by Garth Meyer

RUHS won the Bay League this fall in the inaugural season of CIF girls flag football.

The program began as a club sport in 2021, one of 10 teams in Southern California, which grew to 16 the second year.

In 2023, RUHS, Mira Costa, Palos Verdes and Peninsula fielded CIF-sanctioned teams.

Redondo Union P.E. teacher and alumnus Jake Jimenez has coached the Sea Hawks to a three-year record of 35-4.

The team started with a call from an NFL program, through the Rams/Chargers, asking if Redondo Union wanted to participate. The school administration said yes, and asked fourth-year teacher Jimenez, a 2012 graduate, if he would like to run the team.

He coaches by himself, with no assistants.

“I had to do some research and I fell in love with it, just like the girls did, and here we are today,” Jimenez said. “Girls want to be part of it.”

In the first year, 40 Redondo girls tried out for 10 roster spots, the limit placed by the Rams/Chargers program; in year two, 60 girls tried out for 20 spots, and this fall, more than 70 girls went out for 28 spots. 

Last summer, 40 girls signed up for a two-week, three hours a day summer camp consisting of “agility drills, catching, defense, flag-pulling drills, scrimmages, gametime scenarios,” Jimenez said.

RUHS only has a varsity team, and this year had seven returning players.

Three seasons

Raychel Watts, a senior, started both ways the past two years at wide receiver and defensive back. She was also named a captain – something the team added this year.

“Our team was so small before, we were all kind of captains, leading in a different way,” Watts said.

She joined the team as a sophomore, in the program’s first year.

“We didn’t take it very seriously,” she said. “Then we started practicing every day and we were a program. Before it was very chill. Just practice, have fun and hang out with each other.”

The club soccer player’s background in football was minimal.

“I watched it with my dad a lot,” she said. 

What drew her to flag football?

“No one else had really done it yet. It wasn’t just a basic sport, it was more interesting,” she said. “… My dad was very happy to hear that I was playing.”

“Soccer is definitely more aggressive,” Watts said. “But flag football is very competitive. Every team always wanted to beat us.”

Girls joined the RUHS team with backgrounds in other sports and activities such as softball, lacrosse, swimming, ice hockey, dance and cheerleading. 

Plans are in the works to add a junior varsity team, though Jimenez and RUHS administration want to be sure enough other schools will have teams to play against. 

In the first season of official Bay League play this fall, Redondo finished 12-3 (7-1). They also played in a two-day, 28-team tournament in Mission Viejo in September.

Coach Jimenez runs optional workouts in the spring for girls to see if they are interested. 

Rules

Flag football is played 7-on-7, with no running plays within five yards of a first down or the endzone. 

Field size allows a minimum and a maximum. Redondo’s field is 40-by 80-yards, along the blue lacrosse lines at the Sea Hawk Bowl. Extra points are earned by, for one point, a play from the five-yard line, and for two, a play from the 10.

“The girls love to study the playbook as much as I do,” said Jimenez, who is also an RUHS baseball varsity assistant coach. 

Positions, on a given play for example, are quarterback, center, running back, three receivers and a tight end. 

“No blocking or screening technically; sometimes it happens naturally,” Jimenez said.

Only two defenders may rush, from seven yards back.

RUHS’ 2023 team was led by a duo at starting quarterback: junior Kaya Aguirre and senior Olivia D’Angelo. Aguirre began her career as a center, then played receiver before quarterback this year.

The Redondo team has worn soft shell helmets since last year, for safety. The equipment came from the RUHS football program. 

Men’s and women’s flag football are set to be Olympic sports in 2028.

Last year, Redondo player Aaliah Young received a flag football scholarship to Kansas Wesleyan University. 

“It is getting bigger and bigger,” Jimenez said. “I love every second of it. I feel like it offers a lot of opportunities for women in the sportsworld. Our girls put in a lot of hard work. They showed they are resilient and deserve all the praise that’s coming to them.” ER