As the whistle blew on the football field, VHHS first-ever girls’ flag football team took flight. This moment traces back to August Mays (11), who had the idea of starting an official team for flag football.
Mays is on the varsity team for Flag Football this year. She has played flag football since she was in middle school and thought many girls would be interested in joining the team.
She noticed that the school didn’t have one when she was still a sophomore and thought it’d be a great idea to start an official Girls’ flag football team.
Mays gathered signatures and took her idea proposal to the athletic director, explaining her visions and ideas to start a team.
The Athletic Director, Brian McDonald, brought it up to the board. The board thought it was a good idea, as IHSA ac-knowledges it as a sport that could be played competitively with other schools.
This decision then opened the door for opportunities for the girls in the future.
McDonald shared his perspective of how Mays played an important role on the team, highlighting her dedication and commitment to making her dream become a reality.
“August put in a ton of effort, time and energy trying to get…an actual girl’s flag football game going last fall,” McDonald said.
One of his hopes for this summer is to have a summer camp for flag football if enough people are interested. This will allow all the athletes to improve and develop skills for the next season.
Interest in the sport
Head Coach Rob Nardini shared that Mays asked him to coach. He thought it’d be a great opportunity, as it is the first-ever girls’ flag football team at VHHS. He thought it’d be a fun, rewarding and exciting season.
Nardini added that both the JV and Varsity teams are doing a good job grasping the concepts of flag football and they are doing very well during the games, too. He said the team gets better every single day.
McDonald, Nardini and Mays were all unsure how many people were interested, as the year prior, there was not much interest shown.
Seeing the turnout for tryouts, all three of them were happy. Nardini said he only was expecting one team this season, but ended up having enough players for two teams: a junior varsity team and a varsity team.
Reflections on the season so far
While the turnout for tryouts was impressive, some were unsure of the concepts of flag football and weren’t sure of how they were going to feel when going into the season.
Emma Foy (12), a varsity player on the flag football team, opened up about her feelings.
“I’ve learned a lot of plays and just how the game works as a whole. Football is not something I knew a lot about going into [the season], but something that I’ve grown to love and know,” Foy said.
When Foy reflected on her feelings so far, she also included her thoughts on what the team can improve on for future games.
“There’s a lot of separate groups in our team, but I think we can do a better job of being one united team,” Foy said.
Foy said she thinks more team bonding activities, or pasta parties, could help bring the new team together. This idea resonated with what McDonald also has shared.
He said that he and the coaches send out surveys at the end of each season gathering feedback on how the teams felt about the season. This helps them find solutions and ideas for improvement.
McDonald mentioned that both he and Nardini use the phrase, “Learning while doing” when talking about the girls’ flag football team.
“I’m interested to have that conversation with Coach Nardini, because this is the first time we’ve ever done this, and we both can plan for doing better the next season,” McDonald said.