Community and West athletics will expand in 2026-27 with girls flag football and boys volleyball, but district officials say that several key steps—including hiring coaches—still must happen before schedules and equipment ordering can be finalized.

While the McLean County Unit 5 Board of Education approved adding both IHSA-sanctioned sports at its Sept. 17 meeting, as of January, Community has not hired head coaches for either sport, Community Athletic Director Mr. Nic Kearfott said.

“We have applicants for flag football,” Kearfott said, “so I plan on getting that [coaching position] hired in January.” 

Kearfott said hiring a boys volleyball coach will likely take longer, but the athletic director hopes both positions are filled in time to plan offseason opportunities.

“I want to have both in place by March,” Kearfott said, “so we can plan summer camps and summer plans.”

Weikle said adding sports comes with costs for uniforms and equipment, plus paying for officials, travel and coaches. Increasing athletic involvement or recognizing students’ interests weren’t the only reasons behind the additions, she said, noting both sports can create new scholarship pathways.

“Like many extracurricular activities, there are scholarship opportunities for students. I had some cousins whose boys played volleyball in college on scholarship,” Weikle said. “So there’s a lot of opportunities.”

During the 2024-25 school year, Unit 5 used its athletic and extracurricular survey to measure interest.

Students at both schools chose from five sports options per gender, and results from the December survey showed girls flag football and boys volleyball receiving more than 43% support each.

Interest at West has also shown up in an active boys volleyball intramural program.

Community freshman Sam Rowley said the additions open doors for students who want to compete.

The 6-foot-6 Rowley, a two-sport athlete who participated in cross-country in the fall and basketball in the winter, said he plans to try out for the volleyball team when it launches in spring 2027.

“It’s a fun sport,” Rowley said. “I have an advantage because I’m tall.”

Statewide participation in flag football has climbed quickly since the sport was added to the IHSA state series. The IHSA held its first girls flag football state series in 2024 with no classifications, and the number of schools entered rose from 154 in 2024 to 223 in 2025, according to the IHSA.

That rapid growth also reflects a broader, decades-long expansion of opportunities for girls athletics, Weikle said, pointing to the impact of Title IX, which marked its 50th anniversary in 2022. 

Girls sports participation grew from 294,000 athletes in 1972 to 3.2 million by the 50-year mark, the National Federation of State High School Associations reported.

For Weikle, flag football is the latest example of that momentum playing out in real time.

“It’s amazing to me,” Weikle said, “how fast [flag football is] growing across the United States.”

Since 2024, Normal West has offered boys volleyball as an intermural sport after school, overseen by West’s girls volleyball coach Mrs. Kelsey Mueller. Photo Courtesy: Normal West Volleyball Instagram

Kearfott said hiring coaches is the next key step because planning for schedules, uniforms and program setup follows.

“Once we get a coach hired,” Kearfott said, “then we’ll start setting schedules and we’ll start getting uniforms and all that stuff taken care of.”

Whether the inaugural seasons will include tryouts, Kearfott said, is undecided and will depend on participation and turnout.

When boys volleyball and flag football debut next year, Weikle said one of the largest challenges will be building a competitive schedule. With most IHSA boys volleyball and girls flag football programs clustered around the Chicago suburbs, the St. Louis metro area and southern Illinois, Unit 5 expects longer trips early on.

To curb multiple “hour and a half drive[s],” the district is exploring Saturday tournaments and events that bring three or four schools together so teams can play multiple matches in one day, “reducing travel costs by maximizing the number of competitions that you have,” Weikle said.

Weikle said she is hopeful to see the two sports “growing…in our area in the next few years,” allowing for more frequent local matchups.

“We’re excited to be one of the first [districts] in the Bloomington-Normal area,” Weikle said, to adopt these sports.