By Ada Kessler

On October 4th, 2023, McCaskey held our annual Powder Puff football game that occurs during the week of homecoming. Powder Puff is a flag football game that consists of two all-girl teams: juniors versus seniors. There are two thirty-minute halves and a five-minute halftime. The game was close, tied 12-12 up until the last second when senior D’anna Jones scored a ‘Hail Mary’ touchdown, leading the seniors to win 18-12. Standout players for the seniors were D’anna Jones who scored 2 out of 3 touchdowns and Eliana Foley who made several helping plays. For the juniors, the standout player was Johanna Mills who scored their first touchdown and passed the ball to Lucy Weaver, leading to their second and final touchdown.

Powder Puff football started around the same time as World War Two ended at Eastern State Teachers College according to ‘A cherished tradition’ published by sj-r.com. Very few men were enrolled due to the war, so there were no players for a homecoming game, which led the women of the college to hold their own game. Powderpuff became more popular in high schools in the 1970s.

Powder Puff has been going on at McCaskey for quite some time. Ms. Smoyer, a history teacher at McCaskey, has been organizing Powder Puff since 2012 after Ms. Wood, who previously ran it, retired. Ms. Smoyer says it’s beneficial as it raises funds for senior prom on top of being a great learning experience that lets students take risks. She says it’s an enjoyable experience where people come out to support their kid(s) and friends. Of course, there’s also a victory and bragging rights, which Ms. Smoyer claims the winners “REALLY enjoy!” 

On a more critical note, Powder Puff only gets one game whereas the football team plays every Friday in September and October which features the marching band and cheerleaders. Throughout the entire first marking period, football (specifically varsity), is the main event of all other fall sports. This begs the question, what about girls who want to seriously play football at McCaskey?

Although girls aren’t prohibited from being on the football team, not many join. This could be due to a lack of information such as not knowing the team was open to girls. So, even though girls can play on the team, there isn’t lots of coverage to show this. This is in part due to how the football team is promoted. A lot of the advertising for the football team revolves around masculinity. This aspect is less through school rules, and more through the culture of football. Often, they’ll be referred to as ‘the boys’, and American football is truly only done by men which creates a stigma around women seriously playing football. For reference, Geo’naya Rivera is the only girl on McCaskey’s football team; she plays as quarterback for the junior varsity team. 

This brings up another facet of why girls possibly don’t play football at McCaskey/ in general: the environment. The game is very often associated with a sort of hyper-masculinity which can make women hesitant to play. Everywhere female football players go, controversy seems to follow on whether or not they should be allowed to play. This can create a very unwelcoming environment that turns women away from football.

This isn’t the case at McCaskey according to Geo’naya who says “I get treated the same way they do, they’re all my brothers and they treat me like I’m their sister.” When asked about the possibility of more girls joining the team in the future, varsity football players, AJ Martin and Jalen Cintron stated “If they’re good then play, if not they can still get better.” Geo’naya also weighed in saying “Football is great now, but it would be better if more girls play so the world knows football isn’t only a boys sport.”

Around the United States, more and more schools have girls playing football, as there were 2,404 girls playing high school football in 2018 compared to 500 in 2008. Some states such as California and Georgia are starting to implement girl’s flag football seasons. This isn’t to say Powder Puff should end, at McCaskey or in general, just that there should be proper seasons for girls’ football & information on joining. Powder Puff is a good way for girls to get a taste of football without having to seriously commit and girls can try out for the team if they’re hoping for a serious season. Powder Puff and girl’s football can and should coexist.