On Tuesday, Feb. 2, Nike announced that they will be partnering with the National Football League to grant a total of $5 million to further the production of girl’s flag football among high schools in the U.S. The donations will go to new products that range from flag football uniforms to sports bras.  

Nike believes that this will help and support the new generation of female athletes as NFL Executive VP of Football operations, Troy Vincent says on their site, “Girl’s flag demonstrates that football is for all, and the greater the participation, the stronger the game, and the more young women can build the transferrable skills football provides for achieving success in life.”  

As a female athlete that plays for my local high school flag football team myself, this is a monumental movement that is continuing to grow. I am proud that the work ethic and drive of girl’s flag football teams either in my state or out of state, has caught the eye of big businesses such as the NFL and Nike to the point where they want to support and invest in our sport.  

The news spread like wildfire as many saw the announcement through Instagram, as Nike promoted through a video with players from the Alonso & Robinson high school girls flag football team reenacting a rivalry game. It was amazing to see local high schools near me having the chance to be a part of a once in a lifetime opportunity with such a big–branded business. Having Nike & the NFL acknowledging our sport is so important for the evolution of girl’s flag football. Big businesses taking girls flag football seriously and supporting us is such a huge reward for all the time, sweat and tears we all put in to do good and win. 

The commercial was filmed on Jan. 10. Julia Miler, a sophomore at Robinson High School, was able to reveal what filming for Nike was like.  

“We arrived at Alonso at 9 a.m. and left a little after 9 p.m.,” Miler said. “It was a lot of fun being with the team and filming. It’s funny because we would spend an hour on a certain scene and film it a hundred times, but you only see maybe three seconds of it in the commercial. It was very cool experience because we got new Nike gear and we got to be a part of expanding girls flag football.”  

The commercial gives girls flag football the recognition we deserve. For all the hard work and dedication, we put out on the field and off the field, it feels so good to finally be noticed by Nike and the NFL. The message behind the commercial is that women are strong and powerful, and they can do not only what boys can do but maybe even better. This commercial will help propel the sport further and beyond our expectations.  

To see the commercial on Instagram, go to @usnikefootball