By STEPHANIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
The sport of Girls’ Flag Football is growing in Clark County schools, and Moapa Valley is keeping up with the rest by teaching its up-and-coming athletes. Last week MVHS Flag Football coaches Dave Belcher and Justin Freeman held a Flag Football Camp with the assistance of local Park and Rec staff.
The three day sports camp was geared towards girls in grades 6-9. The camp met in the evenings at the Clark County Fairgrounds.
“The camp is basically to get familiar with the game,” said Belcher. He added that some of the girls played in the middle school league and are already pretty familiar with the sport. But the camp would help give the girls more experience and help them fall in love with the game.
There were 13 girls registered for the camp, but that was a bit of a surprise. In fact, no one had signed up for the camp in the days prior its scheduled start up. Belcher had all but decided that the camp would be cancelled without any participants. But on the morning the camp was supposed to begin, registrations came pouring in and Flag Football Camp was suddenly back on the schedule.
During the camp, the girls participated in drills such as the passing tree where the thrower would call out a number from 0-9 and the runner would run the pattern and catch the ball. One of the nights Belcher introduced defense playing. The girls also practiced flag pulling.
Most of the girls were in the same age range. But one of the girls, who will be a sophomore in high school next year, decided to leave cheerleading and try playing sports instead; particularly flag football. Another girl came from Alamo to participate.
Most of the girls wanted to try something new and felt they had some skills to offer a team. Dakotah Mayo said she likes to try new things and that this is an active and fun sport to play.
Coach Freeman’s daughter Jorja was a part of the camp, she said she had attended a game last year and it looked like a lot of fun.
Taylor Ransome said she wanted to make more friends and that she can use her fast running skills.
Belcher was optimistic about the team in the future. “We are getting the girls to build into the teams numbers,” he said. “They are getting a good taste of the sport and getting confidence, the girls love it.”
