Throughout the last few years, there has been a lot of change and excitement regarding the girls flag football team, spurred by the past successes of The Battle of the Classes. It was made official that flag football would become a CIF sport this fall, Feb. 14. The team assembled and got right to work. They have recently been holding tryouts and practices preparing for their first games.
The first Westview flag football practice began on Monday, Aug. 22. The team held their first game yesterday at Madison High School, Aug. 29. The games will be held mostly on Mondays and Tuesdays starting on September 5th.
With tryouts just a week before the first game, Coach Rafael Guzman was tasked with bringing players from all different kinds of sports backgrounds into one team made up of 23 players.
Although some players on the team have previously played flag football in The Battle of the Classes, many have no outside flag football experience.
Treise Schwaebe (11) is primarily a soccer player but participated in The Battle of the Classes in her freshman and sophomore years. She said the game piqued her interest in flag football.
“My previous football experience is playing in [The Battle of the Classes] for two years,” Schwaebe said. “I really liked [The Battle of the Classes] so I wanted to learn more about the sport.”
Schwaebe and her teammates said they want to use this opportunity to improve their footwork, coordination, fitness, and overall athleticism.
“We are really just trying to stabilize the program and capture people’s interest,” Schwaebe said.
Many of the athletes on the team are very familiar with playing with each other through other sports teams. Schwaebe has played alongside her flag football teammate, Mya Omisore (11) in girls soccer. Omisore began playing flag football when she was nine years old, which she attributed to her dad.
Omisore’s dad became one of the Westview football coaches in 2022 to become more involved in the program and his daughter’s school. Omisore said her dad helped her become a better athlete.
“My dad influenced me to play because he used to play in high school,” Omisore said. “He coaches here now.”
Omisore said she’s excited to play on Westview’s first flag football team and bond with her teammates.
“I expect us to go pretty far because we have great athletes on our team,” Omisore said. “I hope to have fun and meet new people through the season.”
The league season will last until the end of October when the team will close out the season in a final game against Mission Hills.
Omisore said she hopes that flag football can be another fun opportunity and a chance to create stronger relationships with her friends as well as form new connections with other players.
“I think that this season will be very fun and impact me and my teammates in a good way because it is a new sport for us to play together,” Omisore said. “I feel like I will get closer to a lot of people I wasn’t as close with before and [flag football will] bring more of us together.”
