The popularity of girls flag football has exploded since the sport was announced late last year. Leading up to the last couple days of summer break, there were only 7 girls signed up to try out for the sport. By the first day of school, that number had almost doubled to 64 girls trying out.
“When I first became aware that I was going to be the coach of this team, I had no idea what to expect, and I had no idea if I would have 1 girl; I had no idea if I would have 100. I really thought that I was maybe going to have like 10 girls max maybe come out and I would just have to go from there,” said Charlie Campos, head varsity coach. “My expectations were blown away by the reality of it. I had 64 girls tryout, and I was not expecting that at all. And it all just made me super excited and super eager.”
Teams with many new players can face challenges in creating a strong bond with all the players on the team. However, the HEHS Flag Football Team had the ability to overcome all of these challenges even though the roster was filled with new players.
“I have looked forward to going to every single practice after school. I really like that I have gotten to meet a new group of peers, and the actual sport is really fun, and it’s in a good environment, and I look forward to progressing every day,” said Annie Rakoci, varsity captain.
“My expectations have been exceeded. I feel like the team is pretty gelled together. And even though we haven’t won our first game yet, we are still having fun, and we’re still learning and working hard in practice. We are having a good time training and getting prepared for more games and hopefully succeed in them. But we have had little success in separate games,” said Sophia Ball, varsity captain.
With flag football being a new sport, the girls are looking forward to not only growing as a team but also creating a culture that the program will be able to carry out in the years to come.
“We all get along, because we’re all in this new sport together, and because a lot of the girls haven’t played it and each year they’ll get better and better at it,” said Madeline Petschenko, junior varsity.
“I want this year to be a good base for our team but also for us to learn football and for us to grow as individuals so we have a good system set up for the upcoming years and years after that. So we can make it like a legacy instead of just a team thing,” said Rakoci.
As the season unfolds, the team is determined to improve its skills as a team but also continue to build up female sports and bring more attention to the rise of women’s sports as a whole.
“These girls being included in all the sports guys do is something that they want. They want to be competitive, and they want to show people that they can and will be just as good as the boys,” said Campos.
