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Health & Fitness

AB Ladies Football

The spectacular comeback of Ladies Football at AB starts traditions with Seniors vs. Juniors.

Last Friday night, September 21st, was the comeback of AB's biggest event of the year. Ladies Football, or "Blitz 21," was a Seniors vs. Juniors, 44 minute game of flag-football held on Leary Field. It was the riskiest event that Student Council had pulled off in years. Administration has had a strenuous relationship with this annual game, and they canceled the last one in 1990 due to both player and spectator misconduct. But although the games gradually got out of control, Ladies Football was still one event every year that the whole school looked forward too.

After 1990 the terms Ladies football or "Powderpuff" gradually disappeared from the school, and when I entered high-school I never heard any talk of powderpuff. Student Council struggled to get word out because no one had any idea of the popularity of the game at schools and colleges across the nation. We also weren't allowed to call the game "Powderpuff". So with the dubbed name of Blitz 21, we worked around obstacles to recruit players and spectators. We had to create stricter game and spectator rules to not repeat game history. To make things worse, unfavorable scheduling put our game during an away football game, which left out not only the football teams but also cheerleaders and the band. After repeatedly moving back the team registration deadline and multiple threats of cancellation, we had miraculously survived and the game was still on.

Friday's game more than outdid our work in making it happen. Hundreds of parents, students, and teachers came. The Seniors took a huge lead to start, with a fake play in which they sprinted to the touchdown line after complaining about starting with the wrong ball. They had organized plays with fake handoffs and fast sprinters. But ultimately the underdog Juniors, with a brick wall defense and a hidden talent offense, took the game with a 20-12 win. Somehow the team that started with the lowest level of confidence secured an incredible upset.

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People are still talking about Blitz 21 nearly a week later. "Everyone is going to want to do this next year, so we get first draft when the time comes" - a Junior tells me post-game, reflecting on the struggle the week prior to recruiting players. Girls are already looking forward to next year's game.

I think that administration, as emotional as they can be, was very pleased with the outcome of Blitz 21. For an event held in just the third week of school, we proved all our fears of failure wrong. The most difficult event to make successful is one that starts or brings back a past time, and last Friday was not only a revival of an old tradition but also the beginning of a new one. 

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