As stated by Parity and Survey Monkey, women’s sports only make up 15% of total sports media coverage, which prevents them from being as glamorized as male-dominated sports. Girls grow up being told they will be able to compare to a man. But we say screw that. Many strong independent girls have proved time and time that they’re not a force to be reckoned with, especially on South El Monte’s Field. One prime example of these goddesses is The South El Monte Flag Football team. They are determined to leave a strong, independent legacy like our lovely male Football team. 

I talked with an athlete on the South El Monte Flag Football team, Jade Martinez. Interviewing her about her experience on the brand-new flag football team was very informative. It allowed me to learn about the different treatments of the two teams. I wanted to know what the environment of her team and sport feels like on a game day. She said, “Since the games aren’t until later in the day, most of us go to Mcdonald’s, then come back and change, and then leave. Usually, they play music. We get there warm up then the games start and we give it our all.” She spoke about her team and how close they are to one another

Eventually, I had the opportunity to speak with both teams. I asked them the same questions to see how their sports experiences differ.  I had the chance to talk to the Football’s runner back/strong safety, Micheal Valencia. I asked him a basic question about his and his team’s environment on game days. He states, “A game day is focused on school, we come to school on time because it’s important to our coaches. After school we head over to the field house to get our equipment ready, they provide us food umm like at 3:30 and we eat as a team, and pray as a team. Then after that, we get our equipment ready for the game and we relax in our away room. If it’s a home game we get ready at 6 if it’s away we leave on the bus at 5.”

Something we need the school to do is get us a commentator when we have home games and it doesn’t hurt if they make another line that is the same size as the field we need (they could do it in a different color so the football team wouldn’t get confused during their game) These teams are successful and deserve their recognition. I asked both of them if they had anything they wished the school could do. Martinez said, “I think it would be better to better the fields in the back because there are a lot of potholes and it is a safety hazard also I think our Jv needs their uniform instead of using the soccer uniforms.” I asked Valencia the same question, he said, “ Having our physical trainer more as many of us are getting injured, so we can take care better of our bodies. Also having more coaches, we’re sort of lacking in that department. But other than that our program is pretty good.” 

It took time for the football team to get all these luxuries but hopefully, It won’t take too long for the strong lady eagles to get some of their needs met. So if you support the football team, try to go watch a flag football game, you’ll enjoy it for sure!