This year, a girls flag football team was introduced. Other high schools in our conference have a flag football team, whether it’s an IHSA sport or a club, so sophomore Claire Kelton decided it was time for York to join the bandwagon.
Kelton played on the York football team last year as a defensive player, but her parents advised against joining the team again this year. She had done rugby, contact football and wrestling since middle school, so she and two of her friends came up with a way for girls to have their own space to be included in these activities. Due to the technicalities of making a new team, the season started mid-Sep, but it was able to be up and running for this year.
“I wanted to make a new opportunity for more girls to play football,” Kelton said. “Considering it was our first season and we started late, it went really well. There were some minor difficulties with the team, but I was definitely happy with the way it turned out. I loved getting a chance to play football again and to be able to share that with other girls.”
Kelton did some research on the sport before presenting the idea of making a girls flag football and girls wrestling team to admin and was eager to see if there would be interest from other students. She found that flag football is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation next to girls wrestling, which York added as a winter sport. Flag football, though, was denied by the district for being an official sport for this season, but was granted permission to be a club sport. Once they got the word out about the new team, student interest was very present.
“I love trying a variety of new things,” Clara Fitzer, senior, said. “I thought it would be really cool to be on the first ever flag football team at York.”
In terms of trying something new, the game of football was foreign territory for some. Whether or not they were familiar with the game, the team itself was new for everyone. They would have benefited from more practices prior to their first game, though by the end of the season the girls got the hang of it. Practices originated with learning the rules and evolved to learning plays, then eventually splitting into groups like offence and defence and even a varsity and a junior varsity team.
“A lot of the girls, including me, didn’t know much about football, so a lot of the practices were about learning to understand the game,” Fitzer said. “Everyone there had different athletic backgrounds, which was fun meeting a bunch of new people and getting a chance to play with them.”
Fitzer plays soccer in the spring and her coach recommended joining the team for conditioning, so she gave it a try and enjoyed it. The girls that joined the team came from a variety of different sports so it was a unique opportunity to bond with others you wouldn’t usually compete with. There was much excitement around creating a new activity that girls have never had an opportunity to play before and now that it’s officially a team, there is potential and hope that it will continue to grow.
“I’m really proud of all the girls that came out and tried a new thing,” Kelton said. “I’m very happy with the amount of people, because that was the biggest thing we were hoping for so the district could consider approving it as a sport for next year.”
Kelton does miss playing football, but loved her time on the flag football team and is excited to go into the girls wrestling season. The fact that these two activities were new at the same time, it sparked interest for many to join wrestling after the flag football season. Though there was a decent turn out for the team, Kelton still hopes for more. Girls could’ve had previous commitments or were hesitant to try an up and coming sport so late in the fall, but now that students know about the team there could possibly be a larger amount of players in years to come.
“I just want there to be more people,” Kelton said. “I think the turnout this year was really good considering the amount of time we had to get people to join, but now that more people are aware there is a team there will be a lot more interest going into next season. I am looking forward to coming back next year and getting to see this season’s players again and also hope to see new people too.”
There were varying levels of competitiveness with opponents, where some schools had more experience having had a program running for years, while others were just starting up similar to this team. Even with starting the season last minute and taking time to get used to new concepts, the team came a long way in such a short time.
“Our last game was probably our best one,” Kelton said. “Even though we didn’t win, we still scored a lot and got a chance for different groups of players to get on the field. It was just a really enjoyable game because it was fun to watch, fun to play in and it was nice knowing that for our first season we did really well. That game tied it all together for us as a team.”
The season for this team ran for about a month and a half, but the goal is to make the transition from a club team to an official sport next season. There are plans to start next year’s season with a summer camp in July and to start with two weeks of practice before the first game in August, with about two games a week, that being a schedule that coincides with other fall sports.
“I hope it’s a full season, I hope it starts in early August and I hope it’s IHSA eligible,” Matthew Bold, one of the flag football coaches, said. “This year we weren’t eligible for the playoffs. Hopefully we start on time and we do it right next season.”
Overall, this team has brought lots of girls together in trying a sport similar to the male dominated sport of football, with big goals to expand in the near future.
“Flag football is a step in getting girls more opportunities,” Bold said. “It’s bringing more equity and equality for girls, to have the same opportunities that boys have, which is an opportunity that I think is necessary. It’s definitely a fun chance for girls to learn the game and get better not only in football but in other sports as well.”
