Story by Kamillah Morales
Staff Writer

Photo by Mac Shropshire
Photography Editor

Schools across the country, including SPHS, have football teams which hundreds of thousands of  boys join every year. However, for girls also interested in playing football for their school, their opportunities were much more slim. For that reason, the idea of an SPHS girls’ flag football team was born by senior team captain Kelsey West.

A flag football team for the high school was not something that West had just decided to establish. In fact, she spent years as a high schooler building the club, gathering funding and donations, and even having to face repeated rejection and delays from athletic faculty.

In her freshman year, West met coach CB Richards, who, in addition to coaching track and field at SPHS, coached flag football in La Cañada. Richards noticed her talent in football. He encouraged her to join his flag football team and club, and she did. Being a part of the flag football team there during her freshman year  inspired West with the idea of starting a flag football team at SPHS.

In West’s sophomore year she started a flag football club to show the school athletics board there was a lot of interest in it. She dedicated her time to teaching students about the rules of the sport every month. But when West tried to establish the official flag football team again, the issue of money remained. She kept her club going in her junior year, where 75 girls signed up to show interest in flag football. Additionally, she reached out to the South Pasadena Chinese American Club  to get a $250 grant to get started. West also contacted the LA Rams with Richards’ help; the team is now donating equipment kits to the team.

“I initially wanted to just start the sport straight up, but I was told that we didn’t have funding, and then also interest was a big deal,” West said. 

After many years of hard work and determination, SPHS established its flag football team and joined several other schools including La Cañada, San Marino, and Monrovia within the Arroyo League for the 2026 season. 

“When I first heard that we’re gonna have this team, I got really excited because throughout middle school, I always wanted to try the flag football team, but I felt that there wasn’t enough support for the girls,” freshman Marisol Barba, a flag football player, said. “I’m really excited that we actually have an official team.”

Despite the excitement of the new team, the segregation between male and female sports has been expressed. Football is technically a co-ed sport, but has always been traditionally male dominated.

 “In my opinion, [girls] never should have been left out of football, even if it’s flag versus tackle,” Jade Richard-Craven, the SPHS flag football coach, said.

Even still with the girls flag football team being official, there is still a clear priority difference between the attention the teams get. 

“We don’t get the official field because they prioritize the boys first, and all our events are around boys’ football and not girls,” Barba said. 

The new flag football team has shown to be very promising. The team is filled with determined, talented, and passionate girls who, despite having a year less than other schools in the league to practice as an official team, are already showing great offensive and defensive potential. 

“The girls on the team are so competitive, so great, really excited about playing, and they really work hard and play well together,” Richard-Craven said.