Lee Cataluna: Watershed Moment In Girls Sports Was Notable For Its Normalcy

There have been so many blows dealt to the dream of equity and equality of late; so many reminders that progress is, despite our best efforts, not inevitable.

Politics dictates that people cannot be who they are, make decisions about their bodies or defy outdated social roles.

And then came a football game played in the rain nine days ago in Central Oʻahu that somehow stood apart from all that angry rhetoric and was just, on its own terms, a watershed moment in history, at least in Hawaiʻi.

This was the first year that flag football was sanctioned as a high school sport in Hawaiʻi. Last weekend was the first ever flag football state championship. The Campbell High School Sabers are the first girls in state history to win a high school football championship, defeating Leilehua 6-0.

What was stunning was how natural it all seemed, as though girls play and win state football tournaments every year.

There may have been many strategic meetings and careful discussions behind the scenes leading up to that game, but the end product was the most unawkward display of gender equity one could imagine.

Both the match to determine third place and the championship game were televised live on Spectrum Sports and hosted by sportcasters Felipe Ojastro and Darren Hernandez, who is also a high school football coach for both boys and girls teams.

These announcers treated the games like any other football game they’ve called. There was no temptation to make the players seem diminutive or cute or offer comments like, “She’s tough … for a girl.”

There was no treating girls’ football like a novelty. They didn’t talk about the players’ looks or hairstyles. Instead, Ojastro called the plays straight and Hernandez talked about the players like he was talking about any football players.

“Choy Foo is just a beast,” he said.

“Borges is an absolute stud on defense.”

“Holy smokes, 62 yards on the punt … she just bombed it.”

Hernandez was asked how coaching girls compared to coaching boys. His answer was that girls seemed to take better notes when they were learning new plays. That’s all. Nothing weirdly gendered, nothing meant to be funny but actually kind of insulting, no hurtful stereotypes.

At one point, Hernandez commented that he hopes the actual football field dimensions are increased (flag football is played on an 80-yard field) next year because, “then you’d have some really athletic players running wide. It will just make the game even more exciting.”

(Side note: Hawaiʻi may not have any professional sports teams, but Hawaiʻi has many top-flight sports announcers. Kanoa Leahey, you are a credit to your family’s legacy. Chris MacLaughlin, Ryan Kalei Tsuji, Tiff Wells, James Anastassiades, Talia Edmonds … it’s a long list for another story.)

46 Teams In Inaugural Season

Hawaiʻi is only the 12th state to sanction girls’ flag football as a high school sport.

Forty-six public and private high schools in the state fielded teams this year. The inaugural girls’ flag football season was a short one, beginning the last week of February and wrapping up in April.

The games are played with seven players per team on the field at a time and with many of the rules of football. Instead of tackling, when a defensive player stops a receiver by yanking off the flag attached to her belt, it’s called a “pull;” however, there are plenty of times when bodies collide and hit the ground, like in soccer.

Between plays, the defensive player walks over to the offensive player she just stopped and hands back her flag. That part is quite matter-of-fact; it’s just a practical part of play that needs to happen before the game can resume.

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Some of the coaches were recruited from coaching boys’ teams. Leilehua’s coach, Bryant Moniz, himself a former high school star and UH quarterback who played in the Canadian Football League, coached his alma mater with his daughter Cali as quarterback.

He looked like he was living his dream.

The most beautiful thing of all, though, was that identity politics, culture wars and antiquated ideas of femininity did not come into play. It was just good old American football played with heart and guts and a big cooler of ice water dumped over the winning coach at the end.