Women’s flag football kicks off Saturday

(GCFFA): One of Cayman’s fastest growing sports, flag football, welcomes a new women’s league organized bythe Grand Cayman Flag Football Association (GCFFA).  Kicking off with an open scrimmage and registration session and two scheduled games at the Cayman International School field this Saturday 25th of June from 9am-12noon, organizers are encouraging women and fans of the game to stop by the field and join in on one of the 20 minute long exhibition games. The scrimmages will be from 10am-11am and the inaugural pre-season games for pre-registered teams will be from 11am-12noon.

The open scrimmage is being held to introduce new players to the game, have teams become familiar with league members, encourage registration and build camaraderie amongst the players. For women ages 17 and up, who are not currently registered with a team, or are interested in learning more about the game of flag football, Saturday’s event is the best time to become familiar with players and the new format of 7vs7.

As the number of female players grows, so is the style of football being played. Moving on from the 5vs5 format, 7vs7 more closely mirrors ‘real’ football with the inclusion of blocking, shadow blocking, more complicated plays and technical aspects.

The GCFFA women’s season will be running into the fall of this year. Games will be played from 10am-12noon at the Cayman International School field. Registration is $25 per player with a cap of 18 players per team. There are currently over 70 women registered with the league.

League co-founder, Sophia Dilbert said the GCFFA was formed to focus on the development of a women’s league as well as an inter-high school youth programme.

With the number of female flag football players continuously rising, “we wanted to be able to expand those numbers within the high school system and encourage even more participation,” Dilbert explained. She went on to further say that in the fall, the GCFFA intends “to introduce a high school flag football program through the NFL Youth Program which we feel will afford the youth an opportunity to participate in meaningful extra-curricular activities.”

There is currently no inter-high school competitive flag football programme, and by bringing in flag football, the GCFFA hopes to tie the youth of Grand Cayman together through sports-friendly competition. In doing so, the GCFFA will be bringing back a focus on sports as a track to a more healthy and balanced lifestyle.

For more information regarding the GCFFA and Saturday’s kick-off scrimmage games and registration, please email gcffa@ymail.com.