Powder Puff, for as long as people can remember, has been a staple in high school life. Every year during Rocky Mountain’s Homecoming week, junior and senior girls face off in flag football games. The seniors cheat by tying flags and winning absurd calls by the refs, and the juniors try way too hard to win with the odds stacked against them. It’s a highly competitive way to kick off Homecoming. Not only that, but it gets people involved and excited for the week–and even year ahead.
The tradition of Powder Puff in the United States dates back to 1972, started by Mark T. Sheehan High School. It started almost immediately after President Nixon and the government passed Title IX amendment in June of 1972. The comprehensive federal law states that “no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation, in be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.” The Title IX coordinator at Rocky is Ms. Nickel, and she is responsible for addressing all of the complaints about discrimination on the basis of sex in our school.
The term “powder puff” comes from the soft pad that girls generally use to apply makeup to their face. Some argue that powder puff is a sexist ideal and should be gotten rid of to adapt to societal norms of equality. Others feel it is empowering for high school girls to be able to get their own version of “Friday Night Lights.” While the name definitely has sexist undertones, the game itself is nothing more than a competitive all-girls flag football game.
Rocky Mountain has hosted powderpuff games for a number of years now to kick off the Lobos’ Homecoming week. There were around 100 girls who participated, with Mr. Bruell, Mr. Wells, Mr. Crist, and Mr. Stapleton helping to ref. Ms. Nickel is the reason these games were possible and why everyone had so much fun. There were three senior teams and three junior teams, with each team getting two, 20 minute games. The seniors swept the juniors with minimal to no cheating, but there’s no hard feelings going into this celebratory week.
When asked about how the games and overall experience was, senior Gabi Valencia said, “It was super fun, it was just a super fun environment to be in. . . . We had so much fun killing the juniors, so it was super cool.”
Junior Hannah Smith seconded this, saying, “It was very fun to compete against the other class and make new friends. Making t-shirts with my teammates was a good bonding experience and activity.”
“I believe the juniors were better!” Smith added.
