TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation is hosting the fifth annual Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic that brings in dozens of high school teams from across the state.
The five-day tournament will include around 1,600 student-athletes from 80 high schools.
This year, 25 teams are from high schools in Hillsborough County and 16 from Pinellas County.
“I’m definitely a little nervous, but I’m very excited to be here and just wanting to have fun with the team,” Newsome High School Girls Flag Football Quarterback and Captain Emma Clough said. “It kicks us off for the starting season so it’s definitely good to have us get into the groove.”
Over the past few years, the tournament has grown from a two-day event to a five-day event. It was created to offer opportunities and support for girls who play flag football.
“This event is so near and dear to our heart because we love the game of football and we want to grow the game with everyone in the whole world,” VP of Community Impact Tara Battiato said. “We want to provide opportunities for girls, specifically here, in order to play the game that they love.”
The Girls Flag Football Preseason Classic runs through Saturday and is open for the public to watch.
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.
