The Blue Bombers participate in the growing sport of girls soccer

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Standing on a green turf field at a sports facility on Winnipeg's south side, Solape Obasa focuses on the football, waiting for the moment he can catch it and run.

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But before the 17-year-old got the chance to babysit at Winnipeg's Elmwood High School, she had to work for a chance to take the field as part of a new high school girls' flag football league.

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“I always liked the idea of ​​girls playing flag football because boys have football. I always wondered why no girl was included in the team,” Obasa said in an interview.

The teenager doesn't call himself a soccer fan, but said he likes trying new things that challenge his athletic abilities.

But that opportunity hit a snag at Elmwood High, which previously had a struggling boys soccer team but nothing on the gridiron for the girls.

Obasa and other students encouraged the staff to form a girls soccer team. They were told that if they found 15 players willing to play, they would participate.

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It didn't take much to fill the team, says Zhanna Samborski, head coach of the team.

As reasons for interest, she cites the speed of the game, the camaraderie of the sport, and the opportunity for girls to “give elbows to a male-dominated field.”

“We need more women in these spaces. “Women have fought long and hard for these opportunities,” Samborski said.

As more girls take up flag football, Obasa hopes it will be the last time she sees it.

“I want the sport to go far,” he said.

Flag football, especially the girls game, has come a long way in a short amount of time to become one of the fastest growing sports in North America.

The girls' league was launched earlier this month by the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

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More than 200 players from 19 teams will compete in the six-week games.

Wade Miller, president and CEO of the Bombers, said they saw a gap in who would play and worked to fix it.

“We wanted to create this program to attract more school-aged girls to football. Hopefully it will turn into year-round play or flag football,” Miller said.

This sport has been added to the program of the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

“No other Olympic sport has gone from recreational to Olympic sport faster than flag football,” said Soccer Canada President Jim Mullin.

“One or two of these young women could be on the team (in the Winnipeg league). Within these possibilities.”

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The essence of the game, where opponents pull the flag instead of hitting it to stop a player, is key to its development, said Bill Johnson, executive director of Football Manitoba.

The fact that the game doesn't require a lot of equipment or infrastructure will help grow the game, especially in rural and northern parts of Manitoba, Johnson said.

Mike Watson, who coaches the Morris School girls team, said: “It's a great way to get into football.

“Football has a lot of moving parts. If you can learn those moving parts without fear of getting hit, confidence builds.”

Over 20 million players participate in flag football in over 100 countries, including Canada.

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Canada's national teams are among the best in the world. The women's team won bronze at the American Continental Flag Football Championship last summer in Charlotte, NC.

Back in Winnipeg, Darcy Epp returns to the game he started playing as a kid.

When the opportunity arose to play flag football at his school in Morris, the 16-year-old jumped at the chance to get back on the field, get the ball – and hope others will be inspired.

“I'm excited that the next generation of girls growing up at our school and other schools will be able to embrace this as a new sport they can play,” Epp said.

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