The rise of flag football is undeniable: In just the last few years, the NFL has invested millions of dollars into men’s and women’s professional flag football leagues, and the sport has a spot in the 2028 Olympics. In December 2025 and February 2026, respectively, UCLA and San Diego State University both established club flag football teams. In a survey tracking participation in high school from 2024-25, flag football saw a 60% increase in girls participating across the nation, compared to the previous year.
This April, the sport finally arrived at UC San Diego.
Second-year Gianna Crouch first decided to start UCSD’s women’s flag football team in March after spring break, with recruitment continuing into April. Crouch has spent the past month hanging up posters around campus, pitching the club to her friends, and connecting with other athletic clubs. These are the building blocks to realizing her dream of creating a team, but there is still more work to be done.
“We wouldn’t be able to be an official club sport for at least one or two years, just because it’s a long process, but we would be able to still compete and practice as a registered student organization,” Crouch said.
Crouch explained that the lengthy process to qualify as a club team is due to the various requirements the club has to meet. She needs a minimum of 10 committed students and stable leadership, as well as proper funding. A couple of students have already shown interest in joining, including first-year Carmen Cruz. Cruz initially messaged the club’s Instagram page to see how she could get involved.
“When I was introduced to flag football, it was an amazing break [from club soccer],” Cruz said. “I played club soccer for 14 years, and flag [football] was a nice break because it wasn’t as competitive.”
The soccer-to-flag-football pipeline is surprisingly common. To support the creation of UCSD’s team, Cruz reached out to her former soccer teammates — who have established flag football teams of their own at UC Berkeley, California Polytechnic University San Luis Obispo, and Arizona State University — for advice.
“There’s a lot of flexibility for what might happen because it’s such a new sport,” Cruz said. “At Cal Poly SLO, they have a Division-I team now. I don’t think UCSD would adopt this as a varsity sport just yet.”
As the sport gains more prominence in high school athletics, Crouch believes there will be an influx of incoming freshmen who may be interested in club flag football at UCSD. Considering the vast array of club sports on campus, Cruz is not worried about whether the club will be able to grow its numbers.
“A lot of the players that are going to be interested are going to be either my year or younger than me, just because they had more opportunity to play in high school,” Crouch said.
With increasing club flag football teams in the greater San Diego area and growing nationwide media coverage, the club has high hopes for the future.
Crouch hopes to use the rest of this year to set a stable framework for the years to come.
“I hope to get as many people interested as possible,” Crouch said. “I know flag football is a huge, growing sport right now. Even if they don’t have any experience, now’s the time to start.”
