With bodies colliding, balls flying and players screaming, it was hard to tell that the football practice session going on Wednesday afternoon last week at Sabino High School was anything but the real thing.
That is, except for the lack of shoulder pads and helmets, and that many of the participants had manicured nails and were sporting designer sunglasses.
The 40 or so girls on the varsity football field were in training for Sabino's annual Powder Puff football game, which is being held at 7 p.m. Friday at the school, 5000 N. Bowes Road.
The game serves as a fund-raiser for the football program. Last year's game raised about $6,000 through ticket sales, concessions and a $20 participation fee for each girl, said head football coach Jay Campos
It pits a contingent of seniors against a junior team, which trained on an auxiliary field far enough away to prevent spying.
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Spying? For a flag football game? Is it really that big a deal?
Both the players and coaches say it certainly is.
"I'm very serious about it," 18-year-old senior Emma Bolchalk said, shortly after being floored by a defender during a drill. "We have to be serious because our coaches are 100 percent serious about this."
The "coaches" are actually current and outgoing varsity football players, seven each for both the junior and senior teams. Campos selects the head coaches, who then recruit their teammates to fill out a staff.
"It turns them into easier kids to coach after having them try to go out and coach themselves," Campos said. "It's definitely a humbling experience."
"It's a school tradition," said senior team head coach Brandon Hodgeson, 18, who played center and defensive tackle last fall for the Sabercats' Class 4A Division II state finalist team. "It's a blast. Once that game night comes, there will be a ton of people in the stands. It's a popular thing. I've talked to people that graduated in the '80s, and they had it then, too."
Though meant to be fun more than anything, the intensity level does get ratcheted up a bit. Rules are in place to limit contact and injuries — in flag football, players wear belts with detachable flags that must be pulled in order for a player to be deemed "tackled" — but Hodgeson said things have gotten out of hand in the past.
"Last year a girl got kicked out of the game because she elbowed someone in the face," Hodgeson said.
The participants are a cross-section of the female student body at Sabino, with both athletes and non-athletes getting involved. Bolchalk said she's playing because football is her favorite sport, while 17-year-old junior Brandy Carr is hoping to tap into some of her skills as a member of Sabino's varsity soccer team to help the junior team record its first victory in the series since 2002.
"This is definitely going to be our year," Carr said. "It's going to be fun for all of us. You've got to keep it fun for everyone so people don't leave. A lot of the girls have learned a lot."
Campos said almost everything about the game itself and the preparation leading up to it is intended to closely mirror what the actual football team goes through.
"We make a pretty big deal about it," Campos said. "We get (Arizona Interscholastic Association) officials who do high school games. We have spaghetti dinners before every varsity football game, and the junior girls and senior girls (will) do that the night before this game.
"It's a chance for the girls to get to shine in front of all those people and their parents. We sometimes get 1,000 people in the stands for the Powder Puff game."
Lisa Nelson, 18, who took time out of getting ready to compete for Sabino's track and field team at regionals and state to practice with her fellow seniors, said she now has a better understanding of what the boys endure at practice.
"We get a little vision of what they had to go through," Nelson said. "It's hard to remember all the plays, so we get a little confused sometimes. I think (the coaches) get a little frustrated with us sometimes."
IF YOU GO
● What: Sabino High School Powder Puff football game.
● Where: Sabino High School, 5000 N. Bowes Road.
● When: 7 p.m. Friday.
● Tickets: $4.
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