Though she enjoyed watching football and remembers her older brothers playing while her dad cheered, Emma Jazmin Valenzuela had never planned on playing it. It was not a sport for girls, she said. But when she heard that her high school was adding a girls flag football team, which she had never heard of, she decided to join.
“It seemed fun and exciting,” Valenzuela said.
During her first game, she recalled, her father was cheering for her. “It felt surreal,” she said.
Valenzuela, now a graduate of Morton East High School in Cicero, made history by becoming the first person in Illinois to secure a girls flag football college scholarship at Bryant & Stratton College in Wisconsin.
And she is not alone.
Karla Rodriguez Martinez from Gage Park and Saniya Shotwell from Oak Park also learned that they, too, got scholarships to attend college thanks to the newly introduced sport.
The Chicago Bears and Chicago Public Schools have been collaborating to drive the growth of the girls flag football program since 2021, first in the city and now in the suburbs, opening new doors for young women to a sport that is not yet sanctioned as an official sport in Illinois.
“One of the goals at the Chicago Bears, and my personal goal as well, is to continue to grow the game of football,” said Gustavo Silva, manager of youth football and community programs for the Chicago Bears. “We believe that a way to grow it is by making it accessible to as many people as possible, by making it inclusive and therefore making it more equitable.”
The Bears hosted Valenzuela, Shotwell and Martinez during a Saturday training camp practice at Halas Hall in July as they got ready for the 2023 season. The trio said they were ecstatic.
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The three broke down the team huddle with the help of quarterback Justin Fields. They got to hear from some of the other players, and general manager Ryan Poles gave them personalized Bears jerseys. Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren also met with the trio and took pictures with them.
“It was so special for us as a team to be able to host and honor Emma, Karla and Saniya today as part of our Back Together Saturday,” Poles said. “Their trailblazing accomplishments on the field are inspiring. … Their success speaks to their hard work as well as the investment from the Bears and many others into girls flag football at the youth and high school levels.”
The sport, Shotwell said, has opened a door into a new world for her, and she hopes that the three can serve as an example for other young women in the Chicago area and its surroundings.
“Sometimes we don’t get some opportunities based on how we look,” Shotwell said. “And to be the first ones to get these scholarships, and to be all women of color, it really gives more hope to other girls that anybody can do this. It doesn’t matter where you come from and we are just going to keep lifting each other.”
Shotwell graduated from Oak Park and River Forest High School and will be attending Pratt Community College in Pratt, Kansas, to play collegiate flag football. Though she is nervous, she is also excited because she’ll be the first one in her family to attend college.
She is an athlete at heart, playing basketball and running track. But getting a scholarship for flag football was a pleasant surprise. “It felt unreal,” she said.
Martinez also will be the first one in her family to attend college thanks to the scholarship. It’s been a dream for her and her family.
The graduate from Solorio Academy High School will be attending and playing for Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. She hopes to become an example for her younger siblings — three sisters and a brother.
What began as a pilot league in 2021 has grown to become part of the Chicago Public League with more than 100 teams statewide. Silva hopes that it becomes an officially sanctioned sport with the Illinois High School Association by fall 2024 so that it can be at the same level as boys football, he said.
Since its inception, all teams have received funding and support from the Bears and their partners, including uniforms, cleats, socks, gloves and mouth guards. They are committed to doing that as the sport expands to more schools, Silva said.
“We’re trying to create a whole ecosystem around girls football that would allow girls to play from youth to high school and then have the opportunity to play at the collegiate level,” Silva said. “In 2028, we believe it is going to be an official sport and a part of the Olympics, so we are creating that pipeline for our girls in Chicago and from Illinois to be able to take advantage of those opportunities.”
