TACOMA, Wash. — The future is female at the Silas High School football field on Saturday in Tacoma.
A flag football jamboree brought out hundreds of flag football student-athletes from Seattle and Tacoma public schools.
Saturday's event, hosted by the Seattle Seahawks, is similar to an NFL Combine, where each event is scored individually then a scrimmage happens at the end.
"Exposure to the game, the more we can get the game out there, and have more kids plaing and participating we can make it more visible," said Alyssa Reuble with Tacoma Public Schools.
It is evident at the event that flag football is a passion and a sport that is becoming more popular every year.
"I think it's wonderful to see women's sports growing the way they are and the more visibility, the more it's on tv, the more other women are able to see they can make it a career," Reuble said.
In 2021, the Seahawks committed $250,000 in grant funding over the next five years to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) to support the creation of high school girls' flag football programs across the state. The Seahawks also partnered with the WIAA, Nike and NFL FLAG to help launch a girls club flag football league in Pierce County and with Seattle Public Schools.
"We've seen girls flag football really grow across the country. There's a number of states like Georgia and California where it's become a sanctioned sport. It's going to be an Olympic sport for the LA Olympics," said Jeff Richards, VP of Marketing and Community Engagement for the Seattle Seahawks.
The process can take some time, but the Seahawks see the benefit in being patient while watching the program grow and more young girls get involved.
"We are working with Nick Hoffman at WIAA to make sure we can get girls high school football a sanctioned sport," Richards said.
For players like Paytince Kamuta, the sport is life-changing.
"It's warmed my heart that other people want to play the sport I want to play," Kamuta said.
Kamuta used to be the only girl on the tackle football team. She's now taken her skills to flag football to inspire other young women to play the sport.
"If you think about it, women don't really get a chance to play as much and I'm really grateful and it taught me that other people can play flag football with us," Kamuta said.
The funding for the team comes from a grant from the Seahawks.
"Because of the Seahawks we've been able to fund this whole ordeal, right," said Shalls Jacome, the Lincoln High School coach.
The Seahawks Flag Football program is growing and flourishing. It's evident by what happened on the turf in Tacoma.
To learn more about the program, click here.