TAMPA, Fla — As the Bucs and Chiefs chase the Lombardi Trophy this Sunday, two teams of female flag football players in Hillsborough County are also getting major recognition from Nike and the NFL.
“When people see that women are out here, striking just as hard as men and fighting just as hard as them, they’re always amazed because it’s something they’ve never seen before,” said Isansa Bonga, junior captain for the Alonso High School Women’s Flag Football team.
Bonga is the voice behind a new Nike commercial that features both Robinson and Alonso High in an effort to promote women in flag football.
“This commercial is like something that you can kind of show to other people to be like, we’re really serious about this,” said Karina Diaz.
Nike and the NFL are serious about their commitment as well. Both are partnering to contribute $5 million to help expand girls’ flag football across the nation.
“It’s fast, it’s athletic, people who see it are always blown away by what the girls are able to do. And it just took a big backer, to really push it, and it’s gonna catch fire,” said Alonso High women’s flag football coach Matt Hernandez.
The teams shot with Nike for 11 hours and received rapid COVID-19 tests beforehand. In addition to the commercial, Alonso and Robinson will get to play at the Super Bowl experience Wednesday, which marks National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
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.
