Rocky River’s Nora Bruder (left) and Elyria Catholic’s Jules Cerny (right) created Girls on the Turf to promote awareness for girls flag football. (Credit: Mark Perez-Krywany)
AAU basketball teammates Nora Bruder (Rocky River) and Jules Cerny (Elyria Catholic) had a vision to promote girls flag football. As a result, Girls on the Turf was formed.
On June 1, Girls on the Turf hosted a festival at the Westshore YMCA in Westlake to promote the sport, which is not officially sanctioned by the OHSAA.
“We are thrilled to host the Girls on Turf event and provide a platform for young female athletes to showcase their talents,” said Joe Cerny, District Executive and Vice President of Property for the YMCA of Greater Cleveland. “With the generous support of CrossCountry Mortgage, we aim to inspire and empower the next generation of female athletes.”
The girls flag football scene has picked up on the East Side of Cleveland, along with Berea-Midpark. Bruder and Cerny aim to expand the game to their backyard.
“We want girls to get into football. It is really a dominant boys sport, but for girls, this is not really as big. I hope this helps with that,” Cerny said. “I don’t think many people know about it. Not many schools have it as a varsity sport. Hopefully, it will be a varsity sport.”
The event was free to the public. Attendees experienced activities such as flag football games and skills clinics. It was tailored to suit people of all ages and came with food trucks, vendors and entertainment.
“This was a community event, so we just wanted to get girls together to play on the turf,” Bruder said. “We really wanted to open our network with people and friends. We had teams from Euclid here and wanted to make more friends.”
Girls on the Turf had several sponsors, but it hit a new level once the Cleveland Browns joined, which further legitimized the festival that took 4-to-5 weeks to set up. Brownie the Elf, the Browns’ mascot, arrived to take pictures with those in attendance.
“They came to us through CrossCountry Mortgage,” Joe Cerny said. “Having that (brand) here really helps lend credibility to the event, boost the girls and really great to have their resources behind it. We had certified OHSAA officials for the event.”
The festival had four teams that competed in a football tournament. The teams were Youth Impact Bearcats, Euclid Pantheress, Kiss My Endzone, and Hail Mary. Kiss My Endzone had players from Avon Lake, North Ridgeville and Rocky River, including Bruder. Hail Mary consisted of Elyria Catholic students and Cerny.
“Team sports are amazing, first of all. They have more opportunities to have more team sports,” Cerny said. “There are about 20 college programs offering college scholarships for flag football. It is an Olympic sport. There is a real opportunity for these girls to have another avenue to play sports competitively in high school and in college.”
Bruder and Cerny hoped to generate enough interest to start a spring league, as their high schools do not have flag football teams and could not find one through CYO.
“(This sport) will be big. Every school will have this as a varsity sport. I hope,” Cerny said.
