An all-girls league that started towards the end of the COVID pandemic is growing and fast. They play in Birmingham and Bloomfield Hills.
SNAP Flag Football League features about 150 girls from first to 12th grade.
“We’ve got 11 teams in the younger ages, we’ve got four new high school girls teams and it’s continuing to grow,” said Genevieve Caffelli, coach and founder of the all-girls league.
Caffelli is no stranger to the youth flag football community. About 25 years ago she started a co-ed youth flag football league but only a small number of girls were participating. Eventually she created Snap Flag Football so girls could play with and against each other.
“We’ve waited for so long to be able to wait for somebody to give us an opportunity to play and we finally have realized we’re not waiting anymore we are taking the field,” Caffelli said.
Her players couldn’t be happier with the new league.
“I really like it and I’m really excited to be winning more games and trying to be better at playing football,” said nine-year-old Victoria Michajoyszyn.
Her 11-year-old teammate Ella Scott said, “It’s a great community where we all can build each other’s trust and make friendships.”
Their coach is 10-year-old teammate Selena Shamoon’s dad.
She said, “When anyone scores a touchdown or any points everyone knows that it’s not just that person that did all the work everyone did a part of the play.”
There’s a similar shift happening on the national level.
“There is a huge push through the NFL to put a lot of time and effort and money and energy into this girls’ program. They’re calling it the females and flag initiative that is sweeping the entire country,” said Caffelli.
SNAP Flag Football player 11-year-old Edie Cohen encourages more young girls to join a team.
“Do it! It’s so much fun really fun and sometimes we get to play boys’ teams and we are so good we crush them absolutely destroy them.”
Girls don’t have to live in Birmingham or Bloomfield Hills to participate. The league has multiple seasons throughout the year, more information is available online at snaptivities.com.