The 2011 varsity flag football season has finally come to an end. With 10 games in the season, the team won 2 and unfortunately lost 8.
“There were many highlights to the season such as seeing the girls improve, work together, truly learning the game, and seeing them never give up. I loved seeing the smiles on the girls’ faces and hearing their excitement knowing they were all having fun. The team routed each other on to do their best and that is exactly what we did,” Coach Melisa Hatem said.
The schools in our district consisted of Tarpon, Eastlake, Dunedin and Countryside. Since Countryside lost all their games, PHU automatically advanced to Districts. The team played in the Pinellas County All-Conference tournament which didn’t mean anything if they won or lost. The team lost their first district game to Dunedin with a final score of 24-16.
“This season was a rebuilding year; there was a lot of inexperience from both the coaches and the players. It was an overall good learning experience,” Coach Gi Sung said.
Both Coach Sung and Coach Hatem took the responsibility for both Junior Varsity and Varsity this year.
“It was very tiring and a lot of work to coach both Junior Varsity and varsity. I didn’t like that I couldn’t commit my full attention to either team and for next year I feel the players should play both offense and defense,” Sung said.
Hatem also recognizes some changes have to be made to prepare for next season.
“I can only speak for the defense since I only the coach the defensive players. I know there’s always room for improvement, so I would work on flag pulling, catching/intercepting, and watching more game tapes. I think it’s important the girls see what you’re talking about instead of just hearing it,” Hatem said.
Hopefully next season will have a better outcome and the girls will keep their heads held high.
“The most valuable outcome of the season was not the record, but the type of people that walked off the field,” Hatem said.