A fresh new addition to the West High sports roster created a huge buzz this past week: West’s Girl Flag Football team made its debut, and they made it clear that they’d be a force to be reckoned with. 

   On Thursday, September 14, their premiere game pitted them against Santa Monica High School. Although Santa Monica came out on top in the end, Amaya Sanles (12) stated that the loss didn’t hurt in the slightest: “I did not feel at all defeated. In fact, it actually felt to me like we won the game.” Sanles explained that despite all the practice and preparation for their first game, the team still felt anxious for their first match with another school. The majority of the team had been expecting a disastrous first match, but in the end, they “came out strong and almost won” which “felt like a win to all of [them].”

   However, Sanles believed that the aforementioned anxieties and nerves “got the better of [them].” Despite possibly being able to have turned around the outcome of the game by avoiding those minute mistakes, they “were not at all upset with the end result.” 

   Defensive Coach Isaac Sanles (12) agreed with Amaya’s conclusions but thought that the team “definitely could have tightened up their defense.” While he deduced that there was still much room for improvement in many areas, he believed that “these [issues] are all to be expected,” given that it was their first game of the season. However, the team put on an impressive performance; despite their worries, they played fiercely and without regrets. Regardless of victory or defeat, coaches, players, and audience members enjoyed themselves to the fullest as part of such a monumental moment in West’s athletic department. The collective hope of both Sanles and the rest of the team is that “flag football gains popularity in the future.” With hard work, there’s no doubt that the team will succeed in that respect.