Wazzup Pilipinas!
American Football is a sport which is known to be played mostly by men. But, the Philippine Lady Punishers prove us that that’s not the case anymore through the First Women’s American Football game in Manila held last November 09, 2014 at the ASCOM Field in Taguig City.
Philippine Lady Punishers competed against the Guam Gridiron Divas, Guam’s own female football team. It was their second time to compete against each other- their first match happened last January 2014 in Quezon City.
It was an intense fight for both teams were eager to show their own abilities in the sport. Excitement can be seen in everyone’s eyes, especially in the audience. There were loud yells whenever the team they were rooting for made an excellent run or a touchdown happened!
The game ended with a score of 59-6 in favor of the Guam Gridiron Divas, but that doesn’t mean that our very own Philippine Lady Punishers didn’t do well. The Guam Gridiron Divas is already playing for about 3 to 4 years while the Philippine Lady Punishers is around for more than just a year. The Philippine Lady Punishers didn’t really make it easy for the Guam Gridiron Divas to win the game so, it wasn’t really that bad- especially for a neophyte in the sport. They performed even better than a beginner for they were able to give a good fight against a more experienced opponent.
The Philippine Lady Punishers and the Philippine Punishers – their male counterpart - are the pioneering members of the American Football Federation of the Philippines (AFFP), a non-profit organization in the Philippines founded on October 2011. The Lady Punishers was founded in 2013 when Coach Tim Beasley, AFFP Director, initiated an American Football clinic that is exclusive for females. From the initial name of Valkyries, the team’s name was changed into Lady Punishers in August 2014 when they started training with the male Punishers.
After the game, both teams gathered at the center of the field for a picture taking.
One of the AFFP’s goals is to promote American Football in the Philippines. But what’s more moving for me is that they show that not only males can play the sport - also the women.
I can see that there will be a lot more opportunities for our football teams. They have a lot of potential which may take them farther than what they expect to reach. They just have to put their best foot forward and always put their heart in the game they truly love and enjoy.
Contributed by Jan Jenica David
Ross is known as the Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas - An Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Professional by profession and a Social Media Evangelist by heart.
I'm proud of these people because they were able to represent our country for this competition and they did their best to be able to give pride not only for their team, but also for their country. :)
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