Story Written By: Zach Segars @CHSAANow.com
AURORA, Colo. — Denver South's flag football team is off to a remarkable start in the Colorado High School Activities Association's inaugural flag football season.
Through four weeks, the Ravens boast a 4-1 record and are currently riding a four-game win streak, during which they have outscored their opponents by a combined score of 133-26. This winning streak, coupled with Coach Elmore's culture-building efforts, helped the Denver South head coach earn Denver Broncos Flag Football Coach of the Week honors for Week 4.
Tori Elmore
Overall Record at Denver South: 4-1
Overall Record as a Head Coach: 4-1
Previous Coaching Positions: Denver South girls soccer assistant coach (8 years); Hamilton Middle School girls volleyball and girls soccer head coach (3 years).
Why do you coach high school sports?
I love sports and I love coaching sports. They were the biggest part of me growing up. I coach girls, mostly, and I just think it's valuable to have someone advocate for girls' sports and really try to support girls in pursuing as much as they can, getting a chance to explore, and trying different things. I think I have told every kid I have seen that they should go try out for something because it's one of the best things they can do. Coaching sports is just my favorite part of the day.
Why do you think offering flag football is important?
I think it's such a good chance to try something new. There are a lot of sports where it is hard to participate or make the team if you don't have the money to go play travel sports or get all the fancy equipment or whatever. I think girls flag is such a unique opportunity, because anyone can participate. Most of the girls coming in have never played it before, and they just get a chance to go try something new, and a lot of girls aren't afraid to try something new, because they all know that everyone around them kind of has the same experience level.
What does it mean to be part of CHSAA's inaugural flag football season?
It's another great opportunity. I've been trying to tell the girls that this is an amazing chance to build a legacy. We get to define what we want girls flag at Denver South to be and that's the type of opportunity very few ever receive.
Why do you coach the way that you coach?
I've tried really hard this year to make sure that girls flag is fun. We still want to be really competitive, and we want to work hard, but we also want to make it something that the kids enjoy coming to and have fun doing. I just want this to be something that when they look back at high school, they remember flag football and go, 'That was one of the best times I had, was getting to play girls flag.' So I take pride in that, and I make a lot of conscious effort to talk to my players and talk to like my captains about, how we make sure that everybody on the team is being uplifted and having a good time.
What is a lesson you try to teach your players?
I think it's important in girls' sports to take up our space, and realize that we're all going to make mistakes and that it's okay if we make mistakes. You don't have to apologize if we try something and we mess up, because we're all gonna mess up. We're just gonna learn from it every time and we're gonna get better. That's something I've been trying to try to talk to them about. We're part of a team, and that's part of it -- you're gonna make mistakes.
What is something you have learned from coaching?
I'm learning that I still have room to grow in everything I do, and that I can take experiences from my team that I can learn from. Just remembering, 'Hey, I'm not all-knowing'. I'm just part of this team, so it's valuable to hear everyone's feedback and to listen to the girls in all aspects.
What has been the key to your team's success this season?
I think everyone believes in one another and that's been incredible. We are a complete team and it's not just one person that will win or lose us the game. We have amazing depth on our team and everyone can contribute.
What is your goal for the rest of the season?
One goal is to enjoy the moment and enjoy the game. Then the other goal, of course, is we want to win our league, we want to go to the playoffs, and we want to go far in the playoffs.
