This photograph is part of High School Football, a series Opie worked on between 2007 and 2009. For the project, she travelled across several US states, photographing youth football, playing fields and the players who took part.

The series explores how sport can bring people together and play an important role in local identity and culture. Rather than focusing on the action of the games themselves, Opie is often interested in what happens around them: the pauses, the waiting and the people who come together through sport. The landscape surrounding the field is equally important, revealing something about the place, the local community and the environment in which the sport is played.

In this photograph from Twentynine Palms, a team is shown against the distinctive desert landscape of California. The landscape is a central element of the image, connecting the sport to the place and the people who gather there. As a result, the photograph is as much about community and belonging as it is about sport.