The Seaside High Flag Football team is doing the best in all of the fall sports despite only being a first-year team. The Flag Football team already has an Instagram account and it shows the team and games they have won.

 

At times it seemed to Head Coach Stephen Vasquez that it was better to remove it as a sport because the team didn’t have enough players. What made him keep it was Jasmine Cruz, a senior at Seaside High who kept showing up to practice in the summer. Vasquez stated, “Because of Jasmine’s determination and her will to continue coming to practice we kept Flag Football on the roster.”As games got closer more people joined the team and together the sport of flag football began to thrive. So far they have won against Marina, Pajaro Valley, and Rancho San Juan. They have won against many schools that have been playing for years, which is incredible. Despite lacking the experience necessary for teams who have played for longer, they continue to push forward.

 

As of today, the girl's Flag Football team was scheduled to play against Monterey, Seaside High’s grand rival. The Seaside football team hasn’t been able to beat Monterey High since 2019. All our other sports have also fallen short of beating Monterey. The girl's Flag Football team was no exception but they did put up a fight. In the meantime, they are preparing for the game against their rivals next year. These girls have practice from 5 pm to 7 pm every day except Fridays. These practices consist of throwing and catching, flag-pulling drills, live ball play, and running routes. They must share the field with JV Football, Varsity Football, Cross Country, and even cheer at times. Their space to practice is very limited with all the other sports using the space. However, they still seem to work with what they are given.

 

Typically they have games every Tuesday and sometimes on Saturdays. The games are lots of running and sometimes posed with an obstacle such as the scorching sun. Players are constantly getting substituted so they don’t become exhausted and to prevent injuries. The team manager aids by bringing out the water and ice in case anyone gets injured on the field.

 

A specific game highlight that was astonishing was when these girls showed sportsmanship even when being provoked. There was an instance where Marina had lost two out of three games and Seaside was their last and final game. Since Marina had lost all of their games prior they were understandably upset and decided to take out their anger when playing against Seaside, causing fouls to players and unnecessary rough play. At the end of the game when both teams shook hands to show sportsmanship many players from Marina decided not to shake hands with the players on Seaside. Seaside responded to this by remaining calm and keeping quiet as they proceeded to shake hands with every player they could.

 

As time goes on these girls are going to continue to grow as a team and eventually have a Junior Varsity and a Varsity team, but as it is their first year they don’t have the amount of people necessary to have three teams. Irene Suleno, a player on the Seaside Flag Football team, stated “Our team has continued to grow from my teammates not knowing much to becoming more confident in how they play and communicate.” For being a first-year team they are doing their best against the competition and continue to thrive.

 

 

 

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