On August 26, 2023, the first girl’s flag football jamboree was held at Granada High School. In total, the jamboree housed five schools: Livermore, Dublin, Amador, San Ramon, and Granada High. The jamboree began at 10:00 AM and ended at 1:00 PM. It consisted of 3 games per team lasting 30 minutes each. This program began at Granada in the summer of this year and has since become a well-developed sports team. Granada’s flag football team is split into two varsity teams, the Gold team and the Black team all coached by Rick Gutierrez, David Muella, Zach Silvernale, and Antonio Berro. The head coach of the Gold team is Coach Muella and the head coach of the Black team is Coach Gutierrez. The original preface was for the Black team to play for Junior Varsity but after realizing there were not enough JV teams in the program the Black team was placed into varsity level. This minor setback led to no cuts and a two-team turnout.
Flag football allows players to embrace the strategy, skill, and knowledge of traditional football but without the tackling. Instead, players wear flag belts that must be pulled off of the ball carrier when the game is in play. CIF (The California Interscholastic Federation) is striving to accumulate more female participants in high school athletics starting this year. The jamboree was a success for Granada. The scores were not closely counted but Granada’s Black team swept the floor against San Ramon, Amador, and Dublin. Granada’s Gold team achieved wins against Amador, San Ramon, and Livermore. Ultimately Granada managed to pull through marking their first official game in the records.
With the jamboree coming to an end and the players packing up after their first official game, it was the perfect opportunity to talk with some of the players and take a look at their perspectives on the season. Ariana Cruz, a running back for the Black team elaborates on how she felt about the first jamboree, stating, “I’m feeling good! I wasn’t as scared as I thought I would be.”
Most of the girls appeared nervous about the game, especially knowing that CIF just recently approved girls’ flag football as a qualifying high school sport. Cruz further explains her reason for joining the team without having any previous experience. “It was a new sport. I wanted to be part of something new, something that could grow.” She closes off by mentioning their next Gold game taking place on September 5, Tuesday against Monte Vista at Monte Vista High School.
Bethany Lai, another running back for the Black team, states, “I’m hoping to get faster, have better reflexes, and be able to think quicker on the spot.” Many of the girls on Granada’s Flag Football team are prior athletes in different sports. Bethany was part of Granada’s track team and explains, “I played flag football in P.E. and it was a fun sport so I wanted to join the team.”
The adversity of athletes from soccer players to volleyball players made for a unique team setup that was able to grasp its advantages when playing flag football. Maile Nguyen, a player for Granada’s Black team, elaborates on her previous experiences with playing football, “I decided to join flag football because I was kind of always practicing football when I was younger and now it’s an actual sport that I get to be in.”
With flag football starting up over the summer and the new school year underway the team is looking to expand their lineup of players. Caitlyn Schertz, a sophomore on the Black team, states, “Our hope is that we can have a really great first season, and inspire people who are coming into high school or have been here to join the team and have fun like we do.”
Another Black team player, Cailey Sasaki, states, “I really like my teammates and my friends, they bring such good energy to our team and just make it a good time.” In general, the team atmosphere is welcoming and enjoyable allowing for good team chemistry and exceptional communication on the field. Coach Muella, head coach of the Gold team, expands on what he thinks is the key to a winning team, “I think it’s cohesiveness and collaboration. I think it’s everybody sort of working for the same thing and understanding, especially in a game like football where everybody’s job is important, that it takes seven players at a time on the field to get it done.”
He further explains why exactly he decided to coach girls’ flag football, “I coached tackle football for 15 years and this was an opportunity to build a program and start something brand new, and I knew there was an incredible amount of interest from the student body to participate so I wanted to be a part of that.”
The girls’ flag football season is only looking up from here; the team spirits are high, and with great expectations, they take up new challenges and more games. So far this season has been a success, and the team is full of well-rounded athletes with forward attitudes. We can only expect wonderful things to come from this new sport!
