Football history is unfolding in front of our eyes

Roger Goodell wants to create a professional flag football league backed by the NFL, and the girls and coaches from teh Desert Southwest are fired up

CALEXICO, Calif. (KYMA) - Girls Flag football is rapidly growing nationwide, that's no secret, but after NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell recently announced he plans to create a professional women's flag football league, the game might be played on the professional level sooner than we think.

Goodell's goal is to have an NFL backed league before the 2028 Olympics, which would increase exposure to the sport and give girls more opportunities in the flag football world.

"You look into flag football history and it's not that far away from today," said current St. Thomas University flag player Lia Paulette Cruz. "Once we grow up older, we're going to look back at it and we're going to be like, wow, we paved the way for for the young kids right now."

History has already evolved first hand for the junior in college. When Lia was in high school, the sport wasn't even offered and she had to gain exposure through travel teams, but Lia is happy that she has already made history and it impacted someone close to her, her younger sister Nicole Cruz.

"Later on when the history grows more, we are going to be a part of that," Lia said. "That makes me really happy."

For the recent high school graduate, Nicole is excited to inspire the generation to come.

"It's really exciting to know that we can reach a whole next level and inspire more girls to play this sport," Nicole said. "I've been part of this growth, and it just motivates me to keep working."

Imperial's Clarissa Davila says it's great for girls to get recognized and have more opportunities.

"We don't get as many chances, so I think people giving us more chances than usual, I think it's an improvement in representation for women's sports," Davila said.

Calexico's Head Coach Gerardo Navarro is a full supporter of the girls as well.

"It's just giving these girls another extra opportunity for them to go out here and do what they love to do," Navarro said. "It's another opportunity to go out there and be role models as well for the generation to come. So it's great news because flag is still a relatively new sport."

At the high school level in California, flag football has only been around for three years. For many of the athletes who want to play the game, they need to join private clubs, which is what Nicole and Lia did, but it took them sometime to realize flag was there calling.

"I didn't even know I was going to play flag football, I used to be all over the place," Lia said. "I was the kid that did all types of sports until I started playing flag football and I've just been playing flag football for 11 years."

But now that the NFL wants to back a professional flag league, the game will become more accessible and open to anyone.

"You don't have to be a physical player or just a big kid to play football, now you clan play flag football," said Imperial's Head Coach Victor Cruz. "I think that's kind of the message they're trying to push is that football's for everybody, whether it's tackle or flag."

As football history unfolds right in front of our eyes, it's not far fetched to say some of the girls from the Valley could end up in this new professional flag league with the abundance of talent.