On April 18-19, the country will get a sneak preview at one of the newest Olympic sports when the inaugural Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic kicks off.
No, it’s not varsity. But it’s one of the signs of growth for a sport that has been surging heading into the Olympics, and at USC, that’s been powered by one woman with a dream.
Front and center for the only California team competing in the event is USC freshman Alia Pasternak, who went to USC looking to play football and finding she had to make a space herself.
“I had always wanted to play football since I was little,” Pasternak said. “It was kind of at that time you kind of started seeing girls on guys teams. I wasn’t allowed to go play with the guys, but I went and supported them. I always went to the Friday Night Lights games, and then it was my birthday, and they had sent me videos, like, we won this game for you, and then, like, next season, you’re gonna be on our team too. I just always wanted to play. So when it finally got to high school, they had flag, and I was like, this is my sign. Like, I’m doing this.”
Pasternak now serves as president of the first-year club flag football program at USC, leading an effort to grow the sport on campus at a pivotal moment in its rise.
The hope is that USC can build on the increasing attention flag football has received both nationally and in southern California, especially with the sport set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
Flag football was officially recognized as an NCAA women’s sport at the end of January, clearing a path toward eventual championship status. Similar trajectories over the past two decades have elevated sports like women’s hockey, bowling and water polo to full varsity levels.
The sport’s rapid rise has accelerated that process. In October 2023, the International Olympic Committee approved flag football for inclusion in the 2028 Games. As a non-contact version of traditional football, it has surged in popularity at youth and high school girls levels.
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But USC is still a club team, which means it does not get support from the athletic department or scholarships that NCAA varsity teams receive. Pasternak would like to see USC’s club team become a varsity team eventually.
“It’s the entire goal,” she said. “So it’s like, how does USC not have anything if it’s going to be played literally in our backyard, right? And then also just feeding off on all the resources USC has and building it up that way.”
For Pasternak, a freshman majoring in business, the mission to bring flag football to campus began even before she arrived at USC. The sport became sanctioned by the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) during her junior year of high school at Huntington Beach, and her experience playing revealed how few opportunities existed beyond that stage.
“It was just a really unique environment of everybody kind of coming together, and everybody was an athlete, from different sports, and nobody had played this sport before,” Pasternak said. “I had the opportunity to possibly play at some smaller schools that offered it, but I played in a tournament, and the day before I found out I got into USC, and then I was like, ‘I’m just gonna make my own club. Like, I want to continue to play at the next level.’”
Pasternak initially joined a women’s intramural flag football team at USC, but the team dissolved quickly due to low turnout, in part because practices were scheduled late on Friday nights.
Determined to keep playing, Pasternak joined a recreational league composed entirely of men. While she continued to enjoy the game, the environment didn’t offer the same sense of comfort and community she had experienced on a women’s team.
USC’s flag football club has since grown, now listing 29 members and six officers on its roster.
“I have that football experience, I understand for new girls wanting to learn the sport that’s not the best environment to be in, because right there’s the other thoughts of, like, ‘Oh, I’m going to be judged. I don’t know how to play,'” Pasternak explained. “So, timing was really important to me, and creating a space where women can just feel like a safe space in that opportunity to learn how to play and develop their skills.”
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Colleges across the country are beginning to respond to the sport’s momentum. Programs at Nebraska, Charleston Southern and Cal Poly have already elevated women’s flag football to the Division I level, with scholarships now available for athletes. Around 150 programs between the club and varsity levels debuted this season.
USC is among the teams set to compete as the lone California team at the Fiesta Bowl against Georgia, Grand Canyon, Arizona State, North Carolina, Alabama State and Central Florida.
“The Fiesta Bowl continues to give women’s flag football the spotlight it deserves,” Grand Canyon coach Brian Tice said earlier this year. “Being a part of the Fiesta Bowl shows how quickly women’s flag football is growing, and we are proud to be on that stage.”
Despite the progress, questions remain about when more programs will reach full varsity status, as athletic departments continue to balance gender equity considerations with financial limitations, mostly due to player payments and NIL and Title IX roster restrictions.
Pasternak still has hope it could happen. For now, she has built the community she had always wanted, and apparently, so have many others.
“We didn’t want to cut anyone,” Pasternak said. “So we have a developmental team too, so everybody who wanted to come out and learn, they’re given the same opportunity to and then the only difference is that the competitive team is the team traveling and competing against other universities. But we welcome everyone.”
Alia congratulations in perseverance your dream the USC will have a great sport Flag Football for you to play with your team players the USC will have all the sport competition with Flag Football Varsity Team let’s vote for that Wish You the best