East Rutherford, NJ – The New York Giants have selected Coach Katie DiChiaro from Somers High School (Somers, NY) as the inaugural recipient of the High School Girls Flag Football Coach of the Year award for the 2025 season.

The High School Flag Football Coach of the Week program is part of the Giants' continuing effort to support local high school flag football programs. Each week during the high school girls flag football season, the Giants selected one area high school head coach as the Coach of the Week winner. The Coach of the Week and Year selection is based on the coach's continuing commitment towards promoting youth football, developing motivated student-athletes and contributing overall to their community.

In recognition of Coach DiChiaro's selection as Coach of the Year, a $4,000 check from The Giants Foundation will be given to the Somers High School girls flag football program. Coach DiChiaro will also receive a certificate of recognition signed by Giants head coach Brian Daboll and will be honored at a recognition ceremony after the season and at a 2025 Giants preseason home game.

Coach DiChiaro embraced the game of flag football well before it became a sanctioned sport in New York State, and she has been instrumental in making the sport a possibility for girls at the high school level. In 2017, DiChiaro created an after-school program – Intro to Sports for Girls – where she held two weeks of practices to teach a variety of sports, including flag football, for girls in the 1^st and 2^nd grade. The program sparked interest within the community leading to the start of a spring indoor league for girls in 2018 with 30 girls and quickly tripled in size by the winter with 90 athletes registering. After COVID brought sports to a halt, Katie co-founded Gridiron Partners alongside Jenn Kisslinger to create opportunities at the youth and adult level for girls and women to play flag football.

By the fall of 2021, they had 150 girls registered in their youth league. As a way to offer a fun opportunity for more women to play and learn the game of flag football, while learning how to coach kids within their community, DiChiaro helped to start a women's flag football league which started with 6 teams 2021. Come spring of 2022, DiChiaro led the charge in creating a high school girls flag football pilot program in Section 1 of New York State which included 8 high schools. In just four short years, the section has now grown to 33 high school varsity teams with JV teams being created as well. Section 1 just had their first High School Girls Flag Football State Champion with Scarsdale High School winning the Class A title this year.

Coach DiChiaro's commitment to the game was a catalyst for Section's across New York State to see the value in providing flag football as an opportunity for girls. This led to flag football becoming a sanction varsity sport with a state championship tournament in just 3 years. Somers High School hosts the annual Section 1 girls flag football kickoff event that DiChiaro has made a community effort and always includes local business, student clubs and incorporates fundraising efforts for those in need.

DiChiaro has been part of the Giants efforts to spread awareness about the importance of everything flag football has to offer. DiChiaro was part of a Women's History Month panel hosted at the team facility to educate staff on the progress being made in flag football. Additionally, the Giants and the NFL surprised Coach DiChiaro and Jenn Kisslinger with tickets to Super Bowl LVII in Las Vegas to recognize the contributions they have made to the game of flag football. DiChiaro also helped lead fundraising efforts for Section 1 girls flag football through a partnership with the Giants and Kendra Scott, a woman owned jewelry company working to empower females, and shared the importance of their support on an episode of the Her Playbook podcast presented by Kendra Scott.

Coach DiChiaro instills confidence within her athletes that translates to every aspect of their life. As a role model in the community of Somers, she has created a pathway for high school athletes to be successful in anything they do and set goals that were not possible 5 years ago. She has created connections within families that allow everyone to be involved in the game of flag football whether it is through playing, coaching or supporting. Thanks to her efforts, student-athletes are now looking to compete in flag football at the college level and have set their sights on becoming an Olympian. DiChiaro continuously uses football to bring communities and families together and there is no better person to be the inaugural recipient of the New York Giants High School Girls Flag Football Coach of the Year.

"Katie has brought so much passion and love for the sport of flag football and women's sports to Somers and across New York State. She is an amazingly kind, caring, and wonderful person. We are so fortunate to have her as part of our athletic department, and she is the perfect choice for the first ever recipient of the 2025 NY Giants Coach of the Year Award," said Marc Hattem, Director of Athletics, Health and Physical Education at Somers High School.

2025 High School Girls Flag Football Coach of the Week Honorees

Week 1—Kristen Patnode, Northeastern Clinton High School, Champlain, NY

Week 2 – Frank Rogers, Troy High School, Troy, NY

Week 3 – Nuryel Benitez, Yonkers' High School, Yonkers, NY

Week 4 – Melissa Menges, Holmdel High School, Holmdel, NJ

Week 5—Mikey Carr, Union-Endicott High School, Endicott, NY

Week 6 – Rita French, Enfield High School, Enfield, CT

Week 7—Rany Kalman, Rumson Fair Haven Regional High School, Rumson, NJ

Week 8 – Terrell Huff, Windsor High School, Windsor, CT

Week 9- John "Rusty" Virkler, Owego Free Academy, Owego, NY

Week 10 – Craig Cavotta, Columbia High School, East Greenbush, NY