Bucs ramp up support for girls flag football, now an Olympic sport

TAMPA — The line of girls inside the West Club of Raymond James Stadium Tuesday stretched the length of a football field as the Bucs hosted opening night for their sixth annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic.

One hundred and nine teams — from Miami to Tallahassee and representing 18 counties ― are participating in the event, evidence of the fastest-growing sport in the state and the nation.

The tournament runs Wednesday through Saturday at the Ed Radice Sports Complex in north Tampa. The field includes eight-time state champion Robinson High School.

The Bucs announced Wednesday they also will host the 2024 FHSAA Girls Flag Football State Championships at AdventHealth Training Center in Tampa.

As she surveyed the scene Tuesday, Vanita Krouch, quarterback for the U.S. Women’s Flag National Team, shook her head in amazement.

Now in her 40s and flag football’s version of Tom Brady, Krouch can’t believe the explosion of participation in the sport, which will be part of the 2028 Summer Games in the Olympics in Los Angeles.

“To wear the stars and stripes, the red, white and blue, it’s a huge honor,” Krouch said. “I remember what it feels like to be in their position. Maybe not in flag football, but growing up as a basketball player, to go to camp and having those athletes come out and speak to us, it just resonates with me. I hope moments like these will pay forward to the other girls.”

Growing up in Texas, Krouch was surrounded by tackle football, but there really weren’t opportunities for girls to play the sport. She played basketball at SMU and didn’t pick up flag football until her career with the Mustangs had ended.

“When I started playing flag football, it was just an outlet to me,” Krouch said. “Recreational, exercise, a chance to make friends. It was inspiring playing the boys and beating them. Now to come out on this stage is like, ‘What am I even doing? Don’t pinch me, I’m going to keep dreaming.’”

At the forefront of the movement has been Bucs owner/president Darcie Glazer Kassewitz, who also has fostered opportunities for women in the NFL both in the front office and on the playing field as coaches.

“We’re in our sixth annual preseason classic, and it’s grown year over year. And really, this is the largest one we’ve ever had and we’re so thrilled,” Kassewitz said. “We’ve always believed in women in sports, and the Buccaneers have always held that in very high regard. So we’re just so happy that flag football is really growing at the pace that it is and really has given women an opportunity to get in the game.”

That opportunity has grown to include competing at the international level. The more than 1,600 high school athletes in the audience Tuesday may have included a future Olympian.

The process to make the national team starts with talent evaluation, said Scott Hallenbeck, executive director of USA Football and vice president of the International Federation of American Football.

There are four USA Football-operated tournaments, as well as sanctioned flag football tournaments, around the country. Players also can submit testing and demographic information through a digital combine run in partnership with GMTM, a a social network that connects athletes, organizations and brands.

Selected players will be invited to the U.S. National Team Trials, where they will be tested in individual, one-on-one and five-on-five drills, and scrimmages.

“We’ll take that roster of athletes that we invite, that roster will go down to 18,” Hallenbeck said. “Then they’ll come back again for training camp. That 18 goes to 12, and that’s who we’ll fly to Finland this year and actually compete in the world championships.”

The U.S. women’s team won the last two world championships, beating Panama in 2018 and Mexico in 2021. The next is slated for Finland in August.

The Bucs’ support for girls flag football is an extension of their work to create opportunities for those who have been denied them. They always have been one of the most inclusive NFL franchise when it comes to hiring.

They were the first to employ two full-time female assistant coaches: defensive line assistant Lori Locust (now with the Titans) and Maral Javadifar, who is in her fifth season with the team and second as director of rehabilitation/performance. Sarah Evans is senior manager of coaching operations, and Jacqueline Davidson is vice president of football research.

“We are just so appreciative of all the Glazer family is doing to promote young women and women in sports,” said Dasha Smith, the NFL’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer. “Just looking out in this room and seeing all these women in sports, it’s just so heartwarming. It’s pretty unbelievable and surreal to me.

“They’re a huge part, and it starts with these young women being trailblazers. They don’t get it quite yet, but I think one day they’re going to look back and realize all that they’re doing for the sport, what they’re doing for football in general, and not just flag football and not just here in Florida but around the world.”

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