With quarterback standout April Luna having 5 passing touchdowns in their 45-6 win on the road, Ventura College’s new flag football team is on a 3-game winning streak with a 5-2 overall record. Ventura College’s flag football team is making history by adding a new women’s sport to their athletic program, bringing their total to 20 sports. Ventura is now one of 9 community colleges in California to have a flag football program. This flag football program gives female athletes more opportunities to play at the collegiate level and offers scholarship opportunities.
Women’s flag football has been around for more than 60 years, but it wasn’t until recently that they formed the WFA (Women’s Flag Football Alliance). With women’s flag teams growing, they partner with organizations like the NFL and Nike to help raise money and awareness for this 40-team organization.
The NCAA now has 40+ schools sponsoring varsity teams, with the NAIA allowing programs up to 12 scholarships per team. This allows more opportunities for female athletes to earn their degree with a scholarship while playing a sport they love. VC’s flag football program does the same. This widens opportunities for female athletes to continue playing at a four-year university while also getting their bachelor’s degree.
Now the question is: how do female flag football players get noticed at a DI level? The answer is visibility! Visibility is important because you can be the best person on the team, but if nobody is noticing you or talking about you, scouts cannot find you. Although flag football is growing, colleges like VC are struggling with visibility. I created a survey for VC students about the new flag football team. With 34 responses, 73.5% of people did not know that VC had a flag football team, but 70.6% of people would attend a game if they knew about it. When asked what they think about VC adding this new sport, one student states, “It’s very nice to see more variety in the sports at VC,” and another student says, “I think it’s cool; just make it more known because I haven’t heard of it.” This survey shows the importance of visibility. People are interested in going and supporting the team, but they did not know that we had this sport. To increase visibility, VC could promote the games more, hang up flyers for games, post it more on social media, and add activities to get the students involved at halftime during the games.
This program has all the potential to succeed in the future with the team currently having a breakout season blowing out the competition. With the future of flag football growing VC is breaking the stereotypes of female sports, making a more inclusive campus. When asked what kind of effect do you think this program will have not only for female athletes but also the female student body? One student answered, “I think this creates a lot of opportunities for female athletes. For the longest time it was seen as a “boys” sport, so this will shift culture. It will challenge stereotypes and normalize strength, aggression, and athleticism in the female body” whereas another student answered, “I think it is a great gesture and unfortunately will underperform expectations on a broader scale. Female flag football just doesn’t have the same effect on the campus as mens college football does.” This is the stereotype this campus is trying to solve. Women’s sports can be just as entertaining as men’s sports if people take the time to watch it. Like the student pointed out, this creates more opportunities for female athletes whether that be for health reasons or for scholarships reasons. This program strengthens the inclusivity on campus and promotes new opportunities for women and the female student population. The best way this program can succeed is to build visibility. The season ends early May so there are many more games! Come and support your fellow students and who knows you might fall in love with the sport yourself. Come and find out March 23 when VC plays Irvine Valley college at VC at 5pm! This is just the beginning of a great season!!
VC Social 