DePaul Prep made history for the school this year by adding a new sport to the roster: Girl’s flag football. Flag Football has recently gained more popularity across many other schools in the Chicago area and across the country. Coming off their first season, the Rams had a great season with a record of 10-4 for the varsity team and 0-0 for the JV team. The team was led by Coach Mallette and Coach Nadolna, and when asked about how she thought the Ram’s season went, she replied “The inaugural season for flag football was outstanding…the sisterhood that started from our first sleep under the Sunday before our first practice was amazing.”

Coach Mallette, who has been coaching track and field in sprints for over thirty years, was the head coach of girl’s flag football this season. She reflects, saying this was her first time coaching an only girl’s sport, and did not know how DePaul prep female athletes would react to the adding of flag football to the roster. However, at tryouts, over ninety girls tried out. This excitement around the sport grew throughout the season, as Coach Mallette explains, “The energy that the girls created around what we were able to build was infectious.”

Mr. Nadolna is the assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the flag football team. His main job is to design the defense and make sure players are where they need to be. His role is also to make some adjustments to the offense when needed.  From his experience playing and coaching tackle football he was inspired to become a flag football coach.“I thought it was a unique opportunity to be at the forefront of an emerging sport,” Nadolna said. Nadolna has also never coached a women’s sport before and thought flag football would be a fun opportunity too.

Kaitlin Reap is a senior at DePaul College Prep and plays center receiver. She found out about flag football through schoology and played when she was younger. “When I was younger I thought it was really fun, so when I heard about the school’s new flag football team I was very excited,” Reap said.

With it being the first flag football season, the team’s main goal was to make the season worthwhile. Nadolna really wanted all the players to make the most out of the season and have all the players have a positive experience. “I wanted all the players to have fun and be able to say at the end of the year we were better than we started,” Nadolna said. First-time flag football player sophomore Sophie Schrecengost agrees, saying “This was one of my first times playing basketball, and I feel like the team has built such a great community around it. This season was so much fun.”

Reap also said that the environment was very positive. “It was full of hardworking players and coaches who wanted to see success and growth.” She also said that the sport is very fun to play and support her teammates.

The future is bright for the flag football team as after a great season this is just the beginning . “The level that we got to as a team was far beyond than anyone on the team imagined,” Nadolna said.

Coach Mallette agrees, saying that next year she thinks the program will be even bigger, with more home games and a preseason as well. She explained “We will have a preseason this year…we will have to start tryouts mid-August, and we are also trying to get a gauge on the interest level.” The environment and involvement of the team is why this sport is becoming so popular and the Rams are ready for more seasons to come.