The Carolina Scorpions, a local women’s tackle football team from the area, made what was once an unthinkable decision last week, which left the organization’s future up in the air.

One year after playing through their first official season, the Scorpions canceled their 2024 season after problems with their field and player pool.

“It was going good, and then of course, life happens,” co-owner Jasmine Ceasar said. “Dealing with adult women, most of them have kids, we have jobs. So it just came down to making a decision that was healthier for people.”

Carolina was days away from starting its 2024 campaign before making the decision. The Scorpions were scheduled for a game the week before the announcement but had to cancel the game due to poor field conditions.

The team was playing at Seven Oaks Park in Irmo and had trouble with scheduling times and field maintenance, Ceasar said. Looking for a replacement on short notice is almost impossible with the amount of recreational events in the area.

Aside from the field problem, the Scorpions had a player problem. They didn’t have enough of them.

Ceasar said the team has around 12 fully committed players. The team members mostly self-fund things like gear and travel, leaving the burden of pay on the players.

The number showing up this season was not enough to cut it. The risk of injury in tackle football was too high to move forward with that few people.

“Even though we had like 12 people, it still was, ‘hey, we still have to go to work. We don’t need anybody getting injured,’ and that was it really,” Ceasar said. “It was about the players and where we needed them to be.”

Ceasar hopes the team can overcome these obstacles and make a comeback in 2025.

To make this happen the team needs to get their numbers up, and more importantly, find a permanent and suitable home to practice and play.

Finding new players to join the team can be difficult.

There is no player pool to pull from. Women do not traditionally play tackle football at a competitive level in college or high school.

The team finds players through word of mouth and social media, limiting their potential candidates even more.

“The biggest thing is word of mouth, passing out business cards and all that good stuff,” Ceasar said. “Even going to events or wearing our gear and people ask us, ‘Hey, who are you?’ And so we end up telling them.”

Carolina was making strides in building their social presence after one year, which would have helped in recruitment.

“It was our second year, so we were getting the resources and bringing them in,” Caesar said. “We have actually had a season. We can get pictures, videos and tell people ‘Hey this is us. We’re real. This is what we’re doing.’”

Ceasar has been an advocate for the sport for years in the Midlands. She used to play on a different team before helping found the Scorpions in 2020.

“We wanted to actually provide something different to South Carolina as well,” Caesar said. “I feel like it still would do really good here because South Carolina is finally getting on to women’s sports.”

The sport not only benefits the communities but the players who are on the team. It provides women a safe space to deal with mental health, stay healthy physically and build camaraderie and teamwork skills with people who have a similar interest.

Ceasar encourages those who love football and are interested in potentially having a place to play to give it a shot.

“Try it out, and if you like it, stay,” Ceasar said. “If you don’t, at least you tried out, and you can let somebody else know, ‘Hey, this is fun. It’s not as bad as I thought.’”

The Scorpions will have around a year to recruit more players and find a hospitable field. Ceasar has been communicating with other women’s football club owners to get help in determining how to best navigate the organization’s future.

She is determined to rebuild the team and get it back in action next season. The alternative hadn’t even crossed her mind. 

“I’ve never actually thought of that,” Caesar said. “Next for us is switching, rebuilding, just doing things, if I can, differently, even outsourcing and pulling different resources from different areas.”