The Tampa Bay Buccaneers became the first NFL team to officially dedicate a training camp day to women, welcoming girls flag football players from around the region to watch practice and meet players during this week's She Is Football Day. Among the athletes on hand were Robinson High School senior Jala Hymes and Lennard High School senior Hope Hensley, two of the many young female athletes the event brought together at the team's facility.
The Buccaneers hold the world's largest girls flag football tournament each year, and She Is Football Day builds on that commitment by inviting girls flag football players to the practice facility annually, according to Tampa Bay 28. Buccaneers players welcomed the youth athletes at practice, giving them a firsthand look at NFL-level training. Team reporter Casey Phillips said the event shows young women they can work in or play sports, framing the day as more than a photo opportunity.
A Pipeline Built on Local Dominance
Tampa has long been ground zero for high school girls flag football success. Robinson High School won its 10th consecutive Florida High School Athletic Association Class 2A state championship in May, securing its 11th title overall — a national record for high school flag football programs, according to MaxPreps. Hymes said the Buccaneers' opportunities for women make the event meaningful beyond the field, a sentiment that reflects just how deeply the sport's success is woven into Tampa Bay's athletic identity.
Florida set the template for that dominance more than two decades ago. The Florida High School Athletic Association became the first state athletic association in the country to officially sanction girls flag football as a varsity championship sport during the 2002–2003 school year, per Flag Football Planet. That early move has since become a blueprint copied by more than two dozen other state athletic associations, and the sport's local footprint keeps expanding: high school girls flag football participation in Florida surpassed 360 participating schools by March, according to Buccaneers community impact records reported by Fox 13 Tampa Bay.
From Training Camp to the World's Largest Tournament
The Buccaneers' investment in the sport goes well beyond a single training camp visit. The team reached an agreement to host the FHSAA Girls Flag Football State Championships at its AdventHealth Training Center for three consecutive years through 2026, according to FLAG7. The organization's annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic has also exploded in size, growing from 32 teams and 800 athletes at its inception to 126 teams and more than 3,000 high school female athletes this past February, per the Fox 13 Tampa Bay report.
That tournament gives players a platform to showcase their abilities in front of coaches, scouts, and peers from across the state. Hensley, who started playing girls flag football four years before the event, said being recognized by an NFL team is meaningful. She has watched the sport grow exponentially since she first picked it up, a shift she credits partly to the visibility events like She Is Football Day provide.
A National Inflection Point
The timing of this week's event lines up with a major shift in the sport's future. On Friday, the NCAA Board of Governors approved an Association-wide budget allocation to fund an official National Collegiate Championship and sport committee in women's flag football, according to the NCAA. That decision follows more than 60 colleges establishing varsity programs in the spring, giving high schoolers like Hymes and Hensley a clearer path from prep fields to campus rosters.
The sport's ceiling now extends even further. The International Olympic Committee approved flag football for inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in October 2023, marking its debut on the Olympic stage, per USA Football. For athletes training in Tampa Bay right now, that means the pathway from high school flag football runs through college programs and, potentially, all the way to LA28.
Women Woven Into the Organization
Phillips said the Buccaneers make inclusion of women a priority, adding that the team's commitment extends from ownership through the coaching staff and every branch of the organization. She said the approach improves both the organization and the community, and that the number of women in football roles is increasing. Phillips predicted the momentum for women in football will grow for future generations.
That track record includes a landmark moment on the coaching staff. In February 2021, Buccaneers assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and assistant strength and conditioning coach Maral Javadifar became the first female coaches in NFL history to win a Super Bowl when Tampa Bay defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LV, according to NFL.com. Head coach Bruce Arians had brought both coaches onto his full-time staff in 2019, well before that Super Bowl run.
Scholarships and a Public Race Round Out the Push
The Buccaneers Foundation backs the pipeline financially as well. It offers the She Is Football Scholarship, providing $5,000 awards to graduating female high school seniors who play football and plan to attend four-year universities, based on academic merit and essays on sports leadership, according to Scholarship America. The team has also expanded its broader She Is Football Weekend to include a public 5K and 10K run and walk passing through Raymond James Stadium and finishing inside the AdventHealth Training Center, with proceeds supporting community programs that keep young girls active in organized sports, per RunSignup.
For Hymes and Hensley, the day at training camp was one stop on a much longer road that now stretches toward college rosters and an Olympic stage in Los Angeles. The Buccaneers say they plan to keep inviting girls flag football players to She Is Football Day every year, betting that early exposure to NFL facilities and staff will keep fueling a talent pipeline that already runs through Tampa Bay's own backyard.
