Disclaimer: Future For Football is an initiative of the National Football Foundation, created to highlight the lessons and values that football imparts. Get involved and sign up to play today by visiting Future for Football for resources, a League Locator tool, and much more.
I still remember when I was 11 years old, and learning that my hometown – Jacksonville, Florida – would have their own team in the National Football League (NFL). It was exciting, but I had no clue in that moment how much it would transform my community.
Having an NFL team (in my case, the Jacksonville Jaguars) really widened the scope of what football meant. Sure, there was the obligatory Gators – Seminoles rivalry, but this… it was different. It’s been well over 20 years, but I can still remember sitting with groups of people in various living rooms throughout the years, watching the Jaguars play. I still remember the moment that the Jaguars won the Ambush at Mile-High, sitting with a bunch of family and friends, screaming at the television when Mark Brunell threw that fourth-quarter touchdown pass to take us to the AFC Championship.
All these years later, and that moment still resonates with me, because football has become so much more than just entertainment. It brings people together.
Today, I have my own kids, and football still brings our community closer. The 2023 football season was one of my favorites, because – as people relatively new to Pennsylvania – we didn’t know a lot of people here yet. But when the NFL season began, we found the friendships that we had tentatively started suddenly take off with a passion.
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Every Sunday, our core group of families would meet. Everyone would bring food, our kids would play, and we would cheer on our collective teams. The Eagles, Steelers, Chiefs, Jaguars… we all loved different teams, but together, these were our teams. We were disappointed together when some of them (cough, Jaguars and Steelers) didn’t do as well, and celebrated together when the Eagles and Chiefs made it to the playoffs… or, ultimately, won the Super Bowl again.
I love that the kind of community that I enjoyed as a kid, built out of a common passion, is one that my kids get to enjoy now, too.
Growing up, I didn’t just want to watch football, though. I wanted to participate in it. There was football in the backyard, of course, and in high school, I was lucky enough that there was a flag football team available for girls. I was a running back, and a really good one, too. I loved playing so much. But let’s face it: I was a girl. And opportunities for girls to play football 25 years ago were few and far between. Most of the time, my brother was the one who got to play football, and I was relegated to cheerleading, if I wanted to be part of the league. And while I sort of liked cheerleading, I loved playing football. There was no better feeling than when my quarterback got the ball to me, and I would make it to the outside, past the defenders, and sprint in for a touchdown. It was such a thrill. But I was only ever able to play a handful of games, ever, because there just wasn’t enough available.
There should have been more. And thankfully, for my daughters, today there is.
Flag football is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country today, and especially among women. But it’s also not the only opportunity for girls anymore; there are so many more options to embrace America’s game. And with organizations like Future for Football, there are. There are so many different leagues – flag football, co-ed leagues, and tackle, too – so all of my kids can play if they want to. And really, isn’t that what all of us, as moms, want? For our children to have the opportunities we didn’t have?
For so long, football was thought of as a sport for boys. But things are changing. Today, flag football is one of the fastest-growing sport in the United States, and girls are the fastest-growing segment. Flag football is growing so fast that it’s even set to be an Olympic sport in 2028! And I’m so excited to know that the future for football includes a space for female athletes, too.
Future For Football, an initiative by the National Football Foundation, offers a treasure trove of resources to help you get started no matter what part of the journey you are on. Use the Future For Football league locator to find a football league in your area and sign up today.
