Chicago Bears wide receiver Chase Claypool believes that the introduction of an NFL Girls Flag Football League can act as a great gateway for young girls to be involved in sports moving forward.
NFL Flag is one of the fastest growing sports globally, it is the non-contact version of American Football, it is a fun, fast, and action-packed sport that promotes accessibility for all, teamwork, and character development in youth. Both the Jets and the Bears have been instrumental in the growth of female flag football in the US.
The New York Jets have grown from eight teams to over 110 in New York and New Jersey in just three years, while the Chicago Bears saw a 300% increase in just one year, with over 1,200 girls now participating in flag football leagues.
Yesterday was not only International Women’s Day, but it also saw the launch of the NFL Girl’s Flag Football league in London. Starting from the 20th of April, the inaugural league will see girls aged 12-14 compete in two conferences of six teams each (twelve teams total) across five weeks.
The Jets and Bears will each run a conference in Ealing, with the winners going head-to-head in a Championship Event on May 22nd.
One of the ambassadors for the event was wide receiver Chase Claypool, who only came to the Bears this past season via a trade with the Pittsburgh Steelers, but has already thrown himself into the community aspect with his new team.
And speaking during a Q&A session with members of the UK media during the event, Claypool spoke about, amongst other things, the importance of sports like flag football and how growing up in Canada, he’s used to having to grow the game to a different audience, so working in this environment was pretty natural to him.
Q: What does it mean to be part of a franchise that's so focused on building like a fan base and getting people involved in the sport over here?
A: It’s awesome, because coming from Canada, you know, it's kind of natural what I’m trying to do, playing football in America and trying to grow the sport in Canada. So the fact that I'm able to do that in the UK as well, seems like a super cool opportunity that I'm super excited to be a part of, and I'm excited to see how it grows the next few years.
Q: Why did the Bears choose you?
A: I think part of the reason why the Bears chose me is because I was an international player. So it kind of fit well with the mould of what they were thinking of, and I think maybe because I have a great smile. Yeah, they shot me a text and right away I accepted it because it was such a cool opportunity.
Q: Unlike flag, contact football has quite a few barriers to entry; price of kit, registration, but we don't have that in flag football. Talk about the importance of how low barriers to entry helps grow diversity in the sport.
A: Yeah, I think that's what's so cool about flag football is that not everyone's able to afford tackle football, or they're not able to play because maybe your parents says it’s too physical. It is a physical sport, especially at a young age. But everyone's able to play flag football. Very low cost, and it usually happens in the warm time of the year, so it's exciting to be a part of that. And I think that's what's so special about flag football is that everyone can play, you make friendships for lifetime, and it also helps develop those skills as well.
Q: How amazing was it to see kind of everything come together? See all the girls sat in that room?
A: It was awesome, you could definitely see in the crowd, they were pretty giddy and it was exciting to see that, because I think they realise how much a part of the sport we want to be involved in. So I think gives them a little bit extra motivation, gets them more excited for the future. And I'm excited to watch the championship game in May. And that'll be super fun. But I think it's cool, especially on International Women's Day to announce something like this that affords woman more opportunity.
All images courtesy of NFLUK