Key Takeaways
- Girls’ youth flag football participation has increased 222% since 2014, according to USA Football, creating demand for more structured pathways to college competition
- Ashlea Klam, 21, serves as Global Flag Ambassador for the NFL’s Houston Texans and plays on scholarship at Keiser University in the NAIA
- The partnership will focus on creating showcase events where college coaches can efficiently scout top talent across Unrivaled’s nationwide facility network
- Texas Fury, the club team Klam’s parents founded in 2017 with 10 girls, now operates 15 teams across Austin, Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston
- Flag football joins the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, adding urgency to infrastructure development at the youth and college levels
A World Champion Joins A National Platform
Unrivaled Sports announced a partnership with Ashlea Klam, a world champion flag football player who competes on scholarship at Keiser University and serves as a Global Flag Ambassador for the NFL’s Houston Texans. The collaboration connects Klam’s competitive experience and advocacy platform with Unrivaled’s network of youth sports facilities and events across the country.
Klam grew up in Austin, Texas, where her parents founded the Texas Fury all-girls club team to give her a place to compete. What started as a 10-player roster in 2017 has expanded to 15 teams operating in four Texas markets. The growth mirrors broader national trends. USA Football reports that girls’ youth participation in flag football has climbed 222% since 2014, driven by expanded high school and college opportunities and the sport’s upcoming inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games.
Through the partnership with Unrivaled Sports and its Unrivaled Flag division, Klam will work to create more access points for young female athletes and address gaps in the college recruiting process.
Solving The College Scouting Challenge
One of the partnership’s primary objectives addresses a structural problem in NAIA flag football recruiting. College programs operate with limited budgets and coaching staffs who often juggle full-time jobs, families, and other flag football responsibilities alongside their university roles.
Klam described the constraint directly in her interview with Women’s Health. Her assistant coach at Keiser University balances a family, a full-time job, and running another flag organization. Her head coach manages a full-time job, a family, a gym, and a flag football league. The time available for scouting trips is minimal.
“One of the biggest things that Unrivaled and I are going to work on is setting up showcases for college coaches to be able to go to and genuinely see the top talent,” Klam told the publication. The goal is to create curated events where coaches can evaluate players efficiently rather than asking them to travel on limited budgets with no guarantee of finding recruitable athletes.
The showcase model consolidates top talent in locations accessible to college programs, reducing friction in the recruiting process and expanding scholarship opportunities for female athletes.
Building Infrastructure Around Athlete Identity
The partnership also emphasizes creating environments where young female athletes feel the sport is designed for them. Klam referenced specific examples like glitter freckles and creative hair braids as visual signals that flag football welcomes feminine expression alongside competitive intensity.
This approach stems from Klam’s own experience. Growing up in Austin, she faced mockery from peers who called flag football a “boy sport” or dismissed it as not real football. The 10 original Texas Fury players shared those experiences. They knew when they posted about flag football on social media, it was being talked about behind their backs at school.
“Having my sisters there by my side is the reason why I’m still playing flag to this day,” Klam said in the interview. “That was a huge part of the mental health journey that I went through. I felt like I didn’t want to play it because people told me I shouldn’t be playing it.”
The cultural work remains ongoing. Klam noted that when flag football content gets posted on the NFL’s Instagram account, she often encounters hundreds to thousands of negative comments. She no longer opens them. Her focus is on the one young girl who might see the post and realize playing flag football is a viable path.
Market Context And Olympic Momentum
Flag football’s growth trajectory accelerated as governing bodies and leagues created more structured competition. The sport’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games added institutional validation and urgency to building pathways from youth participation through elite competition.
The U.S. Women’s National Team demonstrates the sport’s accessibility across age ranges. Quarterback Vanita Crouch is 43 years old and, according to Klam, “absolutely the GOAT of flag football.” When asked about her ideal flag football player profile, Klam rejected physical specifications in favor of passion, leadership, and quickness.
“You can be whatever height, you can be whatever age, whatever speed, anything, and you will be a flag football player,” she told Women’s Health. The sport’s skill emphasis over size creates participation opportunities distinct from tackle football’s physical requirements.
College programs have emerged primarily in the NAIA, where Keiser University and other institutions now offer scholarships. However, the infrastructure supporting recruiting and talent identification is still developing. Unrivaled Sports operates facilities and events nationwide, providing a distribution network for showcase events and standardized competition.
Strategic Implications For Youth Sports Operators
The Unrivaled-Klam partnership reflects broader patterns in youth sports where growth in participation creates demand for infrastructure, coaching education, and clear pathways to college athletics. Flag football’s 222% growth in female youth participation since 2014 occurred faster than many operators built systems to support it.
Facility operators and tournament organizers now face questions about how to serve this market segment. The showcase model addresses college recruiting, but gaps remain in standardized competition formats, coaching certification, and age-appropriate skill development progressions.
The partnership also illustrates how athlete partnerships can function beyond endorsement deals. Klam brings competitive credibility, visibility through her NFL ambassador role, and lived experience navigating the sport’s development phase. Unrivaled Sports provides facilities, event infrastructure, and national reach. The structure aims to solve operational problems rather than simply associate a brand with an athlete.
As flag football approaches the 2028 Olympics, the timeline for building robust youth-to-college pathways is compressed. Organizations that establish quality programs, efficient recruiting systems, and inclusive cultures may capture market share in a sport where foundational infrastructure is still being built.
via: Women’s Health
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