This fall, there appears to be a break in the tradition. Yes, the homecoming dance was this past weekend, and yes, the football team continues to play, but where are the powder puff practices?

The intense flag football game between the junior class and senior class is not occurring during the fall this year. Unlike years prior, the game will be held during the spring in order for both teams to have more time to practice, and to get more involvement for the school community. Mr. McCulla, leadership teacher, stated, “this will allow for more people to be involved, more time to advertise, more time to plan, more time to get dancers and cheerleaders, and most importantly more time to make it the fun event it is supposed to be”.

By pushing the competition back, the goal is that powder puff is given back to the student body. Hopefully in the spring football players will have more time to coach the girls, as it will not be interfering with their season. However, senior Aya Raihanoune, who participated in powder puff last year, says the change in schedule has her feeling conflicted. “I’ve talked to people who said it being pushed back is helpful, because right now they’re stressed out about college. But at the same time, later in the year everyone will be stressed out about AP exams. It’s senior year, so I want to be involved and do something fun, but I’m not sure I’ll be able to do powder puff this year,” said Raihanoune.

As opposed to previous years, the leadership class is taking charge of powder puff instead of the junior class. Like always, there will be teacher sponsors who will coach the junior and senior girls team, but anyone with an interest will be encouraged to come out to coach. In order to be part of the team, girls have to attend at least 5 practices before the game.

The tradition of the powder puff game has been in place for more than thirteen years. As of right now, the seniors are on a nine year winning streak. However, McCulla notes, “I am confident that the juniors are going to win this year. I just have a feeling that the juniors are going to show up, practice, and put on a great show.” As someone who has been a coach in previous years, this statement should be taken with a grain of salt. However, in response to this Raihanoune stated, “Winning powder puff doesn’t really matter as much to me. I like powder puff because of the girls there, and we are good as a team whether we win or we lose.”

While it would be entertaining to extend the powder puff competitions beyond Oakton, complicated FCPS regulations do not make this possible. If there were games between schools, powder puff would technically considered a league. If it was a league, there is more paperwork involved, which means FCPS does not to allow rival schools not to play each other. Additionally, this year it would not work as well because schools like Chantilly and Madison are having their games in the fall.

The good news is, Oakton is having a powder puff game – just stay tuned for the spring to see who will win, and if Mr. McCulla’s predictions will be true.