On a breezy Tuesday afternoon, Paulina Lopez gets her stuff and drives the 44 miles from Alameda to Fairfield.
There, she stands on the Rodriguez High School football field sideline, holding a padded jersey against her hip and a wide smile on her face. On her left arm is a tattoo of a cherub holding a football and donning a helmet.
Simply put, this is what she lives for.
“Football is like life,” Lopez told The IX Sports. “You get hit, then you get back up again.”
Lopez, a linebacker, is one of 55 players with the Golden State Storm, a first-year team in the Women’s National Football Conference. The league does not yet pay players, but the Storm want to be the first to do so.
The team is made up of mothers, Ph.D holders, former college soccer players, a high-school senior and several football lifers.
Lopez is one of three international players who grew up believing she didn’t have a future in football. Now, she plans on spending six months of the year in the Bay on her own dime before returning home to Mexico.
“The U.S. has always been the football country,” Lopez said. “I see the guys going to high school and then college, and they have scholarships to play football, so I was like, I want to be like them one day. Impossible, right? Because it’s just for men. But then I said, so what can I do to still play football at a pro level? And then I saw this league.”
“I have my degree in environmental science, but I don’t do that right now. I think I’ll play football til I’m 30, and then we’ll see what happens.”
The Storm have been a smashing success in the young WNFC. So far, they have had the highest attendance in the league, with the 2,123 fans that attended their home opener on March 28 serving as a league record.
They have 11 coaches and 33 people in the front office, and like the players, none of them take home a salary. Eight Storm players have made between $10,000-$15,000 in NIL deals. Those deals work as 1099 compensation for participating in events and social media for the team.
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The WNFC began in 2019 as a revival of the NWFL that began in the 1970s. Since 2022, they have had franchise owners and a more structured model to try to reach pro status. Each franchise must have a tackle and a flag team due to the boom of women’s flag football, but tackle has been the league’s cornerstone.
Teams play six games from May to March, while the flag teams play around six tournaments. The Storm have 17 flag players, and five are high schoolers.
But the youth pipeline is expanding rapidly as states sanction girls flag football programs and the sport spreads through middle and high schools. Colleges are following suit, and the NCAA has recognized flag as an Emerging Sport for Women, committing to institutional support and resources.
The Storm had their gear and travel — mostly commercial flights but charter buses in-state — covered by the team’s owners. Games are streamed live on Victory+ as of 2024.
Wide receiver Sylvia Sloss told The IX Sports she found the Storm on an Instagram ad and decided to try out for the team after having never played football before.
“It was pure fate,” she said.
Sloss now leads the Storm with 13 receptions for an average of 11.2 yards per catch.
She played soccer and basketball in high school, but nothing was ever as physical as football. In her first practice, Lopez hit Sloss hard into the ground.
“I needed it,” Sloss said. “You have to learn to be ready for it. Our preseason practices were rough. But I’m glad I took those hits in the preseason, so I was ready for them in the actual season, and I wasn’t surprised by it.”
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Runningback Kris Grimes has been in the WNFC since 2024, playing the past two seasons with the Oregon Ravens and Seattle Majesty. She moved to Richmond this year for a chance to help the Storm build a competitive team.
“Some folks have a creative outlet,” she explained in an interview with The IX Sports. “This feels like that kind of an outlet, not just for frustration but unspoken dreams, of not only using my voice but also my body to give me opportunities.”
The Storm will conclude their first regular season in Los Angeles on May 16 with their eyes on the postseason.
In a not so distant future, perhaps the unspoken dreams are even more tangible.
“I love football, and I think I have a mission and a goal to help the future generations to make their dreams come through, like my dream,” Lopez said. “I mean, if I don’t get paid to do this, maybe they’re gonna do it one day. That’s worth it.”
