Wednesday night a few of Manhattan High’s ladies, divided into two teams of Blue and White, took the field at Bishop Stadium for a game of Powderpuff football — a game used as an annual fundraiser for Tribe. After signing up to play just a few weeks prior to game night, girls were divided into the two teams at random, and once each girl was placed on a team, it was time to practice.

According to White Team coach Rodney “Rod” Robison, his team had four practices, during which a goal of his was to teach the girls more about the technicalities of the game.

“A lot of them didn’t know a lot about football, so my goal was just to teach the game a little bit, so they knew when we were on offense, when we were on defense, which positions they playing,” Robison said. “A little more [difficult] than trying to get our plays down was trying to get the organization down and a basic knowledge of the game to start with.”

Mike Miller, coach of the Blue Team, agreed for the duration of the practice process, simplicity and the value of learning were key.

“The main thing with Powderpuff football is that we have a short amount of time, so we tried to keep it simple, constantly running plays,” Miller said.

The White Team did not come out of Wednesday’s game with a victory, but Robison explained that while the members of his team walked onto the football field with “very competitive” spirit, they came off the football field with a sense of sportsmanship.

“They showed sportsmanship, showed that they were still all friends. Win or lose, it was fun. I think all the girls had fun,” Robison said.

As for the Blue Team’s win, Miller expressed his pride in the girls’ success.

“I’m really proud of the girls. This is my second year coaching, and every team’s a little different, but in the end, they had fun. We came out on top,” Miller said.

Senior Liz Spooner, member of the White Team, felt that her team’s win was due to hard work, but also attributed the win to a focus on fun.

“Before the game, we got really pumped and crazy. We had a lot of fun, and I felt like we were really a team,” Spooner said. “It was my first year playing, and I had so much fun. Winning was definitely rewarding.”