It was time to hang up the pads and put on the flags for Joslyn Cetina. Cetina, a freshman at Rocklin High School (RHS), decided to walk away from the Rocklin junior tackle football team and join girls flag football after playing tackle her whole life.
Flag football is on the rise with more and more girls joining every year. With many not being able to fulfill their love for tackle football, this sport gives a great opportunity to still keep going with their passion. Cetina, a first year flag football player, said, “I haven’t been able to keep up with the boys in tackle football, and when the opportunity became available to play flag, I took it.” This sport has been growing on campus with every girl’s love for football and desire to play even without the physicality aspect. It allows everyone to play the sport they love and creates a lot of inclusivity on campus. Cetina said, “I actually found out about tryouts about 20 minutes before. I was out at lunch with some of my tackle football teammates, kind of just talking about everything I had experienced with them the past four years of me playing tackle. I ended up heading over to the first day of tryouts, and it went awesome. I could not have made a better decision.” Going from tackle football to flag has its major differences.
“You know that [tackle] football mentality, there really is nothing else like it, but I think flag football has overall helped me out with opportunities for the future,” Cetina said. “It’s made me [who I am] and it’s helped me make some amazing friendships along the way.” This sport brings a hard working nature to RHS on a competitive level, while also bringing positivity to something that this school has already had established since the start.
Rocklin High School is known for maintaining good sports programs all around, and not just excelling in one or two sports. The effect these sports teams have on the students creates a huge impact on campus.
“I think it’s gotten many more girls involved on campus, giving everyone a better high school experience,” Cetina said. “It is holding girls accountable to being good students on campus, and I think overall it made campus culture a lot more positive.”
Keeping an uplifting environment throughout campus is always a top priority, and some may wonder, how does this team keep up their strong dynamic and competitiveness?
Varsity player Robyn Nguyen said, “Definitely working together as a team, and especially when we get down or we make a mistake, like an interception or a bad throw, [we] gotta lift each other up, because positivity keeps up the energy.” Ryan Spears, the coach of the girls varsity flag football team talked about how much this sport changed his life. After coaching for years on RHS campus, Mr. Spears has made a major impact across campus.
“I coached here for 17 years, and then when flag football came around, I wasn’t going to coach at all ever — I was done coaching,” he said. “Then flag football came around, and I’m like, you know what, this sounds really fun. Best decision I’ve ever made in my coaching career, and the most fun I’ve ever had coaching.”
