Varsity Women’s Flag Football wraps up pilot season
Photo courtesy of GENESEO KNIGHTS
After an impressive inaugural season marked by rapid growth and resilience, the SUNY Geneseo Varsity Women’s Flag Football team is closing out its pilot year with momentum and a clear vision for the future.
As the academic year at Geneseo comes to an end, so does the pilot season of Varsity Women’s Flag Football. This team was sanctioned as Geneseo’s twenty-third varsity sport earlier this year and is one game away from concluding its first season.
With a starting roster of 17 athletes, this team set out to establish Geneseo’s presence as one of the leading flag football teams in New York State’s growing conference. In an interview at the beginning of the semester, Coach Robert Currin expressed that this extra semester of team building and experience would be a huge advantage moving forward.
As the roster stands, only six of the athletes have high school experience, so compared to the other teams like Brockport, Cortland, and Villa Maria, who have established teams, Currin says, “we were extremely inexperienced.”
But, when I talked with him following the Brockport Game on Thursday, Apr. 27, Currin commented that the “novelty of this being new to everybody is wearing off,” and “now it's time for us to shift, and turn that corner into legitimate competitiveness.” With a completed season of learning and growth that Currin describes as “exponential,” the women’s team is ready to hit the ground running next fall. This foundational work is setting the team up for a season of “competing and playing confidently” that, in conjunction with a growing roster of experienced players, will make Geneseo’s Flag Football team a threat to these other experienced schools.
Currin went on about how this season has revealed the intelligence, commitment, and teamwork that defines his student-athletes: “We're dangerous… The players that Geneseo attracts are dangerous because they're smart,” and more than that, “they work well together.” When asked what stands out most about the team, Currin commented that the athletes’ commitment to learning has been impressive, and he’s “really proud of their buy-in.”
Beyond the team’s ability to learn quickly, adapt to changes, and rise to the competition, Currin highlights the team's focus on attitude and effort. This has been their mantra for the whole season, and it has enabled the level of growth and progress the team has seen. This philosophy of “not letting the last throw affect the next throw” is essential, especially when competing against more experienced teams.
At times, this can be hard, Currin admits, “In a results-based world, everybody outside of our circle is looking at Instagram for the score. Okay? Nobody is seeing, nobody sees on Instagram how well we communicated defensively, how we did the things right.”
Despite this, Currin encourages his team to focus on their progress because it is this progress and growth that will lead to the results everyone else can see. This season has been distinguished by “staying consistently positive, and that's something that [he’s] proud of; that's a testament to the character of our roster.”
Looking forward, the team has one final game against Elmira on Saturday, May 3rd. Excitingly, they are hosting an identification camp (ID) camp on May 4. The purpose of this camp is to increase exposure, garner interest, and reinforce the progress that this pilot season has made. The camp is an opportunity for the players to become the coaches in what Currin calls a “pyramid of learning— we learn what we teach to others.” The camp also serves as a chance for high school students who are interested in the Geneseo Flag Football Team to meet the players and see the college team in action.