By Lou Ponsi

Girls flag football has just completed its first season as an official high school sport in the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section (CIF-SS) and Capistrano Unified schools Capistrano Valley, Dana Hills, San Juan Hills, Tesoro and Aliso Niguel all fielded teams.

While many of the players participate in other team sports such as soccer, lacrosse, and softball, the majority of the athletes were playing organized flag football for the first time.

For Tesoro’s Katherine Le, being part of history has been exciting.

“It’s the first flag football team ever at Tesoro so I just wanted to be a part of that,” said Le, who also plays soccer for the Titans. “I know with soccer, you don’t have set plays, you just go with the flow. So, it was definitely a little interesting learning curve. It’s a kind of a natural transition because there’s a lot of running involved.”

San Juan Hills freshman Claire Fresca, a member of the Stallions Junior Varsity team, said making new friends and learning something new are what she has enjoyed most about playing flag football for the first time.

“My sister told me that she was trying out for it and then I thought it’d be a fun way to participate in a sport and meet friends,” Fresca said. “It’s a very competitive sport and so everyone is really trying their hardest. I like that everyone as a team can do well but there can also be individual players that do well.”

Nearly all the coaches are also experiencing flag football for the first time.

Aliso Niguel flag football coach Randie Baldwin, who is also the Wolverines softball coach, was approached by the athletic director to coach flag football and said she just “dove into it.” This year, Baldwin was named the OC Coach of the Year by the LA Chargers. Student Gigi Ganje was selected to play in the Chargers Flag Football All-Star game, with Baldwin as one of the coaches. Of the five CUSD schools with flag football teams, Aliso Niguel has been the most successful. The Wolverines finished the season at 19-5 and 12-2 in league games.

“Honestly, the girls, they just work really, really hard,” Baldwin said. “We talk a lot about things like showing up to practice with an intent to get better and find a way to get better. They are like true professionals from their approach to their consistency, to their work ethic, to their self-assessment, and their coachability, I will say, is off the charts.”

Girls flag football is a fall sport and while the object is essentially the same as traditional football – moving the ball down the field by passing and running and ultimately touchdowns – there are major differences between the two sports. Flag football is considered a non-contact sport. Teams field seven players, compared to 11 in traditional football. The width of the fields are 30 yards minimum to 40 yards maximum, and the length is 50 yards minimum to 80 yards maximum along with two 10-yard end zones.

Games consist of two 20-minute halves with a running clock until the last two minutes of each half. There are no kick-offs. Teams take possession of the football on their 20-yard line or on the 10-yard line for 50-yard fields. Touchdowns are six points and there are no point-after kicks. Successful conversions from five yards are one point. Blocking and tackling are not allowed, nor are moving screens or setting picks.

“From a personal standpoint it’s been awesome for me,” San Juan Hills flag football coach Corey Hill said. “The reason I got into this is because my daughter wanted to play and I never thought I’d get a chance to coach my daughter in football. It’s been awesome for her to be closer to the game, to understand it, to learn it. It’s been great. I think it’s awesome for all girls.”

San Juan Hills participated in a pilot flag football program for the past two seasons, so the Stallions are one of the few teams with athletes who’ve played the game before.

“I think on our team now we have five girls that played last year and then three that have played for the last two years, which is great,” Hill said. “But we’ve got (about) 41 players in the program. So, you’re talking about 85 percent of our girls who have really never played flag football before. So, there is definitely a learning curve.”

Tesoro coach Rick Brail has watched his players’ knowledge of the game of football continue to improve all season.

“Their learning curve is off the charts, how much they’ve learned about football and improved as the season went on,” Brail said. “It’s been really cool to see.”

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