For many, it goes without saying that an opportunity you will only be given twice during your high school career is simply not something you can pass up. As both juniors and seniors battle it out on the field for roughly two hours, they are granted with a unique chance to watch as their hard work pays off during an exhilarating game that they can only play once a year.
Despite many high schools recently forming female flag football teams, as of now, our school has yet to do the same. Which is precisely what puts such a great amount of importance on this memorable event.
In order to truly understand the gravity of this event, I spoke with Senior player, Mikayla Horta about her experience, to which she said, “I loved the environment and how I actually got to meet new people I’ve never interacted with before, especially since I got to play defense and offense so I was always mixed with different players.”
Not only does her impute support the idea that powderpuff serves as a chance to experience new friendships, but it also emphasizes the unique aspect of flag football that you typically don’t see in other sports. While most teams are made up of a rather specific number of players, there is hardly any limit to how many players can sign up to play in the powderpuff game. Which in turn allows you to meet far more new people than you typically would in a more traditional sport.
As you are thrown into this environment with a wide variety of girls, it is also significant to note that a large majority of these girls come from an athletic background. To further elaborate on this, Senior player Ashley Bradbard said, “I loved how the whole thing was student-led and it was really cool to work with girls from every sport.” Seeing that the majority of high school athletes tend to stick to a sole sport to dedicate their time to, the powderpuff game allows for female athletes from various sport backgrounds to put their skills they developed in their sport, to use in a new and incredibly competitive environment.
Aside from making new friends and being able to show off your pre-existing skills, the event serves as a possibility to simply have fun outside of school with an amazing group of girls.
I spoke with Junior player, Natalia Gaittan, who said that it was a great experience that allowed her to learn so many new things and spend time with new and old friends. Regardless of your background in sports, this allows you to strengthen both old and new bonds that you will value all of high school.
As the seniors ultimately took the final win at the end of the night, players from both teams can argue that they enjoyed the experience regardless of the results and would be more than willing to do it again. So whether you love football or don’t have the slightest clue about how the game works, I highly recommend taking part in this truly valuable and rare event once you get the chance!