Total Sports Development (TSD) hosted about 30 girls from fourth grade through 12th grade for its girls flag football clinic at Yelm High School from July 29 to July 31.
Coaches split the three-day clinic into multiple camps: one for fourth grade through eighth grade students and another for high schoolers.
Student athletes from Yelm and Olympia schools learned the fundamentals of offense and defense, including catching, how to hold the football, how to use their eyes to scan the field, footwork, backpedaling and more. After 15 minutes of offensive learning and 15 minutes on defense, the coaches shift into a live scrimmage with plays and routes.
The youth scrimmage was slowed down so the student athletes could grasp the playbook and responsibilities on the field, while the high school athletes, many of whom competed on their varsity flag football team last season, tore up the turf.
Daniel Caldwell, a TSD coach and Yelm High School special teams coordinator and linebackers coach, said the girls improved in their footwork, eye discipline and coachability over the three days.
“Their catching fundamentals got so much better. It was night and day from the first day over the next couple of days,” Caldwell said. “They saw marketable improvements throughout the camp.”
Caldwell, who also coached the Tornados girls flag football team last winter, said coaching the girls is “almost more fun” than coaching the boys in the fall because of their attitudes and joy for the game.
“The girls are just always happy and always goofing around, but then they get locked in and serious when they’re supposed to. It was just a different energy than I’m used to, as opposed to the aggressive football energy that we see out here on Friday nights,” he said.
YHS senior Mariah Arnestad and Olympia High School junior Brynn Udo were two student athletes who came into the clinics with previous varsity flag football experience. Arnestad played running back and wide receiver for the Tornados, and she wanted to use the TSD camp to add to her toolkit before her senior season.
“I’ve learned a ton. I definitely forgot a lot over the summer and got to learn a lot more about offense and defense,” Arnestad said. “These coaches know what they’re doing. They have a lot of experience, and I really trust their judgment.”
Udo, who played wide receiver for the Bears last year, said she met a lot of people that she may not have otherwise while on the flag football team and appreciates the opportunity to continue making connections on the field this summer with TSD.
“I really think that TSD was a great opportunity to improve individual skills and add to what we learned last year. These are skills that will be useful for future competition,” she said. “There was one drill about attacking the ball and not being afraid of physical contact. I learned that I need to go into the mindset of ‘That’s my ball,’ and not caring about the other people around me.”
The high school student athletes appreciated the opportunity to continue their flag football journeys while still in high school as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) vote to add girls flag football as an officially sanctioned sport in Washington schools failed in April. Arnestad and Udo hope voters reconsider and understand the impact that the sport can have on girls.
“So many girls don’t get the opportunity, and with it being a WIAA sport, it’d be a lot easier for a lot of girls,” Arnestad said. “It’s just a lot of fun. It’s definitely my favorite sport, and I’ve played three other sports. It was amazing to get this opportunity because we didn’t know if we were going to have this option.”
“This is another opportunity for female athletes to put themselves out there because there hasn’t been an opportunity for girls to play football, period,” Udo added. “Flag football is a good opportunity for those who have wanted to play but maybe were told no in the past.”
Caldwell said that while TSD is still working within the community to create future girls flag football opportunities, the organization wants to be at the forefront of fostering the growth of the sport.
“There’s not a lot right now for us to latch on to, but if we can’t find an opportunity that already exists, I think we’ll build one,” he said. “My daughter is going to be a sophomore next year, and she plays flag football. I want to build this sport for her and for the entire community. It’s personal for me to make sure that we can build and grow this thing and keep it moving.”
