It may be shocking that one of the most popular American sports, football, has never had an official program at SUNY Old Westbury. Until now. In spring of 2027, the women’s flag football team will be fully introduced into the National College Athletic Association.
The NCAA is an organization operating as a non-profit that regulates athletics for over 1,000 schools across the United States for competitions, conferences and leagues. SUNY Old Westbury’s Scott Bickard, head coach and intramural sports and recreation coordinator, found humor in how he became the first coach of the team.
“It was funny because, originally, I was just supposed to be like the interim coach,” Bickard said. “I think I was chosen to be the original coach because I had started the flag football intramural league here.”
Bickard said the games, that started March 15, have been simply “practice games.”
Football at universities and colleges doesn’t just build admissions, but culture. Teams have own sense of identity by having a collective moral compass and core values of what builds their team, such as power, courage and teamwork.
“We don’t really have staff assistant coaches,” Bickard said. “But we do have 44 guys that play in our intramural flag league.”
Those 44 men have all put in the time to help be assistant coaches, helping teach the team how to properly play a game of football.
Paige Francis, a freshman player on the team, who has played flag football since high school, supported the idea of the guys helping.
“The men, they’re really helpful,” Francis said. “They help you get more aggressive.”
Though getting the benefits of a finished team is great, starting a team can be difficult, especially when they have never played together.
“I feel like we could have better team chemistry,” Francis said. “I feel like because we’re still new and we still don’t really know each other . . . so we’re trying to build that up.”
Gender is also a factor in the struggle for the new program. Football is a predominantly male sport, with few places for women of all ages to fully participate.
“Since they’re girls, they didn’t play in leagues because there were none when they were younger,” Bickard said. “So, they’re new to the movements of football.”
Though the practice season has not been exactly what some players would like, players hope the team bonds get stronger as next spring season rolls around.
“I feel like we’re a really strong team,” Francis said. “We just need to work on our communication.”