With the recent introduction of girl’s flag football to La Salle just last year, the team begins their second season by focusing on fun and teamwork.

While their play schedule is frequent — consisting of two-and-a-half hour practices on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and weekly games on Tuesdays and Thursdays — the team captains, senior McKenna Morgan and junior Ella Manson note that the pace stays manageable and not too overwhelming.

“[The practices] seem long when you’re thinking about it like that, but we’re really just out there having fun,” Manson said. “It’s not like other sports where you’re sprinting the whole time. It’s very relaxed.”

These practices consist of an hour-and-a-half of weight lifting followed by drills and scrimmaging, which is then wrapped up with some stretching.

Throughout the week there is plenty of playing time, but the team itself is also in a better place than it was last season.

“We have a lot more skill on our team and just more experience in general,” Morgan said.

Morgan also compared the sport to volleyball, saying “we all work together, and it’s very fun, and we laugh a lot, and it’s not very serious.”

This year’s team also has good spirit and enthusiasm, according to Manson, despite them mostly having “[started] with very minimal football knowledge, seeing that this is a brand-new thing,” Manson said.

The girls have had a number of occasions to bond so far, including a karaoke night, and they plan on continuing weekly dinners throughout the season.

“We’re just a really enthusiastic group who wants to just have fun every day at practice and do the best we can,” Manson said.

While the season is off to a challenging start as Manson, Morgan and another senior player Serafina Preciso have sustained injuries, they plan to keep working hard toward the playoffs, using the “next player up” mentality.

Additionally, Manson shared her hope that the sport would soon become OSAA sanctioned, especially considering she was someone who “really tried to spearhead the team,” she said.

To reach this goal, both captains Morgan and Manson believe the team should continue to work hard and have fun with the help of their coaches.

“The coaches are awesome,” Morgan said. “Neither of them have daughters, but they are like girl dads, and they’re very kind, and they want us to get better, but they also want to have fun.”

Coaches Stephen Nesmith and George El Youssef were quick to step up because the decision was simple, especially considering coach El Youssef is eager to grow the sport of football.

“When the opportunity presented itself, and they started looking for coaches, right away it was no-brainer, so I jumped on it,” coach El Youssef said.

Additionally he added that he hopes to strengthen respect for the sport, as it currently is still new and emerging.

“Girls flag football is still not seen as a ‘real sport,’ and we want to change that. We want to change that in the eyes of the school,” coach El Youssef said. “We want to change that in the eyes of the community, and want to change that in the eyes of the nation itself.”

While they do hope to make it far in the season, in the end, the ultimate goal is to increase the popularity and enjoyment of the sport.

“I hope to just bring everyone together, and I hope that everyone loves the sport as much as I do,” Morgan said.

Coach El Youssef has similar hopes for fun and enjoyment, often using icebreaker activities to facilitate a better environment.

“We as coaches, we are focused on going out there, competing and, you know, giving these girls all the tools they need to succeed,” he said.

Looking to the future, the girls prepare for their next game this upcoming Friday, April 10 against Horizon Christian School.