{"id":2025312,"date":"2023-09-07T23:03:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T03:03:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/girls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T23:07:27","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T03:07:27","slug":"girls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/girls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls excel with new high school flag-football opportunities."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fgirls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2025312&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Girls \u2063Embrace\u200d Flag Football as Official Sport in California<\/h2>\n<p>IRVINE, Calif.\u2014Born into a football-loving family\u2064 that includes\u200c an older and a younger brother, Katelyn McAlister grew up watching \u2063the NFL, rooting passionately \u200dfor the\u200c nomadic Las Vegas Raiders.<\/p>\n<p>Julia Jimenea was \u201cnever the \u2063biggest fan,\u201d but\u2063 asked\u200c her father questions\u200d during professional and college telecasts \u2064\u201cto try to get\u2064 a better understanding of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like\u2064 many others, meanwhile, Ava Meade\u200b didn\u2019t pay a whole lot of attention to football most of \u200dthe time. She would usually tune in to the Super Bowl, but not \u2064much else.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<h3>Related Story<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/bright\/girl-who-loves-football-lost-her-father-so-nfls-anthony-harris-takes-her-to-daddy-daughter-dance-4275901\">Girl Who\u200c Loves Football Lost Her Father\u2014So \u2062NFL&#8217;s \u2063Anthony Harris Takes Her to Daddy-Daughter Dance<\/a><\/li>\n<li>2\/17\/2022<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Now, in the first season in which the CIF Southern Section is sanctioning \u200bgirls\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/super-bowl-lv-all-the-best-commercials\/\" title=\"Super Bowl LV: All The Best Commercials\">flag football<\/a> as an official sport, the three Beckman High School seniors find themselves gridiron teammates. All play linebacker, with McAlister and Meade also seeing time at\u2064 cornerback.<\/p>\n<p>Similar \u2062scenarios \u200bare\u2064 playing out all over California, with \u200dgirls \u200cseizing football opportunities that had long been available only to boys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always wished I could play,\u201d McAlister told \u2064The Epoch Times. \u201cI always wanted \u2063to be \u200cthat girl on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/jesse-watters-first-show-as-tuckers-replacement-ends-in-embarrassment-when-his-own-mom-calls-in-this-was-a-bad-idea\/\" title=\"Jesse Watters' debut as Tucker's replacement goes awry as his mom calls in, admitting it was a regrettable decision.\">football \u200cteam<\/a>, the kicker, but then it turned out \u2064I could actually be on a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/aaarrrggghhh-washpost-writer-triggered-by-tampa-bay-team-name-buccaneers\/\" title=\"Aaarrrggghhh! WashPost Writer Triggered By Tampa Bay Team Name \u2018Buccaneers\u2019\">football team<\/a> with other girls included. I feel like you always \u2062heard football is\u200d for\u200c boys\u2014no girls involved. But now it is a girls\u2019 sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Beckman High\u2062 School girls&#8217; flag \u2064football team&#8217;s Katelyn McAlister (5) in Irvine, Calif. (Alan Diaz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>For many girls, merely being exposed\u2063 to flag football provided all the \u2064impetus necessary to want to play.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKatelyn McAlister, she\u2019s my best friend, and she was on the [club] team last year,\u201d Meade told The Epoch Times. \u201cI would go to her games, and I remember thinking all the girls were so supportive \u2064of each other. The atmosphere seemed super fun.\u200c That\u2019s \u2064what made me want to be a part \u200bof it, and it\u2019s\u2063 been pretty much\u200d exactly what \u200dI expected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Meade \u200balso plays lacrosse and found\u200c the differences between the sports to \u2064be stimulating.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI honestly am just learning now what\u200c a first down is,\u201d\u2062 she said. \u201cAll the terminology, I \u2063had no \u2064idea. We\u2019re all learning together. That\u2019s\u200c why it\u2019s\u2064 cool.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Beckman High \u2062School girls&#8217; flag football \u200cteam&#8217;s Ava Meade (6)\u200b in Irvine, Calif. (Alan\u2062 Diaz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Despite having only two \u2063girls\u200b who had played \u2064previously among the\u2064 36 who make up varsity and junior varsity squads, Beckman\u200b is progressing\u2063 rapidly. The Patriots have \u2064won four of \u2064their first five \u2063games, including a 12\u20137 victory over visiting \u2062Northwood in\u2062 their Sept. 6 Pacific Coast League opener.<\/p>\n<p>As is the case in \u200cany sport, familiarity generally increases\u200d the \u200bintensity\u200b level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEspecially \u2064with the teams that had\u2064 teams last year, \u2062and also just knowing\u2064 girls from\u200c other sports,\u201d said McAlister, who like Jimenea, has long played soccer. \u200c\u201cThere\u200b are so many girls I play\u2062 against\u200b who \u2063I\u2019ve known \u2062previously, \u2064so it\u2019s kind of like it\u2019s a joke, but \u2062it\u2019s not a joke \u2064at all. It gets really competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure style=\"width:600px\" class=\"aligncenter\"><figcaption>Beckman High \u2063School\u2064 girls&#8217; flag football team&#8217;s Julia Jimenea (10) in Irvine, Calif. (Alan\u2063 Diaz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Games are played \u200cseven-on-seven, take place on shorter, \u200bnarrower fields \u2064than are\u200d customary for boys, and feature smaller footballs. The \u200dbasics,\u2062 though, are the same.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe\u2062 challenge was\u2063 just understanding the game itself, the rules,\u201d Beckman Coach Pierre Sanjurjo told The Epoch\u200b Times. \u2064\u201cA lot of the girls play different sports. They do love to compete, and being athletes, they pick\u2064 it\u2062 up pretty quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previously an unsanctioned club\u2063 sport for girls, with relatively few high schools fielding\u2063 teams, flag football has \u2064grown quickly and dramatically. In the Southern Section alone, 114 schools registered to play this\u200c season, Assistant Commissioner Kristine Palle told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>That is a significant number, \u200cconsidering it represents just more \u2062than 20 percent of the 565 schools within\u200d the Southern Section.\u2063 And 20 percent participation is the\u200b minimum for the section to \u2064<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/girls-thriving-with-new-high-school-flag-football-opportunities\/\" title=\"Girls excel with new high school flag-football opportunities.\">sponsor post-season championship competition<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith \u200dany \u2062sport, we \u2063get through one season first, see the actual\u2062 numbers once the season has finished, and \u2062go from there,\u201d Ms. Palle said. \u201cI anticipate that we\u2062 will have a championship in year two. We are really excited to\u200d offer more opportunities and access for \u2063young women to\u2064 participate in sports.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Future possibilities are bright for girls in\u2064 California who\u2064 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-opt-out-debate-both-sides-have-a-point\/\" title=\"The Opt-Out Debate: Both Sides Have A Point\">love football<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Katelyn McAlister, from a football-loving family, passionately supports the Las Vegas Raiders. Julia Jimenea, not a huge fan initially, asked her father questions to understand the game better while watching professional and college telecasts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2251,"featured_media":2025313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2025312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2251"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2025312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2025313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}