Catching the football close to her side, Sammie Meliker ‘24 charges across the field in a determined attempt to reach the endzone. Gaining yards with each stride, which would bring her closer to a triumphant touchdown that would ultimately take home the win for the team. 

While the Stevenson girls flag football team has only been established for two years, the team has achieved many things during their first year, including a second place finish at the state tournament. 

Flag football is a sport that entails the players to remove a flag belt from the other players instead of tackling, like in American football.

Meliker says the team is looking forward to continuing to play this season, as the first official year of Girls Flag Football being an IHSA Sport.

“This is a new sport, so it’s a lot of learning and growing as the season goes on,” Meliker said. “This is the first year of the team being IHSA, which is a huge deal.”

Meliker expresses how the team has worked hard since the last season to develop a sense of community between the players and become a strong team. Meliker has been training to build her own skills and learn more about the sport while also mentoring her teammates.

“I feel like we’re motivated by pushing each other,” Meliker said. “The motivation to always be better, and always expect more out of ourselves and each other pushes us to improve.”

Meliker appreciates how the team consistently works to push each other to be the best they can be during game days and practices. Head coach Sarah Gutierrez has done her best to adapt to the new sport and is implementing new strategies and techniques this year.

“I think that a lot of the players that are starting are getting a bigger role this year compared to last year,” Gutierrez said.

Last year was the first year that Stevenson had a girls’ flag football team, and that team went into the season unaware of what to expect. The team went on to the State tournament and made it to Halas Hall to play in the State finals where they were among the top girls’ flag football teams in Illinois .

“I think our goal this year, now that it’s in an IHSA format, is to make it to our sectional finals and be able to win the first sectional plaque for Stevenson in flag football,” Gutierrez said.

Gutirrez created a firm training schedule for the team. She believes that preparing with consistent and repetitive practice to make sure all of the team members are able to play at their best. 

“The most important thing is repetition in our practices and our routes, cause the more you practice, the more confident you get,” Meliker said. “Taking it step-by-step, and growing as we go is important for improving as the season goes on.”