Women’s Flag Football Players ‘Dream’ of a Winning Season

Practicing four days a week and three hours a day, the women who make up Howard's flag football team don't only play hard, they work hard too.  Although, ranked third in the nation most people won't even know about the "Dream," the Howard University women's flag football team.

Having won the NIRSA Mid-Atlantic Regional Flag Football Championship last season, Dream plans on defending their title, Nov. 18 -20 at the University of Maryland-College Park. The team wants to move forward and hopefully achieve a National Championship, which will be held sometime in early January.

Women's flag football has two different tournaments that are held regional and national. For practice, the Dream participates in scrimmages against local flag-football leagues, women and co-ed, to figure out any of their weak points they need to correct for regulation games.

Team captain, Shaterra Neely, a senior accounting major, has high hopes for the continuation of the season and those to come.

"The team's camaraderie only gets stronger by the year," she said.

With eight returning members and seven new members the team is continuing to work hard on building relationships.

This season new quarterback, sophomore Ashley Clark has been working hard to get the team to the Regional Semi-Finals in their first tournament held in North Carolina. Clark knows that she has "big shoes to fill," but remains confident.

 "With plenty of talent, new and old, and as long as we play as a team and we play to our strengths, our game is limitless," Clark said.

 As quarterback she is hoping to help the team get to No. 1  and she is also hoping that she will get to help the seniors on the team see victory in their last year on the team.

The Dream players are preparing to continue their progress and take it all this season, but they hope to be recognized further in the eyes of Howard.

Clark said that most people at Howard don't know they even exist, however Harris said, "when people here at Howard do support, they go all out," Harris said.

Even being such a successful team, Dream is only considered an intramural sport. According to collegeprowler.com, 54 percent of students believe intramural sports are not a big part of campus life. Although tournaments may be out of state, many of the local tournaments or scrimmages go unnoticed.

Some students seem to be interested in seeing the women's flag football team play.

Sophomore Jobina Fortson says, "it would be an interesting experience to watch the team in action."

Support system is a key dynamic in any sport and with the upcoming tournament, the players of Dream wouldn't turn away a bit more support from their peers.

Dream is made up of hard-working individuals and is hoping to aim for the top spot. Working on communication and a better team dynamic these women are setting a standard for themselves to achieve their goals.