Ep 214 | Pensacola high school’s have varsity flag football?!

SPEAKER_00 1:04

When it comes to coaching and teaching, I love coaching. I love coaching both, but the girls definitely pull more out of you as a coach. Like, okay, how can I break this information down so that you can understand it to where like a kindergartner can do it? And that's true coaching when you can really take a hard skill and truly like dissect it and have somebody master that skill.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every child in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support your child's success. At Booker T Washington High School, it just got even greater to be a wildcat. Why? One of America's fastest growing sports has entered the chat. I'm talking about flag football. When my next guest isn't busy being the clinic director for the Panhandle Comprehensive Treatment Center, he's Proud Head Coach for the girls' varsity flag football team. Today he's going to share how the team is thriving and why flag football may be the next sport on your daughter's radar. Reinforcing teamwork and opportunity, Proud Girl Dad Drew Lafonton. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 2:32

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

So you and I met at Podcast of Palooza. I love that. And when you just like casually mentioned to me that you were the coach of the high school girls' flag football team, I was like, excuse me, what? I did not know Pensacola had that. Is that usually the reaction that you get?

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Always. Always the reaction, like, oh my goodness, this is a varsity sport. And how long have this been around and stuff like that? So uh super common question.

SPEAKER_01 2:59

And it's been around here in Pensacola for what, like eight years.

SPEAKER_00 3:02

Yes. Yes, for eight years now.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

So I'm way behind the ball, not knowing about it.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

That's okay. You're not the only one.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

So how long have you been the coach of the team?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

I was the assistant coach four years ago. So starting four years ago. And these last two years, this is year two as the head coach.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Okay. We see a lot of teachers do that, a lot of teachers who become coaches. But how does the director of a methadone clinic become a coach?

SPEAKER_00 3:27

It's crazy route. So I am good friends with the former head coach Joshua Brooks, which is the younger nephew slash cousins of Derek Brooks. Shout out to Fensecola, right? And so Derek Brooks, who went to Washington High School, alumni of high school, Josh Brooks is also alumni. He knew that I was interested in the sport and that I played and had a lot of knowledge of the sport. So he brought me on as the offensive coordinator. And then he stepped down and then I stepped uh into that head coaching role.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

You played flag football or just football?

SPEAKER_00 3:59

I played football in high school. And I've recreationally, when I relocated to Pensacola for UWF, I played a flag football at UWF. And that's when I was actually introduced to the sport. Never played it before. And so then I was introduced at UWF, loved it, thought it was great, great way to just, you know, stay in shape and not take all the contact for your body and stuff like that. And so it was great.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Yeah. And I was actually gonna ask you about that because I recently happened to learn about flag football in general because I was studying CTE. Um, and that's a long bunch of big words that I can't remember at the time. But if you can Google CT, it's basically like the injury to the brain for frequent head blows, not just the big head blows, but frequent head blows. Yes. And that the increased popularity of flag football is partially because the awareness of that sort of damage on especially growing brains. Yes. Do you think that's the reason why we now have these flag football teams?

SPEAKER_00 5:00

Absolutely. I think once we got word and science and data became it was evident, I think we we have to do something about it. You know, knowledge is power. And this was one of the best alternatives for the keep the sport but reduce harm. So the harm reduction approach, flag football checked all the boxes for that.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

And this also has something to do with Title IX, right? Can you explain that?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yes. So for every sport that you offer males, you have to offer females. So what we did here in Florida is we hey, this is a great sport to offer our girls. And then if you wanted to throw in lacrosse for guys, if a school didn't have it, go ahead and throw it on now. So yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

So how many girls are on the team?

SPEAKER_00 5:42

We have 18 girls on the team.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

You say that like your face just lit up so bright right now.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, because before you know, back in the days it was kind of hard to get girls to participate and stuff like that. But now, I mean, we had a tryout, maybe 60 people showed up for tryouts.

SPEAKER_01 5:58

That sounds like a lot.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Oh, that is a lot. That's a lot. 60 girls came out for tryouts, and then, you know, we had to narrow it down to 18. For varsity, we we at the at this moment we don't have freshmen in JV. But of course, now, you know, we have to do something to to get more participation as far as getting those girls on the field.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

So tell me about the girls. What are they like?

SPEAKER_00 6:18

The girls are amazing. Everybody's different, they're super intelligent, they are fierce in their own little way. And then there's some that you may see that appear to be docile and calm, but when she hits that field, it's an alter ego that pops up, and you're like, Yeah, yeah, give me her. Let her out the cage, and then we'll box that back up and send you home to mom, you know, or or dad. But yeah, no, they're they're amazing, man. They are vibrant girls ranging from grades nine to twelve. Just amazing, amazing group.

SPEAKER_01 6:50

That's incredible. What have you witnessed them getting getting out of it?

SPEAKER_00 6:55

So much. I can talk about it all day. So confidence. Uh witness them, and I'm gonna go with all the non-obvious answers. Obviously, they're getting in shape, they're getting their their bodies ready, their health, and all that stuff. But some of the things that you don't see with the eye is their confidence, the learning of they're learning how to gain the respect, so to say, of peers in their school. Like, oh, you play football? Yes, I play football. You know how to catch a football? Yes. You know how to throw a football? Absolutely. You want to do a one-on-one? Are you ready? Do you have your cleats? Like they're learning that. They're also learning how to deal when people doubt them and say, Oh, okay, I kind of hear the doubt in your voice. Let me make you sure about who I am. Things like that. That's what they're getting right now, and it's just it's beautiful to see because they're gonna carry this on for the rest of their life, that skill, and they're gonna be great at whatever it is that they do. So that's what they're getting out of this.

SPEAKER_01 7:51

Are they girls who would have played another sport anyway, or is flag football their introduction into being an athlete?

SPEAKER_00 8:01

I have a few that flag football is their primary and only sport. And I have other dual athletes, so soccer players, track and field players, softball players, swimmers. So, you know, just uh a group of girls that love the outdoors and like to get busy. So I have a, you know, it's a it's a mixture.

SPEAKER_01 8:20

How are they doing? How's the team doing?

SPEAKER_00 8:22

They are, we just had our district semifinals, they're doing excellent. They're getting ready to get seated for the Sweet 16 for the state tournament. So they made that. They were undefeated all the way up until the last game of the season. Wow. But that's okay. You know, sometimes you need the you need that loss before you get into a big tournament that kind of reminds you what what you need to do to win, to continue winning. So they're doing excellent. Hands down, the best team in Pensacola. And uh, you know, they they they're they are ready to compete at the state level at the state tournament getting ready.

SPEAKER_01 8:51

So you said the best team in Pensacola. No doubt, no doubt about that. Those are capital F facts. Yes, yes, yes. But I think that it kind of brings in another unexpected element. Like, this isn't a one-off. This isn't like, oh, how cute, you know, they're they have their little team. Right. Like this is being competitive at a state level because there's a bunch of flag football teams for girls in our metropolitan area.

SPEAKER_00 9:19

Yeah, yeah, for sure. Don't quote me on this, but um definitely close to the number 460 participating high school varsity flag football teams across the state of Florida. Wow. So then you multiply that by the 50 states and the other high schools that's participating in it. And so this is, you know, this is a real sport. You know, there's strategy in it. There is practicing. You know, it's at the collegiate level now, it's at the professional level, and you could, you know, we're about to see it in LA at the 2028 games. So Yeah, in the Olympics. Yeah, so it's it's here to stay.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

And NFL is investing in flag football. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Full-fledged investment from the NFL and many just other sponsors who wants to see this happen.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

You know, I read a quote from you saying that winning is an expectation. Yeah. Is that just on the field or are they required to have good grades as well to stay on the team?

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yes, they have to have the state says, you know, 2.0. And I'm I'm just not the bare minimum coach, you know. So we, you know, we're gonna push that up to 2.5. And so we want them to win on the field, of course, but expectations in the classroom, and then it just doesn't stop there. I need you to be a like a winner friend. I need you to be a winner sister to somebody. I need you to be a winner daughter to your parents. This winning stuff is just not like for games. We just uh I want them to be like winners across the board.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

And what about scholarships?

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Scholarships, man. What a a a great opportunity for them as all of these colleges now are including the sport into their athletic regimen, right? So the difference between flag football and college football, college basketball is as the sport is being introduced and carried out by these colleges, they have to fill the roster up. And I'm gonna give you an example with college football, the number of scholarships they have determines on the number of players that they graduated or left. And so if 18 people left because you graduated 16 and two hit the portal, you have 18 scholarships to offer next year. Well, here for a college team, every college that has flag football now, they have a an empty, it's an empty sheet and they have to fill up the whole roster. So everybody's looking for 26 players. You know what I'm saying? So across the board, they're looking for this much girls, and uh it's almost like every year they're looking for that much scholarships. So there's almost not even enough players to fill the scholarships. Let me say that. If a girl wants to play, you know, have have a free education and play flag football, that opportunity is almost guaranteed for them. They're just gonna have to travel, you know. These schools are a lot of division two schools, it just got rolled out and approved for division one, but division two, division three, and NAIA schools. So you can get your school paid for right now if you want to take that route.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

It's kind of a hack. It's a hack.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

It's a quick hack. Parents should be listening right now to find out how not to pay for their kids' education and let flag football pay for it.

SPEAKER_01 12:10

Oh, isn't that so true? It's amazing. That's so true. And in Escabi County, what's the earliest that girls can start playing the sport competitively?

SPEAKER_00 12:17

There's little there's leagues going on. I know like I-9 Sports, you can put your kids, I want to say at the age of five and six, and they can start uh competing, they can start playing flag football competitively at that age. And then at the when we're talking like in the scholastically, at the high school level, we can even take like if you have an all-star middle school player and you want that middle school player to, you know, get some high school experience and play at the high school, we can take them. There's like exceptions that they put in for middle school to participate at the high school level. But now we're gonna start seeing it at the elementary and middle school level, which Santa Rosa County and Oculus County does an amazing job of including it in the curriculum for early exposure. And so you'll start seeing that in the Scambia County as well.

SPEAKER_01 12:57

Okay. And the season's a little different too, right? It's not like during the regular football season.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Correct. So high school football with our boys are is a fall sport. This is a spring sport, so they stagger it. So that way, whoever loves football gets football both seasons, you know? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

I like that. You used to be the assistant football coach at Pine Forest. Yes. How is it different teaching coaching girls?

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Oh man. Oh, it's it's it's night and day. This is probably like a biased answer, but coaching girls, if you really want to measure how good of a coach you are, go ahead and try to coach girls. Because what's gonna happen is girls are very analytical and you have to be very specific with them because if you tell them to, hey, I need you to turn at 89 degrees, you're gonna get 89 degrees. And so it helps your instruction as a coach versus guys who rely a lot on raw talent and raw physical ability and stuff like that. It kind of makes up for their lack of attention to details. They can make up for it with some, you know, physical strength that they have. But when it comes to coaching and teaching, I love coaching both, but the girls definitely pull more out of you as a coach. Like, okay, how can I break this information down so that you can understand it to where like a kindergartner can do it? And that's true coaching. When you can really take a hard skill and truly like dissect it and have somebody master that skill.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

So they r force you to level up your communication.

SPEAKER_00 14:28

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I love every bit of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

You said that coaching girls is also a life hack for being a girl dad.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

A girl dad, oh, is it? Oh my goodness, big time. It gives me a sneak peek into what to I get to look at the progression of girls going into teens to, you know, womanhood. And so um, my little girls are seven and four, and I kind of got a life hack of when, you know, the preteen and teens are going into that era of life and what they deal with what they're gonna deal with in school. Their body is changing, their mind is changing. The information that they're getting exposed to is new information. And I get to kind of sit back and say, Oh, okay, this is how you guys are responding to this and that and stuff like that. So definitely a life hack for my girls.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

It was a little bit of a life hack for you too, right? When you were little immigrating from Haiti to Miami.

SPEAKER_00 15:23

Yes, big time. Just looking at like being that this is a new sport and watching people adjust to, you know, something that's new and being exposed to something that that's new. I had to deal with that myself. When you know, my family coming from Haiti, migrating to Miami, adjusting at how I dress, how I talk, things that, you know, things that we do, cuisine, food, just adjusting and learning how to adjust on the fly. You know, um, even sometimes trying to fit in and trying to find similarities just so that you can have something to talk about with. So definitely similarities there.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, yeah, that's incredible. And how can people support the team or maybe join the team?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

Joining the team, all they have to do is try out, look out for the dates that we are posting, tryouts. And then as far as coaching people that want to, if they wanted to coach, we have an application process and an interview process, of course, where if they want to coach, we you know, we welcome coaches. Just me, by the way. I am the sole coach for the past two years, which a lot of teams are like, hey, we noticed that there aren't any other coaches on the field. And I was like, yeah, it's just me right now. And where I'm looking, you know, I would love to have an assistant.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Okay. Well, hopefully, wouldn't it be cool if it came from this conversation?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Amazing. You know, definitely please reach out. Coach Drew needs help.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

Well, wait, how do they reach out to you?

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Instagram at BTW, BTW flag football. You guys can just hit us in a DM. And then if they want to shoot me an email, Drew.lafontant at ctc programs.com. Just feel free to send a message and I'll be more than glad to just sit down and talk with so yeah, and then joining the team. We always tell people, hey, check out our page, it's super current, it's always being updated. Look out for tryouts. Um, and then you know, on when it's off season practice and then um when tryouts hopefully you make the team.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

I love that. Yeah. I'm excited about this. I I love that we ran into each other at Podcast of Palooza.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Oh man, what a great event it was.

SPEAKER_01 17:28

It was a great event. Yeah, and it's so cool for something digital to become in real life. Yes, because that's the point of that event. But it is cool when it's cyclical. Yeah. Something in real life also turned into this. Something digital.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Yeah, yeah. It's amazing. Just us as human beings, we have the pleasure of opening our mouths and just talk to somebody. If I we could have, we were at Podcast of Palooza, right? Yeah. And I seen you and you seen me. If I didn't open my mouth and you didn't open your mouth, this is not happening right now. Yeah. So a simple, hey, how's it going? Great event. What do you do? And here we are right now, helping spread information that can help parents, kids. It's just amazing.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

It is. And I appreciate you. Thank you so much for coming on and talking about this.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

We are, you know, team get coach true some help.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Please. Please.

SPEAKER_01 18:20

And cheering on the girls as well.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.