The girls flag football team here at Apex High School made its debut in sports this year. Here is how the season went. 

First off, the girls on the team were hard working and determined to earn their place as the regional champions. They won nine games overall and only lost two games. The Lady Cougars fought hard, played games on Saturdays, and had tournaments against other schools. 

Coco Lavielle started the whole idea of this addition to women’s sports in Wake County and was determined to get her idea approved and make a team at each school for it. Every school but Apex Friendship hopped on this train and started their teams. I talked to a few of the players, and here is their take on the season and some improvements they hope could happen. Coco Lavielle (‘26) stated, “I wanted to start this team because I have always had a desire to play flag football, especially when I would watch these girls from teams all over the world play and to see how happy it made them. The season ended, and we are the regional champions. Apex’s record was 9-2. I wish that instead of playing games all in one day, maybe split it up between one ortwo days a week. I would say it was exhausting and drained our energy.”

Leah Hulse (‘25) said, “I really enjoyed this season a lot. Some improvements I think could be made are not having as many games in a day. Also having games on days other than Saturdays and having the games at home so more people can come and watch. I decided to do flag football because a lot of my friends were doing it, and at the moment I wasn’t doing a sport, so I decided to try it because why not. I want to start doing things that are more out of my comfort zone, and this was just one of them. It turned out to be one of my favorite things I have done. I loved my teammates, coaches, and getting the experience to play a new sport at our school.” 

Both girls loved the outcome of this season and will continue this path into next year as well. It is helpful that this season is short and falls in a gap period between fall and spring sports. It is also a great way for the girls here at Apex to gain team building skills and try something potentially out of their comfort zone. Overall, the addition of girls flag football was an excellent choice that all girls at Apex could potentially enjoy.