By Amelia Naughten, News Editor
Breaking new ground, few but furious, Mills’ first-ever girls flag football team kicked off a fortuitous start to the season in a 26-12 triumph over San Mateo High School. The team leads the beginning of a new legacy for Mills athletics, and their early dominance in the field sets a bright outlook on their future.
Led by Coaches Anderson and Oliveira, athletes underwent intense training, drills, and practice games in preparation for the first face-off. A week prior to the team’s first game, one of the four captains, Ithzel Hernandez-Solis (11), remarked, “Practice has been going really well these past weeks, especially with the team having such improvement on plays and receiving the ball. Most importantly, our coordination with offense and our quarterback’s improved throws will be main contributors to our success in a game.” Her predictions couldn’t have been more spot-on.
When September 14th rolled around the corner, nervous yet excited energy was buzzing around the team. It had been recognized that on top of being a new team, the Mills varsity girls were also few in number. Left-wing and right-middle player Brooke Phimsoutham (10) voiced these concerns, reflecting, “I really like the team, [but] it can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to players. I wish more people had joined…We’re a really small team compared to all the other schools.”
Regardless, when the team entered the field, their strong spirit and perseverance pushed them to excel at the game. Captain Kalyssa Chu (11) was the first athlete to secure a score for the team in cooperation with Quarterback Luna Mengel-Yoshimura (11) – a momentous touchdown with a memorable backstory.
Captain Reece Roach (11) vividly remembers watching the play unfold, recounting, “Kalyssa had the first touchdown, which was huge. She was proactive when our center ended up snapping the ball to Luna, instead of Lina. Most of us, myself included, stood at the line of scrimmage confused.” While this play did not go as planned, Kalyssa took advantage of the opportunity and raced 67 yards to the end zone for the team’s first point of the season.
Other major plays involved Phimsoutham and Amaya Moore (10): “Amaya caught a super nice pass from Luna straight into the end zone for another touchdown during the second half, and Brooke pulled through on defense with our only interception of the game,” Chu detailed. Another standout athlete was Katalina Vaka (10) who specialized in defense. Vaka elaborated, “My major plays were mostly on defense when I pulled 10 flags.”
The discipline and effort that the athletes had poured into the match pulled through to carry the team to the top. And even despite being a smaller and less experienced team, the Mills’ athletes’ technical skill and coordination made up for any disparities.
To gain more insight into the new team, we looked past their first win and back to the Spring of 2023, when girls flag football was first officialized in California. As soon as the sport was announced at Mills, popularity among female athletes began to rise. As a result, this fall season, the team comes together from a wide range of students with varying athletic experiences and interests to offer.
When asked about her decision to join the team, Mengel-Yoshimura described, “I was interested because in middle school, I was always curious about flag football and had wished that Taylor had a team. A few friends and I even planned to join the boys team, but soon after Covid hit, so we were unable to.”
Roach also expressed similar sentiments towards a long-standing interest in football, sharing, “I grew up watching NFL games with my dad and always took an interest in the sport. Let’s just say Sunday nights were pretty intense at my house…I’ve [also] been playing soccer for about 12 years now…With the addition of track & field, I felt that the footwork, coordination, and running involved [in flag football] were right up my alley.”
With a truly passionate team, focus on members’ chemistry and community was key in fostering positive reinforcement for the first game. Sophomore flag football athlete Maizie De Guzman (10) added, “Our team has really good chemistry and we’re able to teach and help each other out. I really appreciate how much support and encouragement we have on the team.”
At the same time, back at weekly practices, navigating the leadership ins and outs of running a new sport with little prior experience posed a slight challenge starting out. Unlike other sports at Mills, there were no former experienced athletes to learn from, so the team’s leadership had to balance quickly understanding plays alongside undertaking the responsibility of mentoring underclassmen. Chu elaborated, “For a lot of our team, it’s their first time being in a varsity team sport. Being captain, I use my own experiences to help guide my teammates and especially to make sure that they have the right mindsets going into games.”
Chu was also recently announced as one of The Daily Journal honor roll’s athlete of the week. Hopefully, many more achievements and successes will be soon to follow.
In the future, some goals that the team looks to achieve is to always be continually improving, or as Phimsoutham puts it, “become undefeated!” The new team looks forward to many more wins to come in the near future, and we wish them luck especially as they face up against Mills rivals Aragon and Capuchino in the following weeks!
