On June 16, 2025, Bolles added three more sports to their roster, including girls flag football.
Flag football has been gaining popularity for a while now. It is a non-contact form of football, one of America’s most prestigious sports. Many people would argue that it is a much safer alternative to football because, instead of tackling the opponents, an athlete simply has to remove the flag belt from around their opponent’s waist.
This year’s flag football season takes place in the spring and will have three coaches: Coach Isaac Smolko, Coach Chad Tucker, and Coach Alex Wheat Jr.
Head Coach Smolko has been in the football business for a while. He attended Penn State, where he played in college, then proceeded to play in the NFL for four years. He played for the Jacksonville Jaguars, Indianapolis Colts, and the Baltimore Ravens. Outside of the team, Smolko runs a successful club team known as PRIME GP.
Coach Tucker played for the University of Cincinnati, but his interest in this sport started when his daughters’ interest did. “Once I started coaching and hanging around, I saw the empowerment, the competitiveness, and confidence of all female athletes,” he said. In his free time, he helps Smolko with PRIME GP. Tucker is excited to start as the defensive coordinator for the girls flag football in the spring.
Coach Wheat played for Utah State and Coastal Carolina University. In 2017, Wheat helped with many sports sleepaway camps, which is where he first took an interest in flag football. Additionally, a couple of his friends and teammates played for Team USA flag football, helping foster his interest. Occasionally, Wheat, just like Tucker, helps coach PRIME GP. Wheat will be the offensive coordinator for the girls team.
The coaches are all expecting a very competitive season. A few girls have been training with the coaches for about a month already, and “what we’ve been able to see so far from the girls at the Bolles school is phenomenal,” Smolko said. The coaches all remark how the athletes at Bolles are exceptional and cannot wait to start the season with them. “It’s a really amazing team,” said Tucker.
The coaches are very ecstatic about this project. They can’t wait to see how much they can achieve. “I want to win the whole thing,” Wheat said, already prepared for the season to begin. The other coaches agree with this sentiment, promising to try their hardest and possibly win states.
They’re also excited to watch the girls bond and build a community with each other. “There’s nothing more empowering than seeing a team bond and start playing for each other rather than individual athletes,” Tucker said. As a father of two girls who are playing flag football, Tucker understands the importance of the kind of community the girls will be able to build.
The coaches encourage everyone to try out. “We don’t care how good or bad you think you are,” Wheat said. They hope to have more people at tryouts during spring and would love to see a growing interest in this sport. The coaches are exhilarated to see how far their team will go and the community they will make.
