen Todd are going to bring the sport to Pacific Palisades, starting with two clinics for girls in kindergarten through 8th grade.
The Verdugo team (black uniforms) is ranked sixth in the City Section.
If you have a daughter in kindergarten through 4th grade, an introduction to the sport will be held at the Palisades High School baseball field on Friday, December 6, from 4 to 6 p.m.
If your daughter is in grades five through 8th, that clinic will be held on December 10 from 4 to 6 p.m.
The clinics are two hours long and one can register at www.footballplayedhere.com.
“We’re helping to create a new sport for girls and a new opportunity,” Price said.
He pointed out that there’s a lot of dads out there that love football, “and this will provide a chance to be involved, not only with their daughters, but also with a sport, where they have a lot of passion.”
The father of two adult daughters, Price said that playing football was never an option for them. One daughter kept statistics for her school team, Hamilton, the other started a spirit squad (now cheerleaders) at Windward.
It is hoped the clinics will generate an interest in the Palisades and that balanced leagues could be started in April 2025.
The girls will start from scratch, including learning that when the flag is pulled that is how the play is stopped.
“We’ll teach girls how to catch the ball,” Price said and added that football helps with eye-hand coordination.
Other skills that will be taught are throwing, strategy, speed, athleticism and reading the field. Tharen and Price hope that if the girls stick with it a few years, they’ll realize “I’m good at this.”
And they will be, with two such highly qualified people to lead them to the next level.
Todd, a popular figure in the Palisades has taught fitness classes at the Palisades-Malibu YMCA for 16 years.
Football Coach Todd Tharen will help the beginning league of girls flag football in the Palisades.
For more than a decade, he has been the Calvary Christian School’s football coach for the 8th grade team, overseen fifth through seventh graders and provided afterschool football programs for first through fourth grade. He started Coach Todd’s Football Academy, where he teaches football and athlete fundamentals.
Todd has served as the assistant varsity coach at Venice and at Palisades High and was the head coach for the L.A. Rams Youth football camps.
Price has spent the last 30 years in sports administration and was a certified NFL Agent from 2003-2013. Following that, Chuck spent three years working for UCLA Football Coach, Jim Mora Jr.
After UCLA, Chuck ran the College and Pro Football Division at Mamba Sports Academy (2016-2019). A year later, he served as the Director of Football Administration for the LA Wildcats of the XFL.
For the past three years, he has organized the Bowl High School All Star Game, which has been underwritten by the L.A. Chargers. “Last year it was played at Birmingham,” Price said, and added it pays recognition to L.A. City School players who stay loyal to their district, even though they might be recruited elsewhere.
This year the game will be held at El Camino College on December 20. He was asked by the Chargers, “Can we do a girls flag football game in advance?”
“Yes,” was Price’s answer. This inaugural game is exactly what he wanted, an opportunity for girls to play, too.
Coach Chuck Price with his daughter at a football game.