Spectrum high school is joining the other high schools across the nation this year as they give women more opportunities to play football at a varsity level.
Spectrum is adding flag football to their roster of spring sports, giving girls another option to branch out in sports. They were able to add this sport for several reasons, including that many NFL teams are helping to sponsor high school teams across the nations to get the sport kick started.
Savannah Potter said, “It’s really cool that it’s a new sport because it’s a growing sport in the past few years. Girls flag football has been well, girls in football has been very
in a lot of things because usually it’s just like guys football is the big priority. And so the Minnesota Vikings are sponsoring schools throughout Minnesota.”
The girls on the team are excited to learn this new sport, especially since many of them are new and didn’t grow up playing the sport. This is very different from tackle football where many of the male players have been participating in football since they were very young.
Coach Stockwell said, “They’ve been so much more excited about learning the monotonous parts of the game than the boys are in tackle football. Tackle football becomes a grind, right? They’ve been doing it since they were 8-10 years old sometimes. These girls, they’ve never gotten the chance. So, they are so grateful just to be able to sit in a chair and listen to me say this is what a wide receiver does.”
Learning the sport has been for the girls, but the coaches are really impacting how this team will grow into a community. They care about creating a really strong group of girls that support each other no matter what. And it is already showing through after a couple out of season practices.
LeAhna Daucsavage said, “Everybody is super nice and very chatty and like the coaches are super nice and they’re very understanding because nobody has really done the sport before. So, they’re taking it very slow and like teaching us each individual thing that we need to know.”
Potter added to this though when she shared the dynamic between Coach Stockwell and Coach Brower.
Potter said, “They’ve got a good dynamic where Stockwell teaches a lot of, you know, the basics and the rules and all the things that involve with football. And then Miss Brower can kind of help ask follow-up questions so that we can better understand. And then they both they’re just like they’re funny. They’ve got a sense of humor and they make us laugh and they’re just really fun to be around.”
The team is just getting started so it is still pretty small. In addition to being a new sport, it happens at the same time as track which is Spectrum’s biggest sport. So getting enough players to make a team has been a challenge. But they are pushing through and have now started practices with a full team.
Coach Stockwell said, “I’m just pumped for their love of the game, and for how excited they are for that learning opportunity.”
Flag football has a chance to grow across the country this year. The future looks bright for young girls who look up to the sport. Spectrum’s team will take this season as a great chance for the girls to learn a new sport, broaden their horizons, and grow lifelong friendships.