The 2014 Powder Puff football tournament has been cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. It would have occurred on Saturday, November 1, but all of Chalfont and Warrington was greeted unpleasantly with torrential downpours and cold, harsh winds—making it impossible to hold the tournament at CB South.

Before the games were set to begin, Taylor Risich, a sophomore participant, said “This is going to be bad, it’s pouring outside.” She was worried about being able to catch the ball since it would be wet and slippery.

“It’s going to be freezing,” she continued, “I guess I’m going to have to wear my Under Armour underneath the Powder Puff jersey.” As many of the participants got ready and layered their clothing in preparations for a cold and soaking game, they hoped for a cancellation.

“They’ll probably cancel it right before we are about to play. There’s no way we can play in this,” said Taylor. She was right—senior Chuck Braun notified his team of sophomores and juniors at 7:12 am Saturday via text.

Emily D’Agostino, another sophomore participant, complained that she was “really looking forward to playing, but [she] understands that the conditions were unsuitable for games to be played.”

Risich disagreed, saying “I thought it would have been fun. I was ready to play.” She didn’t care about the bad weather because “that’s football weather, and [she] wanted to experience that.”

“It would have been hard,” she added, “A lot of passes would have been dropped since it was so wet and cold out, but I would have wanted to try,” explained Risich. She said she would have adapted to the conditions and made the catches as a reliable wide receiver.

Regardless, the fields would have been destroyed, and many participants agreed that it would have been a miserable experience.

While coaches tried to prepare girls for the tournament, practice was labeled as “semi-productive” by Taylor Risich.

“We got our positions, ran a little, and learned a few solid plays. Then we did special teams, but since the event isn’t serious, the practices weren’t either.” she said. The sophomore team practiced twice, for about an hour both times.

Amanda Mattern, a senior participant, said, “Nobody on the senior team really knows what they’re doing. We practiced, but it’s really just for fun.”

That was the purpose of organizing a Powder Puff football tournament, after all. Typically, Powder Puff football is played by high school or college girls and is a way of promoting getting involved and learning how to play a sport traditionally played by men.

Powder Puff football is typically flag or two-hand touch, meaning there is no contact and to get a person down, one must lightly touch the carrier with both hands.

Blocking in two-hand touch is practically non-existent. No participant is allowed to raise his or her arms in order to block while on offense or defense; this is to prevent injury.

Since no pads are worn during Powder Puff, defense’s job is to follow an offensive player and cover her to make sure no pass is completed. There’s no contact, though, so all the girl on defense can do is set a pick like she is playing basketball.

While D’Agostino and Mattern wished that the tournament was flag football, Risich explained that “it should be two-hand touch.” She said she “wouldn’t want to see anyone get hurt over a game that’s just supposed to be fun.”

Taylor said she liked playing because her coaches Chuck Braun, Ben Clark, Brian Scheiblein and Jake Stock all “knew what they were doing and made it fun at the same time.”

She said her favorite play was called Nike, and she liked it because “it was easy, and the coaches made sure we perfected it.”

Chuck Braun, the sophomore coach, said “Nike is a perfect touchdown play. With our island play, Panera, no one on defense would have known what hit them. It would have been golden.” The sophomores were due to face the CB West seniors for their first game at 9:00am Saturday.

An email from Mr. McGlone, the coordinator for Powder Puff, abruptly declared that CB West would not participate in the Powder Puff tournament this year. The reasons for this are unknown; however, CB East and CB South both had three teams ready on Saturday.

All of CB South’s teams had two practices and were ready to play. On the first practice, coaches told their teams about the rules and regulations of the tournament.

The games would have been played on 40-yard fields at South. Penalties could be issued for unsportsmanlike conduct, false starts, and illegal blocking. Blitzing would have been allowed after a three second count.

However, due to weather, the games were called early Saturday morning, and no one was permitted to play. The games may or may not be rescheduled, but as of right now, the 2014 Powder Puff football tournament has been completely cancelled.