HOUSTON (AP) — When U.S. Women’s Flag National Team member Ashlea Klam was in high school in Texas, her school wouldn’t let her participate in signing day, even though she had earned a scholarship to play flag football collegiately.

“It was extremely hurtful knowing all of the work that I put in and my high school didn’t want to celebrate it,” she recalled this week.

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Klam hopes other girls don’t have to experience what she did, and she’s working with the Houston Texans Foundation and the franchise’s She’s Next movement as the Texans’ global flag ambassador to help promote female participation in the sport in Texas and beyond.

This week, as the U.S. women’s and girls teams assembled in California for USA Football’s Summer Series, Klam and the rest of the players were celebrated, receiving curated gift boxes from the Texans and foundation vice president Hannah McNair.

The boxes featured items players had requested, including headgear, gloves, sports bras, arm sleeves, slides and jumpsuits, all adorned with the She’s Next slogan and the Texans’ logo.

“We absolutely loved it,” said Klam, who has led Keiser University to the NAIA flag football national championship game the past two seasons. “It was things that true flag football players want. It’s really exciting to know that we are being seen and that we are being heard, and especially from organizations like the Houston Texans, and knowing that they really stepped up to make all of the (teams) and women who are part of USA Football feel really special.”

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Men’s and women’s flag football will be Olympic sports for the first time in Los Angeles in 2028. McNair and the Texans foundation began focusing on girls’ flag football in 2023 and she’s been thrilled to see growth in the sport among school-age girls in the last two years.

“I’m so excited about it,” she said. “The growth of the sport, the excitement, the empowerment it gives females being able to play football. We know what it can do to communities and for individuals but pushing that towards scholarships and educational opportunities for these female athletes is something that we’re really focused on.”

High school girls’ flag football is currently sanctioned as a varsity sport in 15 states, and McNair and the Texans are working with policymakers in the state to push Texas to sanction it. For now, the team’s girls flag football program includes more than 2,000 high school athletes in Houston, Austin and El Paso.

McNair attended the championships in Houston and El Paso recently and loved seeing the impact the game is making.

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“It is emotional and also so moving and inspiring to see these athletes and the excitement they have on the field with their teammates, the celebrations,” she said. “To me it’s the ultimate team sport, and to be able to push this sport forward with the interest of all these high school girls and young female athletes has been something that continues to help push us to this next step of trying to get it sanctioned here in Texas.”

That’s something Klam hopes happens soon so that girls playing flag football in the state will have opportunities she lacked.

“I think it’s crazy that I’ve been able to represent my country at this level, but I was never able to represent my high school,” she said. “So having that sanctioned and giving so many more girls the opportunity and allowing them to feel like this is something that we’re serious about and you have a future, that would would mean a lot to me.”

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