Iris Phavixay, Ip52@uakron.edu
For a couple of weeks now, AEC Girl’s Flag Football has been in season with practices at the Stem High School gym. The first couple of weeks have been conditioning with Coach Legrair from 3:10 to 4:00 with Coach Burger doing the exercises alongside his players. Currently, the team is slowly transitioning into practice and learning the basics of how to play: running different routes, throwing the ball, how to catch the ball, and pulling flags. The time has also changed, practices are now from 3:10 to 4:30, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays since there is no longer conditioning. On certain days, when the weather is nice out, the team practices at the front lawn of Stem, if not then at the gym. As of right now, Mr. O’Neil is working on getting access to the soccer field behind the union so the team can be able to practice on turf. For the time being, check your emails and the Flag Football Google Classroom for announcements. If you’re interested, feel free to stop by and give it a shot! Everything is new to almost everyone, we’re all learning about flag football.
On February 25th, the team set out to Cleveland with the opportunity from the Cleveland Browns for a football clinic. Combined with other schools around Ohio that offer flag football as a sport, the football clinic consisted of 12 different rotational stations for players and a Coaches Clinic for coaches. For players, they started with warm-up exercises; after they moved into groups based on grade level. Later, they began doing the 12 stations which consisted of drills: agility, zig-zag, flag pulling, throwing, catching, etc. As for the coaches Clinic, Mr. Burger said it was helpful, they gave him a breakdown of the rules, showed some drills, and a lot of information on flag football. Overall, it was a great learning experience for the players and the coaching was helpful. Free equipment was also provided at the event: free Gatorade, mouthguards, shirts, belts, and flags.
The Change
Initially, AEC Girl’s Flag Football Team was combined with Stem High School; however, this year we set out to be our own team and the first official sports team for AEC of any sport, just without the official title because of the OHSAA (Ohio High School Athletic Association) rules. The team welcomes returning members with experience already: sophomore, SaViona (Sae) Finney, and seniors Kaohtaw Raman, and Avryl Glover. I was able to get a chance to ask how they felt about the change from being a part of the Stem Flag Football Team to now, the AEC’s with new teammates only being from AEC and not Stem, along with a new coach and coaching style.
Avryl: “I feel that the switch was a good option considering last year I did not know the STEM students. I did notice a difference in the relationship with our students and coaches versus last year. We AEC students tend to have a common goal of working hard and pushing ourselves which is evident on the field. We have a little bit more of a drive that I am more comfortable working with. I still have love for the STEM coaches and players because I would not be in the position I am in now. Without them, I wouldn’t have had the opportunities and the exposure I now have.
Kaohtaw: “Coach Dantz (Stem) and Mr. Burger are different people, so their teaching styles are different. I feel like I’m more connected with AEC students too; it took me time to get along with Stem.”
Sae: “I don’t really like it. I feel like some of the people who are doing it are taking it as a joke and aren’t serious, which affects me if we lose or something.”