Football is a well-loved sport across the nation; however, it is a typically male-dominated sport. Powderpuff football allows girls and women to participate in a sport they usually cannot play. Girls will play flag football against other grades or other schools. The first powderpuff game was in 1972 in Wallingford, Connecticut and since then it has been seen in most schools around the country. This year our school has decided to join the trend and have a powderpuff football game where each grade plays against one another. The game will be held on December 12th on the football field. Mr. Baldwin usually runs our school spirit events, and he has taken this one under his wing as well. He believes that this game will benefit our school and rally more spirit.
“This is something that a couple of people have talked about over the last few years. This is just my third year here. I’ve heard about it every year. Every school I’ve ever worked at before has done it, and so we wanted to bring that here. We think it’s a fun thing to do to generate some school spirit,” Baldwin said.
Mr. Baldwin and Mrs. Wilhite have taken the initiative of planning the event for the school. Since this is the first year of us having a powderpuff game, they are approaching it with the mindset of setting a baseline for having the game set up and played and worrying about the finer details later on.
“Mrs. Wilhite and myself have just kind of approached it from a very no-nonsense, bare-bones kind of way this year. We just want to get it off the ground. There’s always room for improvement, no matter what you do. And then next year, we can work on building that up, changing some things, and making it more appealing and things of that nature,” Baldwin said.
When the idea of having a powderpuff game was mentioned, a lot of the girls from each grade were excited. What made it better was each team would have custom t-shirts to represent their grade, they would have practices to help prepare for the game, and they would have captains and coaches to assist and oversee each team. The game has brought the girls of each grade closer to one another.
“Overall, it’s been pretty positive. We had a pretty good turnout. We had over 40 girls show up for the first meeting. And a couple of the grades of our freshman and seniors already a day later have turned in rosters and things of that nature. So, it’s helping. It’s nice to see everybody get organized, get to come together to compete as a grade, as a group,” Baldwin said.
The Powderpuff game is going to be a great way to enhance the culture and rally school spirit at Lenoir City High School. Come support and cheer on your grade on December 12th. The game is going to be a new and fun experience for everyone!
