'It was a no brainer': How flag football at Tuscaloosa County has helped girls' basketball

When coach Jacob Haas started flag football at Tuscaloosa County High School three years ago, he had nine girls that wanted to play.

Out of those nine girls, six were also players on Haas's girls' basketball team at Tuscaloosa County, including Macy Hudgins and Breona Walker. Three years later, Haas had a full roster of 20 girls on his flag football team, eight of them also playing basketball for Haas.

In the three years flag football has been at TCHS, the team has seen great success, both on and off the field, winning 33 out of its last 36 games. Off the field, flag football has helped the team in many ways, especially in regard to basketball.

The two seasons nearly overlap, with flag football games starting in September, but tryouts begin in the spring and practice starts in early August. Basketball season practice starts Oct. 16, with games starting as early as Nov. 2. With flag football, though, the Wildcats basically have conditioning covered, especially under coach Haas.

"(Coach Haas) conditions you well," Hudgins said, with an emphasis on the well. "I run, a lot."

Aside from conditioning, flag football has helped the team in tremendous ways both on and off the court — from team chemistry to learning they can compete to toughness.

"It has helped a lot over the past three years," Haas said. "They are learning how to win; they are learning how to play together. Everything is different, but it's all the same. It has been really good for them."

The Wildcats saw their flag football season come to an end last week after a 19-13 loss to Prattville. The next day, though, they got their basketball season started with a 47-25 win over Calera. In the win, Walker led her team with 15 points.

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The team was more than ready for their basketball season to start. Why is that? The answer is simple — flag football.

"I think if you just play one sport, the offseason is grueling and you don't really have a lot of time to bond," Haas said. "Winning helps the kids bond, playing together helps them bond. Having a sport right before basketball, we kind of are using that for conditioning. And the girls are really having a good time doing it and playing with each other. They meet up on their own time and go throw the football. It just gives them a chance to have a good time with the friends they have at school that they are going to be playing basketball with."

Walker and Hudgins are two of the four remaining Wildcats from the original six that played flag football in its inaugural season and also played basketball. Walker and Hudgins have played basketball for the Wildcats each year they have been at TCHS, but they also have played football even longer than that, before it came to Tuscaloosa County in 2020.

"When we started flag football here," Walker said, "it was a no brainer.

"Macy and I, we used to play football in middle school. (We played) with all the boys."

With prior playing experience, the girls immediately knew what positions they would be playing on the field — Hudgins at quarterback and Walker at wide receiver.

"We already knew who the quarterback and wide receiver were," Hudgins said.

Now that basketball is in full swing, the Wildcats are looking to have one of their best seasons in recent years, after going 14-12 overall last season and finishing third in 7A-Area 5. Flag football, they said, will help them do that.

"I think we have a really good chance to do a lot of good things this year," Hudgins said. "We are just kind of waiting to see all that play out, it's pretty exciting."

Anna Snyder covers high school sports and University of Alabama recruiting for The Tuscaloosa News. Reach her at asnyder@gannett.com. Follow her on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @annaesnyder2

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: How Tuscaloosa County girls' flag football has helped basketball