By Michaela Etienne
Apopka High School is known for many things, including their academics and clubs, but they are mainly known for their sports. People come from all over Apopka to support the boys’ whether they are playing basketball, soccer, or lacrosse, but Apopka typically draws the largest crowd for their football team. But what about the girls? What sports can they play? Girls can be involved in a multitude of sports which include soccer, lacrosse, basketball, and volleyball, and one of the most exciting of them all is flag football.
Flag football is a non-contact sport and is quite similar to regular football except for a few characteristics. For example, the field is about 20 yards shorter than a regular football game, there aren’t any field goal kicks, once a ball is on the ground it’s dead and that’s just to name a few. Apopka’s girls’ flag football team won a state championship back in 2004 but has played in the state finals in 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2014, thanks to the guidance of Coach Houvouras and Coach Jenkins.
Last year, the flag football team had some conflict resulting in a couple of players leaving the team. Will this year be better or remain the same? Senior co-captain of the flag football team, Ant McFarley said, “I think we’ve become a little better, we just have to continue working as a team and we have to learn to get better every day. It’s an everyday process.” While other Senior co-captain Grace Darlington stated, “Teams are different every year. I played my freshmen year with the varsity team and was out because of an injury my sophomore year. Last year, during my junior year we had some adversity but this year I feel like there are just better relationships all around. Everyone knows each other and likes each other. All around, a better team chemistry than anything I’ve had so far.”
Flag football is a great sport because you get the opportunity to meet new and different people. It’s also a chance for you to learn and improve on any quality that you may have. If you’re athletic or aggressive and you want to be a part of a team come join the girl’s Flag football team. Conditioning continues until February 8 and tryouts are from February 12 -14. It is required that you have a mouth guard and a valid physical form completed and turned in to either Mr. Mogol, Ms. Nugyen, or Mr. Keister, and it’s also recommended that you bring cleats on tryout days. See you out there!
