The end of August and early September marks the start of the football season. Everywhere in America, there’s football. When you think of football, you probably think of men. Let’s be honest, it’s a male-dominated sport. In fact, it’s rare to see a girl playing football. However, this may be about to change. Rochester Community Schools and various other districts in Michigan have taken it upon themselves to start promoting and advocating for girls’ flag football to become a high school sport. This gives girls the opportunity to play a new sport that has previously been thought of as a “men’s sport.”
There are currently four teams in the state of Michigan, including our very own Rochester Griffins. The team is a combination of girls from all three of the Rochester Community High Schools. Rochester High School, Stoney Creek High School, and Rochester Adams High School. The season was essentially a pilot, meaning that the entire thing was new to everyone. All there was to do was sign up for the team and show up to practice, no experience was necessary. Last season, the team consisted of 15 girls, over half of whom didn’t have any previous experience! Along with that, not much equipment is needed either. Just a pair of cleats and a positive attitude!
Rochester High School’s very own Mr. Reed was a coach for the team, as well as Stoney Creek’s head football coach, Coach Merlo. Mr. Reed is very passionate about the sport of coaching and the sport of football, previously being a football coach himself. When asked why he loves coaching so much he responded, “I had such amazing coaches, and I got to learn a lot of life skills through what I did athletically.”
There wasn’t much movement from the Detroit Lions or any high schools before Rochester Community Schools, making them the first team. Giving most of the credit to coach Merlo at Stoney Creek Mr. Reed says, “We just kind of sat down at teacher professional development and said, ‘Why isn’t there girls flag football?’ We found out that it was going on in other states like Georgia and it was super competitive so we said, ’Why don’t we do that?’” Mr. Reed explains how the idea for the team came to be and was excited about being able to coach one of the first girls’ flag football teams in Michigan, “I just love football and we want to grow the game in any way that we can. The game can teach us so much about life and that should not just be for tackle football,” Mr. Reed expresses.
This program is very important to both the team and the coaches. Elizabeth Faglie, one of the Griffin’s inside linebackers, expressed the importance of this sport to her and said, “Creating opportunities for a lighter contact sport will make it more available to any girl interested in playing football and getting involved.”
Anaya Potts, the Griffins quarterback communicates that it’s important to her because “it shows you can do anything and it’s a way to make new connections and friends and learn new things.”
Finally, Mr. Reed says, “It’s a great way to get involved, meet people, to be healthy, to do something new.”
Now that this idea has become a reality, girls’ flag football is gaining support. Last season the NFL got involved, specifically the Lions. Since there were only four teams, three games were played making for a short season. However, because the league was a pilot, the teams got to do so many once-in-a-lifetime things. For example, the girls got to play at Ford Field along with the Lions training facility, which almost no one is allowed into. The girls also got invited to go back to Ford Field on September 24 when the Detroit Lions were Playing the Atlanta Falcons. They received a five thousand dollar scholarship to spend next season! They also had the opportunity to go on the field during the national anthem and halftime to promote girls’ flag football in Michigan.
Overall, all of the girls on the team are very grateful to be given this opportunity and hope it leads to something bigger in the future.
