Despite a 20-6 first-game loss to Maine South, new head coach and ETHS class of ‘98 alum Carlton Rosemond believes that the girls Flag Football team can build off last season where the Kits finished 9-4. Unfortunately, their season ended last fall with a loss against Glenbrook South in the playoffs
Rosemond will replace Luella Gesky, and he will oversee the team’s first official season as a sport as it was officially classified as a club last year.
“I spent a lot of time coaching alongside coach Gesky last season, so it felt right for me to be the one to step into the spotlight,” Rosemond remarked.
Rosemond’s goal is to make the transition of power a smooth one for his coaching staff and players. He plans to achieve this by attempting to emulate the success that Gesky had when it came to communicating her plans to her players.
“I feel like coach Gesky gave players big shoes and then helped them grow into them over time, and I want to do the same,” Rosemond said.
Rosemond will have help leading from senior captain Hannah Honoré who was voted to the All-State team last season. Honoré, who doubles as running back and linebacker, believes that leading people has always been in her DNA.
“I’m a person who likes to lead, my mom has always called me the bossy child,” Honoré said. “I am able to feel for other people and I know that not everyone is perfect.”
Although the team has gained a handful of more experienced individuals, Honoré and Rosemond both recognize that in order for the sport to popularize, they want to make having fun the priority opposed to winning. The majority of girls that are signing up also play another sport and joined the program because they believed their skills would translate.
“We spent a lot of time last year teaching the absolute basics, taking in athletes with different sets of skills and molding them into the stars we have today,” Rosemond attested.
Honoré was a track kid who developed a love for football because it ran in her family. Her Uncle Deion Branch was a wildly successful NFL player who had an essential role in the 2005 Super Bowl catching 11 passes of Tom Brady’s passes for 133 yards, helping the Patriots to their third Super Bowl in four years and claiming the games MVP honors.
Although often labeled as the team’s “superstar”, Honoré insists that the team’s success was due to their underlying friendship and their willingness to fight for each other.
“I can’t tell you what players to look out for because I would have to list 23 girls,” Honoré stated.
This unity extends down the girls Flag Football team’s family, which is now around 50 girls strong as the newly established JV and frosh/soph teams have become a force with famed future freshman quarterback Ella Martin leading the offense.
“The girls’ sports market is in a great place right now with spots like college and pro basketball blowing up, it feels like girls Flag Football launched at just the right time for it to really explode in popularity,” said Honoré.
The Kits will compete in the CSL conference and attempt to be the first of over a hundred teams-an increase from around 80 teams last fall-to win the girl’s flag football ISHA state championship. This is a very ambitious goal, and the team would settle for a deep playoff run.
“In the next five to ten years I would like to see us win a few conference championships and challenge for some state championships, but our first priority is to establish a feeder system that extends down to girls in middle and elementary school so they can perfect their craft before they come and play for us,” said Rosemond.
The team is more excited about the long-term future of girl’s Flag Football than any immediate on-the-field success.
“I want it so that five or ten years down the line, girls can sign up knowing that if they have success there will be college scholarships waiting for them,” Rosemond asserted.
Not only is Flag Football likely to popularize at the collegiate level allowing many girls who would not be able to afford to attend college to have a pathway through the sport, but they could even play it at the biggest stage of all as the sport will be added for both men and women at the 2028 summer Olympic games in Los Angeles.
“I really want my little sister to go to ETHS in a few years knowing that she can pursue girls flag football at the highest level,” remarked Honoré.
