Written by Amanda Webb. Media by Taylor Neal.
The women of GC went head to head this past Thursday, October 17th, in the annual Powder Puff football tournament. After an intense game lasting into overtime, the senior class celebrated their first tournament win of their career. Senior, Amanda Webb shares about the win and her experience playing on the powder puff
football team the past four years.
“The past four years, I have enjoyed playing powder puff during GC Homecoming Week. I had not even intended on playing my first year, but my roommate at the time begged me to be on the team with her. I really wasn’t excited to play at first. There were so many girls I thought I would never actually get onto the field. However I was surprised to find that I ended up playing most, if not all, of the games that year. Unfortunately, my roommate did not see much playing time and was quite distraught because I hadn’t even wanted to be there and played, while she had been so excited about playing and didn’t.
Playing powder puff has been quite an interesting experience. During practice, everyone seems to know what they are doing and there is hardly any confusion. However, when it’s actually time to play it’s a whole different set of rules. First of all, the plays we learned during practice don’t always work in the real game. Sometimes people get blocked from catching or they drop the ball or slip because of the damp grass. I find myself forgetting the plays and even my position in the midst of the real game. It took a while to fully grasp the job of my position, and it’s been something I’ve only learned from the game over the years. And sometimes, the best tactic is to just follow the girl running with the ball so you can pull her flag.
I remember games when our coaches were late, and the team had to start playing without any direction. We began playing and scored a couple touch downs before they even arrived. These kinds of moments were awesome for the team, because it showed our ability to communicate on the field. We had a lot of moments where we
had to improvise and forget the plays our coaches had told us to use. Our coaches were mad at first, but later really surprised to see our improvised plays work out so well. We even won a couple of games this way! We knew more of what to do on the field in the moment than we had ever planned out in our plays.
I’m so glad for the opportunity to play powder puff for all four years. It has been such a good experience for me and I’ve made a lot of friends through playing. The team has been made up of a lot of returning girls over the last four years, and always some new ones. Our four years of hard work and perseverance lead to our first tournament win this year. It’s such a grand feeling to have won the whole tournament during our senior year, and I will forever cherish this in my memory.”
-Amanda M. Webb, Senior Class of 2014
So next year GC girls, when Homecoming Week rolls around, grab your tennis shoes and a coat, and run out to Scott Field to play in the annual Powder Puff tournament. It’s an experience you won’t regret, and if anything, a great opportunity for some healthy peer-to-peer competition!
