“We go out every Friday night and watch our boys team play, and being able to have a similar experience as them and being able to throw the ball and do things that you saw in your childhood is fun,” says Junior Lila Colegrove.
For the last few weeks, players on the first-ever Paso Robles High School girls' flag football team have been preparing for their debut.
"We were supposed to have it last year, but we didn't have time to get it off the ground, but the girls were really interested," says coach Ken Hammond.
Hammond says that when interest was gauged last year, there were about 50 girls interested in playing the sport; now the team has a full roster of 21 girls.
Hammond said some students "talked to the school board about implementing the flag football program here for, for our girls, and they agreed to do it.”
Not only does it add another option to the limited selection of girl’s fall sports, but Hammond says it could help their future.
“Gives them an opportunity to play in high school and then possibly get a scholarship and continue at the college level,” he said.
According to Hammond, this is the first girls' flag football team in northern San Luis Obispo County.
Junior, Julia Cox says that students coming after her should feel very fortunate to have this program.
“If this was my year, freshman year, I would have been all over this. I would have been ready to play," she says. "It's really just getting girls' sports out there. You're getting more opportunities. You're getting more screen time.”
“People have obviously loved the sport of football, so having that as an option for girls is really great and letting them express themselves in that way and playing a sport like this, I think it’s awesome," said senior Kate Harrington.
The team will play its first game at home on Thursday, Aug. 28.
