Powder Puff, a strong tradition that many senior girls participate in, will be held Thursday, October 13.
This year, there are about 163 girls participating on 13 teams. The faculty sponsors of the event are Ms. Jennifer Paul and Ms. Alice Leafblad. They have been organizing powder puff for five years.
In powder puff, each team is assigned a name and a jersey color; the two color options are orange and black. Sara Pritchard, who is playing, said jerseys cost $35 per person.
Each team must have an adult sponsor, which is normally a parent, teacher or any other adult over the age of 21. Each team chooses its own coaches, but football players are not allowed to help the girls practice. Pritchard likes this idea because it makes sure that some teams don’t have an advantage over others. Senior Dan Ryan is a coach for powder puff this year.
“I am very happy I decided to coach because it has been so much fun, and it is a great way to get involved,” said Ryan.
This is the first year that the girls participating in powder puff werenot allowed to pick their own team names. The reason why is because in previous years, Libertyville has had problems with teams picking inappropriate names, Ms. Leafblad said
“The teachers picking the team names is probably better for the school. It may bother some people, but in the end, it is better for Libertyville,” Pritchard stated.
Some people have different views on whether juniors should join the tradition of powder puff.
“It is ingrained into seniors’ heads that only seniors can participate. It would just be very difficult to change,” Ms. Leafblad said.
“It wouldn’t be a big deal if juniors joined, but if they beat the seniors, that might make many senior girls upset,” Pritchard said.
“I don’t think juniors should play powder puff because it takes the tradition away. Also it wouldn’t give seniors anything to look forward to,” junior Emma Waldie said.
Regardless of who participates, powder puff is likely to remain a proud LHS tradition.
“It is important to have powder puff on homecoming week because it shows a lot of school spirit. It gets the student body pumped up for the homecoming game on Friday and the dance on Saturday,” Pritchard said.