Girls flag football team comes together to win league title

BLOOMFIELD HILLS — A group of girls from around metro Detroit came together to win this season’s Girls Take The Field flag football league in Bloomfield Hills.

The team, which wore Los Angeles Rams shirts for the championship game, was a diverse group that came together through flag football.

“I truly believe our success was because of our diversity,” team coach Zafar Shamoon said. “They respected each other’s backgrounds and talents. They listened to each other and they were respectful to our coaches. … They came together and bonded.”

A lot of other teams in the league have players who have played together for years, or who have a lot of experience in flag football. This group was mostly girls who not only hadn’t played together before, but who didn’t even know each other before the first practice.

“Five of these girls were new to the team and didn’t go to the same school,” Shamoon said. “Of the nine girls, only three went to the same school, and one didn’t even know that the other two went to her school… It made me really proud of how we came together.”

The league is run by Genevieve Caffelli who started SNAPtivities flag football program in 1999 and the Girls Take The Field league in 2020. The programs aim to give boys and girls opportunities to play sports in a fun but competitive environment.

“It’s fun, recreational. There’s lots of touches on the ball,” Caffelli explained. “And it’s only one day a week for a couple of hours. So they’re not making this huge commitment after school.”

The Girls Take The Field league, which has now played 10 seasons, has seen exponential growth over the last few years, with the hope that it will continue trending upwards in the future.

“Girls Take The Field, because at that point we were sick and tired of waiting for it to be given to us,” Caffelli said. “(Now) we have over 350 girls per season, which is about 700 girls a year that come out.”

Shamoon, or “Coach Z” as most people call him, had players from all over the area for his team, and Caffelli is hoping that she can continue to reach more girls going forward.

“There’s no other leagues around. So I’m really going to do a big push this year to try to get more players from outside the district,” Caffelli said. “It’s open to anybody from any city and anywhere. You come out here and we’ll get you on the team and give you an opportunity to play.

Girls flag football is growing at a rapid pace. There are schools all over the country that are adding the sport to the list of programs offered, and it will even be in the 2028 Summer Olympics.

There are winter and spring programs available to sign up for. To learn more about Girls Take The Field and SNAPtivities, visit www.girlstakethefield.com and www.snaptivities.com.