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Popular Sport

Raising the Flag at Byram Hills and Across The Country, Flag Football is Getting Girls Onto The Gridiron

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Byram Hills Girls Flag Football Team
PHOTO BY NINA KRUSE

Growing up in a big family of die-hard Jets fans, Byram Hills senior Angjelina Vataj grew up loving football, both watching and playing.

“Especially during family barbecues and anything like that, we would just play in the backyard,” Vataj recalls. “I have a very big family, so we would all just make teams and play.”

Della Gonzalez, Vataj’s classmate, grew up loving the sport and frequently playing pickup games with her father and brothers.

“I always loved throwing the ball,” she says. “I always had a good arm naturally.”

But for both girls, football was a sport they assumed they could play only informally, in scrimmages with family and friends. Organized football, particularly at the varsity level, was for boys, just as professional football was for men.

Now, years later, Gonzalez is the starting quarterback for Byram’s varsity flag football program, while Vataj is the starting center. Heading into their final season, they are part of the first graduating class that saw girls’ flag football offered as a varsity sport throughout their high school tenure.

A Fast-Growing Sport

In New York State and in Section 1, girls flag football has seen its popularity skyrocket in the five years it has been offered as an organized sport.

“As a lot of people have said, it’s one of the fastest growing sports in the state and in the country,” says Scott Saunders, Director of Health, Physical Education and Athletics at Byram Hills Central School District. “It seems like every year more and more schools are hopping on board.”

Byram Hills got in on year two, in the Spring of 2023, after only a handful of schools took part in the inaugural 2022 season. The program has grown from under eight schools in Section 1 fielding a team to 35, nearly half of all districts.

“We love that Section 1 has poured a lot of time and effort into this, and I just think it’s a great offering for athletes,” says Saunders.

The NFL has been a prominent booster of the sport. The league has allocated grant money to any district establishing a team to help the program get on its feet. They’ve also held promotional events, including a 2023 jamboree in Somers featuring Daniel Jones, then the starting quarterback for the New York Giants.

Byram Hills Quarterback Della Gonzalez
PHOTO BY NINA KRUSE

At Armonk, the push for a team initially came from some of the students, who approached Rob Castagna, then the Director of Health, Physical Education, and Athletics, in 2022 and expressed interest in playing should the school launch a program, Saunders says. The first year, 2022, the district launched an intramural program during the offseason to see if there was sufficient interest to launch a varsity program.

“When we started that first season, we had nearly 40 participants, and the girls were really excited to get going with it,” Saunders says. “There was a lot of energy there.”

Jennie Croke, a Physical Education teacher, served as head coach for the first two varsity seasons. She asked Simon Berk, who also coaches the boys varsity football team, to get on board, and Berk took over as head coach last year.

“I am a father of four girls, and I’ve been coaching boys’ football for the past 22 years,” says Berk. “The idea of getting to coach football for young women was a really awesome opportunity.”

Different Style Of Play

Though both football, the boys and girls versions of the sport are very different games. A “tackle” in the girls sport is simply grabbing the opponent’s flag, rather than bringing her to the ground, making it a much less physical sport. Blocking is also not allowed – though players can set what are akin to moving screens – and linemen are allowed to go out for passes. And there are seven players on each side of the field rather than eleven.

“Although they are both football, the X’s and O’s and the style of play is still so different,” says Berk.

But while the big hits of the boys’ game are absent, Berk sees it as a misnomer to call it truly non-contact.

“It’s a ‘non-contact sport’ in the same way that basketball and soccer are non-contact sports, and by that, I mean there is a lot of contact,” he says. “You are teaching the skills of the game, and the rules that we play with in New York State, there is no blocking, but people still block. It is no tackling, but it is still a very physical sport. So, I think that has been the trickiest part, teaching that physicality within the structure of the rules.”

Gonzalez believes flag football has the right balance of physicality without the potential risks of tackle football.

“Obviously I don’t want to be playing football with a bunch of boys and getting hit,” she notes. “But I feel like it’s so great to be in a league where you could play competitively with other girls that actually want to play.”

The program, like the sport, has come a long way in its first few seasons. In its inaugural year, Gonzalez says, many of the players saw it as less intense a commitment than the more established varsity sports. But the game has grown more competitive as the team has become more established.

“I feel like a lot of the girls on the team didn’t have a passion for football before and they just joined it for fun. But once they started, they slowly started to love the game.”

Last year, Byram Hills went 7-8-1, advancing to the Section 1 quarterfinals.

Still, Vataj says, the team is inviting even to students who have not played varsity sports and had little prior football experience. She noted that flag football does not make cuts, so anyone who works hard can at least expect a roster spot.

“This gives them an opportunity to play a sport that they like even if they are not at that advanced varsity level yet, so that they can learn the sport, get a feel for it, get better at it, and overall, just play a sport that they are interested in.”

Additionally, because the sport is new, girls joining in high school will not be at a disadvantage going up against athletes who have played the sport since childhood. But that may be changing.

Bigger And Bigger

There are now options for girls as young as preschool. Three years ago, Berk and his friend John Praino launched a youth program called Girls Flag Bedford. The program offers league play for girls as young as six and seven, with clinics for younger athletes. The league has a significant Armonk contingent, Berk says.

And both locally and nationally, the sport continues to rise in prominence. Horace Greeley in Chappaqua now also has a varsity team. And in 2028, flag football will be introduced to the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles for both men and women.

Still, Gonzalez believes that the program still has a way to go before it is taken as seriously as more established sports. She noted that their games bring friends and family to the stands but do not draw the big crowds that the boys’ team does.

“I feel like it is just small steps that we have to take to prove that we are a real sport,” she states.

Popular Sport Takes Hold in North Castle – Thanks to The Pickleball Ladies of Armonk

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North Castle’s (L-R): Dara Lepofsky, Wendy Ranieri and Heather Hecht
PHOTOS BY DONNA MUELLER

As a long-time competitive tennis player, Heather Hecht was hardly impressed when she first saw people playing pickleball. “I thought it was a very noisy sport that looked like a completely ridiculous made-up game,” she recalled.

“But the fact that the players were having so much fun stuck with me. So, a few years later, while vacationing in South Carolina with my family, I noticed some courts and decided to give it a shot since I’ve always been eager to play any racket sport,” said the Pleasantville resident whose kids are in the Byram Hills Central School District.

Heather instantly fell in love with the game, which is often described as a mix of tennis, racquetball, badminton, and Ping-Pong. She introduced it to her family, as well as to her close friend and Armonk resident, Dara Lepofsky. Dara, another lifelong tennis player, was also smitten and became determined to make it available to residents in her community.

Before long, the two helped pave the way for the fastest-growing sport in the United States to take root in Armonk. According to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, more than 8.9 million people in the United States now play pickleball, up from 4.8 million in 2022.

Last year, Dara, who oversees the tennis program at the Windmill Club, convinced management and fellow board members to paint pickleball lines on one of the tennis courts. The catch was that a pickleball instructor had to come on board to teach and to make sure the court would be well used. Dara turned to Heather, who had previously taught tennis at a local camp. The two created a curriculum, and Heather’s classes booked immediately. Residents who had already taken up pickleball were thrilled to have a place to play and take lessons close to home. One resident created a community group on the popular Team Reach phone app so residents could communicate and coordinate playtimes. Over the past year, the club painted additional courts, offered more classes, and planned periodic social events, thus giving the sport its due alongside tennis.

“It was like if you build it, they will come,” joked Heather.

 

A Little Pipe Dream Come True

“Within two years, the little pipe dream we came up with while sitting at the beach in South Carolina has become a reality in the area, and I couldn’t be more proud,” said Dara, who is a school psychologist for the Mamaroneck School District.

For Heather, a former benefits consultant, the sport provided a new teaching career. Not long after her classes started at Windmill, the Town of North Castle Parks and Recreation Department joined the ranks of community centers around the country eager to offer facilities for the popular sport and hired Heather to teach.

The Town launched the pickleball program at Lombardi Town Park’s tennis courts last fall, and Heather’s first four introductory classes sold out. Given the interest among residents, the Town offered a winter class on an unused basketball court at the North White Plains Gym, as well as several spring classes at Lombardi, ultimately reaching about 120 residents. Pickleball lines were also painted at Winkler Park’s tennis courts, so the Town now has six public courts for the sport, and residents can play on a first-come-first serve basis. Beginner and intermediate classes are expected to be part of the Town’s recreation programs in the fall, winter and spring.

To some pickleball afficianados, the situation is not ideal since the lines are painted on existing tennis courts, sometimes causing confusion, and players have to learn how to properly adjust the tennis net. “Ultimately, I would love to see the town find space to build dedicated courts so pickleball players have their own place to play,” said Heather, noting that it’s difficult to find dedicated courts except perhaps at private clubs that have converted paddle ball or basketball courts. “But I’m thrilled that we’ve come so far,” she said.

And with public facilities now available, Armonk residents started hitting the courts for pick-up games this summer.

“At the end of Heather’s spring intermediate class, several of us wanted to continue to play,” said Wendy Ranieri, a retired physical education teacher who decided to take pickleball classes to stay active and meet new people. After Heather created a TeamReach group, Wendy took it upon herself to become the group administrator and encourage fellow players to use the phone app to schedule games.

“It’s wonderful to have a core group of people who I see regularly twice a week on the courts,” said Wendy. Ironically, she recalls playing a version of pickleball in college and then improvising in the gymnasium with her middle-school students to keep boredom at bay in the winter months. “I’ve come full circle,” she joked, “but of course the game is very different now.”

The sport has been around since 1965, but started soaring in popularity around 2018. Compared with tennis, pickleball is relatively easy to learn. The plastic, wiffle-like ball doesn’t bounce as much, and the shorter, lighter racket is easier to handle. There’s also less running required since most people play doubles games, and the court is smaller than a tennis court.

“I can’t think of another sport that you can learn well enough within an hour to actually play and feel successful,” Heather said. “You can quickly attain a level of confidence to say ‘yes’ when someone invites you to play. It also provides good exercise, but is easier on the bones and joints, and you can feel like you’re getting cardio without killing yourself.”

But perhaps its biggest appeal is simply that it is a fun social activity. Even players who play competitively can be heard laughing and enjoying themselves. While initially it was most popular with those in middle age and older, 20 and 30-year-olds across the country have discovered the sport. It also lends itself to a great family activity. Both Heather and Dara’s children – ranging in age from 12 to 17 – have been willing to join their moms on the courts.

“It’s taken on a life of its own, and I couldn’t stop it if I wanted to,” said Heather, who now teaches at several locations in the area. “As a teacher, it’s very rewarding to see people pick it up so quickly and have so much fun playing. And seeing pickleball taking off in North Castle has been beyond amazing.”

Where To Play

The list of places where you can play the country’s hottest sport is growing throughout the area. Several public parks have repurposed some of their existing tennis courts to accommodate pickleball. Here’s a roundup of just a few of the public facilities in our local communities.

Armonk – Lombardi Park

85 Cox Avenue
Two tennis courts with pickleball lines
Drop-in play based on availability

Pleasantville – Foxwood Condominiums Park

9 Foxwood Drive
Three tennis courts with pickleball lines
Drop-in play based on availability

Chappaqua – Town Hall Basketball Court

200 S Greeley Ave
One court (sign up in advance)
Sundays: 9 am -12 pm
Mondays: 9 am – 1 pm
Thursdays: 5 pm – 8 pm   

Briarcliff Manor – Chilmark Park

48 Macy Road
Six pickleball courts
Drop-in play open to residents and nonresidents based on availability.
Permits required (application available on briarcliffmanor.gov.

Bedford – Winkler Park

Off Greenwich Banksville Road
One tennis court with pickleball lines
Drop-in play based on availability

To search for additional locations, check out the USA Pickleball Association’s search function: places2play.org