Track and field coach to lead new women’s flag football program at El Camino

By Nikki Yunker • November 11, 2025

John Hall, coach for field and track at El Camino College since 2013, attends College Night to recruit for the new women’s flag football club Wednesday, Nov. 5. Hall, who is coaching collegiate women’s flag football for the first time, will lead the club in spring 2026. “I am really excited about being an advocate for women’s sports in this space,” he said. (Nikki Yunker | The Union)

John Hall, who has coached track and field at El Camino College since 2013, was selected in October to lead the college’s new women’s flag football program.

Hall is coaching the collegiate sport for the first time and is recruiting students to join the team, which will begin in spring 2026 and use uniforms, play other colleges and travel.

“I really enjoy the finesse aspect of the flag football game, and I think it’s a beautiful art of the game with the capacity to remove the violence from it,” Hall said. “It’s a great, I think, opportunity to feature women athletes.”

There are no strict eligibility requirements for students interested in women’s flag football as the California Community College Athletic Association has not yet approved the sport.

John Hall, coach for field and track at El Camino College since 2013, speaks with a high school student during College Night on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Hall, who is coaching women&squot;s flag football for the first time, will lead the club in spring 2026. "I am really excited about being an advocate for women&squot;s sports in this space," he said. (Nikki Yunker | The Union) — John Hall, coach for field and track at El Camino College since 2013, speaks with a high school student interested in women’s flag football during College Night on Wednesday, Nov. 5. Hall, who is coaching collegiate women’s flag football for the first time, will lead the club in spring 2026. “Right now we’re just looking for people who have a good attitude, who have an athletic background, who are open-minded,” he said. (Nikki Yunker | The Union)

“Right now we’re just looking for people who have a good attitude, who have an athletic background, who are open-minded,” Hall said. “We invite all female students who want to explore the game and try to get better.”

He said the expectation for this first season is to assemble a team with a development-based focus.

“We’re going to have to get people familiar with the game,” Hall said. “We’re trying to have a more fun experience this first year and build toward having a more competitive team in the future.”

Hall expects the club to become a team around 2027, at which point it will be among the college’s 11 other team sports.

ECC announced that women’s flag football would join its athletics department in August, shortly after the college cut funding for its tennis, men’s golf and women’s badminton teams.

While an undergraduate at the University of California, Los Angeles, Hall was a football and track athlete for the Bruins.

He said he hopes the women’s flag football program will be successful as a medium in teaching life lessons which translate into athletic achievement.

“What I hope to achieve here is … using my platform to really try to effect the change within the individual and then see that play out on the field as well,” he said.

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