Girls gain yards on flag football field

That led them to launch Texas Fury, an all-girls' flag football select travel team. At first, they had six girls. These days, the Fury has more than 60 players and seven different teams in various age groups.

Ashlea earned a flag football scholarship at Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida, one of nearly two dozen NAIA schools that have programs. Last May, Ottawa University in Kansas cemented its dynasty by winning the program's third straight NAIA women's flag football title over Thomas University (Georgia) at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

"My daughter getting an opportunity to go play in college- it's one of those dreams come true," Jason Klam said. "And with the sport being added to the Olympics, the future is just tremendous."

Ashlea Klam was back home in Austin in October - lobbying for Texas high schools to include girls flag football as a varsity sport -when she awoke to a text from her parents. A simple screen shot: Flag football was officially in for the 2028 LA Games. Her sport, the one that meant so much that she passed on joining the military to compete in track and field, was gaining inclusion (along with cricket, baseball, softball, lacrosse and squash).

"I had full faith it was going to make it in," Ashlea Klam said. "We can really show everyone that flag football deserves to be there- and that flag football should be everywhere."

The US and Mexico already have a robust rivalry on the women's side. The US beat a Mexico team led by star quarterback Diana Flores during the Americas Continental Flag Football Championship - organized by the International Federation of American Football - in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the summer. At the World Games the year before, Flores led her squad to a gold medal.

It's years away, of course, but it could be quite a showdown at the LA Games.

The roster? It's still some time away, but beginning next season, there are official USA Football sanctioned events and tournaments to kick off the selection process. It's anyone's guess who makes the team, as the sport may start luring athletes from other sports (imagine the speed of track stars such as Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Sha'Carri Richardson).

"The announcement (of flag football being in the Olympics) was rocket fuel to an already very fast-paced growth trajectory for the passion of girls and women wanting to play football," Scott Hallenbeck, the CEO of USA Football, said of a sport that's an invitational Olympic event for now, but already working ahead to be included on the program for the 2032 Brisbane Games. "It's been an explosion of participation."

Receiver Madison Fulford discovered flag football nearly two years ago while playing in an intramural league. In no time, the Limestone University track standout was putting her speed and agility to use for the national team, where she scored four touchdowns in the gold-medal game versus Mexico last summer.

Fulford balances her time between serving as an Air Force mental health counselor in San Antonio with wearing the red, white and blue for the national team and running flag football skills camps for young women, all over the country.

"I tell them to just have fun," Fulford said. "Have a fun time bonding with your teammates, your sisters."

Agencies via Xinhua