Let the festivities begin! The Buccaneers Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic, presented by AdventHealth, is the largest girls flag football tournament in the country. The five-day event starts Tuesday, February 21, and will include over 80 high school teams and 1,600 student-athletes in a round-robin competition before the start of the 2023 spring flag football season. Teams representing 17 different counties scheduled to participate – including 25 teams from Hillsborough County and 16 from Pinellas County will be in attendance.
Games are set to take place at 2:00 p.m. starting Tuesday, February 21 and will conclude on Saturday, February 25. Prior to kicking off each day, representatives from the Buccaneers, NFL, Nike, and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission will welcome the student-athletes and wish them luck in their upcoming season. Here is a full schedule:
- Marissa Solis – Senior Vice President, Global Brand and Consumer Marketing (NFL)
- Claire Lessinger – Vice President, Events (Tampa Sports Commission)
- Sarah Bishop – Vice President, Brand and Consumer Marketing (NFL)
- Milena Savich – Territory Sales Manager (Nike)
- Anna Issacson – Senior Vice President, Social Responsibility (NFL) Friday, February 24
- Vicky Free Sistrunk or Tara Battiato
On Monday, February 20, the Buccaneers will host a kickoff night ahead of the fifth annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic. Over 50 high school girls flag football teams from across the state will be in attendance for a dinner and night filled with locker room tours, meet and greet with current players and various photo opportunities. The event will be highlighted by a panel featuring Buccaneers Pass Game Coordinator/Inside Linebackers Coach Larry Foote, Director of Rehabilitation and Performance Coach Maral Javadifar and NFL Senior Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Sam Rapoport.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are proud to be at the forefront of supporting gender equality and inclusivity on and off the field by establishing programming and football leagues, creating college scholarships, hosting special events and promoting career development for girls and women in the industry. Now in its fifth year, the Buccaneers Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic, presented by AdventHealth, is the largest girls flag football tournament in the country and annually showcases some of the top flag football teams in the southeast. In 2021, the Buccaneers launched the Women’s Summit for Careers in Football, an ongoing program that strengthens the pipeline of women pursuing NFL careers through informative, engaging sessions featuring high-profile hosts and Buccaneers leadership to shatter stereotypes. Through the Buccaneers Girls in Football Scholarship, made possible through a $250,000 commitment from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation, the organization became the first NFL team to create an academic scholarship program for girls who play organized football and are passionate about pursuing a career in sports.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
