How Sam Rapoport Helped Girls’ Flag Football Take Off in the U.S.

Reported by Women's Health Magazine.

Sam Rapoport grew up playing sanctioned flag football in Ottawa, so when she relocated to the U.S. in 2003, the absence of anything comparable for American girls stopped her cold. "When I moved here, I couldn't believe that women's flag football was kind of a joke," she told Women's Health Magazine. Her follow-up question was the obvious one: how does the country that built the NFL not have a real program for girls?

She had both the frustration and, crucially, the leverage — as an NFL executive — to do something about it. In 2009, Rapoport launched the NFL Girls' Flag Football Leadership program, and her approach was deliberately grassroots. Rather than lobbying school administrations top-down, she identified six passionate girls across the country and handed them the tools to make the pitch themselves — straight to their own athletic directors. The logic was simple: nothing sells a sport inside a school like a student who already believes in it.

From Six Girls to 21 States

It worked. The program directly catalyzed sanctions in six states, and the momentum hasn't slowed — 21 states have now officially sanctioned girls' flag football, with New Jersey among the most recent to sign on. According to Women's Health Magazine, Rapoport believes a full 50-state sweep is coming sooner than most expect. "It's catching on like wildfire," she said, "which is an amazing thing to see, as someone who's been involved in the sport since I was 12 years old."

Rapoport's résumé extends well beyond flag football — her more than two decades in professional football include spearheading the NFL Women's Forum, an initiative that has opened pipeline doors for women across the league's infrastructure. Women's Health named her one of its Game Changers, a designation that tracks: she didn't wait for institutions to catch up. She built the architecture herself, one determined teenager at a time.

When the system doesn't have a place for girls, sometimes the most powerful move is handing them the blueprint to demand one.

Read the original at Women's Health Magazine.