Football for all Students create a football league...using only non-athetes

Varsity football is a team that only the best of the best athletes in the school get to play for. The Student Sports League, however, is available to anyone who wants to play. Except varsity athletes.

The founders, seniors Asher Nguyen and junior Sayan Mandal, actually started the league as the result of an argument.

“It started after Sayan was talking trash to me, saying he would beat me in football,” Nguyen said. “And then we both assembled a team and eventually created an Instagram account to invite other teams.”

The League grew quickly and amassed 80 people, making up six teams and a group of referees.

Having so many people involved allows the league to hold games once, or even twice per week.

“It used to be once or twice a week, but the past two weeks have been busy,” Mandal said. “We should go back to once a week soon.”

At the moment, the league doesn’t have a rigid structure.

“We have a group chat with all the head coaches,” Nguyen said. “In there, we talk about who wants to play against who and that’s how the games get scheduled.”

However, the League plans on becoming more official, and the first step is to have an actual tournament bracket.

“We are also trying to plan

Inde Atwood•Opinions Editor & Maham Khan•Reporter

more big events, the first one being a powderpuff game,” Nguyen said.

Due to its rising popularity, the SSL is working on adding more sports such as basketball and soccer.

“We’re also hoping to add a kickball tournament,” Mandal said.

The football games are two-hand-touch, which means tackles are removed, making the game safer. However, the risk is not completely removed, and on one fateful Monday in February, during a regular game, senior Austin Nguyen was injured by a cleat.

“Some dude was wearing metal baseball cleats,” Asher Nguyen said. “He ended up tripping, which made Austin trip over him and his shin cut across the other guy’s cleat.”

As a result, the league has banned metal cleats and spikes, per their Instagram post.

The SSL is open to most people who want to join, making it a great socializing opportunity for students.

“It’s a good place to meet people and make new friends,” said junior Paul Adeboje, a temporarily retired member of the SSL.

The League’s very first game was action packed and a memorable day for all of the players.

“Our first game was 5656, there was no defense, and we just kept scoring over and over again,” Asher Nguyen said.

Since Nguyen is a senior, he will need someone to replace him.

“Once I leave, Sayan will be the only commissioner and he will have to choose a partner and a successor for himself,” Nguyen said. No adults are involved, so the responsibility to keep the league going lies completely on the students who run it.

“The plan is to make SSL into a club by next year,” Mandal said. “If any teachers want to sponsor us, please do.”

Students can join the SSL by visiting their Instagram @studentsportleague and contacting the commissioners.