Starting this year, the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD) has reconfigured junior high intramural schedules across all schools. Not only has the district changed the order of sports in each season, but for the first time in over 10 years, girls softball is not being offered. Instead, it is being replaced with girls flag football.
Because of the limited availability of facilities between junior high and high school sports, the schedule was changed to maximize the usage of athletic resources, especially considering that there are now two combined junior high and high school campuses in AUHSD (Oxford Academy and Orangeview Western).
“The staggering was supposed to help accommodate the seven through twelve [grade] sports,” Mrs. Heath, Oxford Academy’s Intramural Director, said. “I like that we moved cross country to the fall because it’s the same as high school, and it’s introducing and getting them used to high school sports.”
The first quarter now has boys basketball and boys cross country replacing boys flag football and tennis, which have both been moved to the second quarter. Boys volleyball and boys soccer are now in the third and fourth quarters, respectively.
Girls volleyball has been moved to the second quarter and replaced with girls soccer and girls cross country in the first quarter. In the third quarter, girls flag football and tennis will be offered while girls basketball and track are now fourth quarter sports.
One of the most notable changes is the addition of girls flag football and the omission of girls softball. Softball had the fourth highest participation in California, with almost 30,000 players in high school last year as recorded by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF).
The removal of girls intramural softball at Oxford Academy may also have implications on participation for the high school team. Without softball in the intramural sports, future athletes may not have the same opportunity to bond with teammates.
“I have ninth graders that are my friends now because of softball,” eighth grader Miehana Colunga said, a previous player on the intramurals softball team, “I feel like the other grades won’t be able to experience that now.”
For returning players, the first year of intramurals was a time to make new friends and grow confidence playing other sports.
“Because of softball, I’m doing other intramural sports because it was really fun,” Colunga said.
While girls softball may be more established in Oxford Academy, the inclusion of girls flag football in junior high intramurals is a step to diversifying the selection of sports available. The popularity of girls flag football has reached AUHSD with the CIF reporting an 84% increase in participation in California from the previous season, especially with pushes from the National Football League (NFL) to promote girls flag football.
“There will be some growing pains because it’s new, but it’s emerging, and it’s in the future, so we have to adapt, and we have to move,” girls flag football coach Ms. Armstrong says.
