This spring, Neumann will continue to make history.
After a short 2024 season and the school’s first ever homecoming game, the flag football team is taking it to the next level.
For the first time, the Atlantic East conference will organize a division for women’s flag football.
Neumann University will be facing off against conference opponents: Penn State Schuylkill, Centenary, Immaculata, Marymount, Eastern and Holy Family.
After a 13-game season, two teams will clash in a conference championship.
Hayley Strecker, a junior who played for the team last year, is excited about the challenge.
“Out of about 10 girls on our team last year, only one had experience with playing flag football. We all have learned and improved so much,” she said.
This year, it is going to be different.
“This year teams have been recruiting and have been practicing as well since the fall,” said Strecker.
Competition is expected to be high and tough, but the team has been hard at work this offseason, with aspirations of bringing home the first flag football championship.
Along with familiar faces comes new recruits.
Chloe Ballew is a freshman joining the team this year.
Although she had committed to Neumann for ice hockey, Ballew was well aware of the new flag football team and felt she had to look into it.
“I thought it would be fun, and I knew I could excel at it,” she said.
Despite never having proper flag football experience, she had skills that she wanted to prove.
“I was confident I could excel in football because I used to play catch all the time with my stepdad or my neighbors. I also played in gym class in school and was told I was good,” said Ballew.
Because of the team at Neumann University, Ballew now has an opportunity to play organized football and really test her skills.
As women’s flag football teams pop up across the country, the significance doesn’t go ignored here at Neumann. While winning and stats may be important to many, the role of barrier breakers transcends what happens on the field.
These players have learned a sport and can now be looked at as an example, as pioneers, taking part in a game that has always been male dominated.
“As the first women’s flag football team at Neumann, we have a lot of eyes on us,” said Strecker. “Not only are we working hard to prove that this is an important sport, we are showing all the younger girls that want to get involved in football that they can.”
With the inception of the flag football team, Neumann University is doing its part to rewrite the narrative and make football a sport for everyone.
“I hope to see the sport continue to grow especially since football is a male dominated sport and women are often told they cannot play football,” says Ballew. “It is awesome that women are now starting to have prominence in football.”
