EAST ORANGE, NJ — Football undoubtedly has been one of the most popular sports in the East Orange community.
The youth level teams have served as a strong feeder program for the highly successful East Orange Campus High School football team, which celebrated an undefeated state championship season in 2021.
But what about the girls?
The East Orange Recreation Department wants to give young girls the opportunity to learn and play the sport with a new girls flag football program this
spring.
The program made its debut a few weeks ago with 26 girls in grades 5-7.
The team competes in a Paterson-based league and made an emphatic impression in its first game with a 34-0 victory on the road against a Paterson team.
The head coach and coordinator is Kaleena Koon. The assistant coaches are Tyrone Miles and Carl Brackin.
The team played its first home game on Saturday, May 13, at Columbian Park.
East Orange Recreation Director Jamal Pearson is excited about the program.
“The reason why we created the program was to have another sports program to help build the confidence and the self-esteem of the girls, and put them on course of learning flag football and if they stay with the sport, they can move on to playing at the high school, and eventually the goal is to get them to play on the college level on scholarship.”
What’s interesting about the program is that not only is this the first time that the girls are playing flag football, but also the first time playing any sport, Pearson said.
The program will prove beneficial for the EOCHS girls flag football team, under head coach Baja Rowe.
The recreation girl flag football team plays a six-game schedule, followed by playoffs and a championship game.
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