“I’ve been in [the Adventist] school system my whole life and I’ve always looked forward to playing football when I was in high school,” Glendale Adventist senior Alex Eller says.
For many kids like Eller, who plays quarterback for the Cougars, attending an Adventist high school and playing football are aspirations that simply don’t coincide.
Fielding an 11- or even eight-man tackle football program at a school with an enrollment of approximately 225 students would be very difficult on a number of levels.
But, in cooperation with a network of other California Adventist schools, Glendale Adventist has succeeded in providing its students with an all-inclusive football experience, complete with hands-on coaching and training and a full schedule of competitive intramural-style games against squads of their peers.
“It’s kind of fun because I’ve always watched football, but I never got to play it,” says sophomore Clarissa David, who quarterbacks the girls’ team. “Having a girls’ team here is a great opportunity.”
Says senior wide receiver Katie Crabtree: “I love playing football. [At Glendale Adventist] it was either this or volleyball and I wasn’t really into volleyball.
“The people who are involved in it and the experiences and the new friends you make — it’s really awesome.”
There is a lot of similarity in the styles of play between the girls’ team, coached by Jeff Eller, and the boys’ team, coached by Lindstadt.
The six-on-six scrimmages held on Sunday mornings against schools such as Redlands Academy, San Diego Academy and Loma Linda Academy often feature lots of passing, accompanied by after-the-catch laterals and pitches.
