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Hundreds of St. Thomas freshman women put their skills on display as teams from Dowling Hall, JP2 Hall, and Murray Hall took part in a fun and competitive flag football tournament.
“The experience was unforgettable,” said freshman Rachel Wright. “It’s not all about winning. I think we all got better at football, that’s for sure.”
In its second year, the tournament drew many participants and fans. Dowling Hall area director Meghan Karels organized the tournament and said its purpose was to bring the freshman women closer together. She added that it would also give halls bragging rights.
“It’s a great way to build a sense of community and comradery,” Karels said. “Last year it started off as a general tournament between the floors in Dowling. We wanted to expand it this year to other halls so we have a team from JP2 and a team from Murray playing with us.”
After the success of this year’s tournament, Karels said she hopes that a movement to start a women’s intramural flag football league will gain steam.
“We’re hoping that this will stoke the fires for some women’s flag football play,” Karels said. “We’d love to open it up between all the halls so that any woman on campus, as long as she’s interested in playing flag football, can.”
Many of the women who participated Friday said they hoped there would be more football opportunities for them in the future.
“They do it for the boys,” said freshman Danielle Francen. “I tried to join the boy’s league, and they turned me down. They should make a girls league.”
Freshman Fallon Macemon agreed, and took the flag football concept a step further.
“It’d be more cool if we could use pads,” Macemon said. “If we have to use flags, though, we’d be fine with it.”
As of now, Friday’s tournament is the only flag football event the Dowling Hall council has planned, but Karels said she was optimistic about getting the women back on the field as soon as possible.
“If it doesn’t get going in the winter, we can start it up in the spring,” Karels said.
Ryan Shaver can be reached at shav7005@stthomas.edu.