Ep. 2: A New Generation of Opportunity in Girls Flag Football

By Anthony Ivy,

Erin Lim

Published August 5, 2026 at 6:00 AM PDT

From college scholarships to Olympic dreams, girls flag football is creating opportunities that didn’t exist a few years ago. In Sacramento, Joslyn Cetina and Leyona Wilson, are chasing big goals with Elevate founder and trainer Vince Carter, whose program is helping shape the future of the game.

Click the play button above to listen!

JOSLYN: I have been a linebacker since day one. There’s that certain feeling when you got your first sack, right? That first time that you swat down a ball, deflected a pass.

Sound of Joslyn directing defense, game sounds, whistles, flags pulling

JOSLYN: My name is Joslyn Cetina. I am a 16-year-old sophomore at McClatchy High School. I am a center and linebacker. And I love flag football.“Let’s go!”

Sound of flag football

REPORTER: Joslyn is a star athlete in Sacramento, part of a new generation helping shape the future of girls’ flag football.

JOSLYN: Yes, so I am very blessed now to have received 10 official college offers and that right there is just crazy right I think especially right now we’re in this unique position, because flag football is one of the fastest growing sports in the whole country right now. The way that the WNBA is looking right now is the direction I see girls flag football going? I’m really excited for professional leagues to come out. I can’t wait for a bigger brand deals. This sky is the limit.

REPORTER: While most girls were cheering from the sidelines, Joslyn was trying to get dirty on the football field.

Before the spotlight.

Before the college offers.

Before the girls’ flag football started blowing up.

She was fighting for a spot in a game a lot of people never expected her to play.

JOSLYN: My football career actually started when I was in elementary school in tackle football. So I was playing soccer, and I decided that I wanted to quit. So growing up, it was never an option to just not play a sport. So we’re trying to find something else for me to play. And my mom was scrolling on Facebook and sees tackle football tryouts. As a joke, she asks me if I wanted to play tackle football. And as a joke, I said yes. And she laughed and said, “You can’t play football.”And that right there is what motivated me and pushed me to play the sport.

REPORTER: The game came easy. Earning respect was a whole different challenge.

JOSLYN: I don’t think there were very high expectations of me even making the team. People were used to seeing me in probably bows as a cheerleader. I’m a total girly girl. It took me a long time to kind of gain the respect that other athletes were just handed.

REPORTER:It wasn’t the tackle football that tested her. It was everything that came before and after the whistle.

JOSLYN: So this was the beginning of my very first year of tackle football. Because of my height, I was larger than most of the boys on our team. I ended up getting a starting spot pretty quickly. Because we were already in about the sixth grade, these boys had been playing together for years, and then some girl comes in and takes that starting spot. While I’m just, you know, chilling, taking off my pads, drinking some water, I actually got hit by my teammates. I had two or three guys actually come up and start beating on me.

Honestly, it wasn’t even the day that they hit me that I went home and cried about it. It was the day after that when I realized even after handling things quote-unquote properly, I was still looked down upon. I still wasn’t taken seriously. And again, I just really realized that I’m a girl in a male-dominated space. And I’m always gonna have to work ten times harder to be treated fairly.

REPORTER: The road wasn’t always easy.

But some of Joslyn’s best memories came from the same game that tested her the most.

JOSLYN: We were playing our season championship game, right, Pop Warner ball, and we got to play under the lights for the first time in the rain. And we won. And it was such a blast.

Sound of championship game

REPORTER: Tackle football was always the dream.

But in 2023, California officially made girls flag football a sanctioned high school sport. Almost overnight, new opportunities started popping up across the state. And it was about to open doors Joslyn never saw coming.

JOSLYN: When I was in middle school, it was when the big flag football boom started happening. I remember being called into my PE teacher’s office, who was also my track coach at the time, and I was nervous I was in trouble or something. And she handed me a flag football pamphlet for high school. I kind of laughed at her, right? I was like, no, tackle football is my life. I knew that my time in tackle was limited. I wanted to prove everyone wrong. You know, after waking up early every morning before the guys, leaving last on the field every night, and becoming average, it was really hard. And so I decided to make the rough transition and hard choice to play flag football. At first, I honestly wasn’t the most thrilled about it. I felt like I was settling. But it gave me a new way to thrive. I was now on an equal playing field.

REPORTER: Flag football didn’t just give Joslyn another opportunity. It gave her a place where she belonged.

JOSLYN: The flag community is so fun like a lot of girls know each other. We are just having a blast. You know when the ball stops it’s serious right you may be my friend, but when that ball snaps were locked in, we’re gonna do whatever it takes to make that play but the minute that plays over the whistle blows, we’re all fam. We’re dancing. We’re giggling. We’re having a grand old time

REPORTER: The sport started booming. In Stockton, one program was already built for moments like this. Elevate started out as a training hub for athletes of all ages.

They had a boy’s 7 v 7 football team and even hosted their own tournaments, combines and workouts, way before girls flag football started cracking.

Then boom flag football started growing and Elevate became one of the places helping him push that movement

Sounds of the gym weights clanking Vince directing kids

CARTER: My name is Vince Carter. born and raised on the south side of Stockton. My mom raised six kids, you know, on her own, and gave me a passion for the youth. Because she always loved everybody around her, and that’s how I got influenced.

REPORTER: For Vince, Elevate was never just about training. The program offered football, basketball, CrossFit, and a lot more other things.

But underneath all that, the mission was to give it back to the community.

CARTER: Growing up in a one-bedroom house sometimes, we had to go camping, like, for a long time because we didn’t have a house, and not ashamed of saying that because it instilled the will of not giving up. And that gave me the passion and my purpose to help. And the kids loved that, even when I was going through things, I was going to juvenile hall. You know, I went to jail. You know, I had a kid when I was young. My mom never gave up on me. And I just kept moving. And that’s what we’re giving here at Elevate.

REPORTER: The lessons at Elevate go beyond routes, catches, and touchdowns.

Because while these young athletes are chasing scholarships and big opportunities, they’re also navigating the challenges that come with growing up.

CARTER: “You know, it don’t matter what your background is. If you build yourself beautiful inside, the outside is gonna be glowing. And That’s confidence. That’s mental strength. That’s courage. Learning respect. Learning people etiquette. It’s a family.”

REPORTER: Vince has always had a gift for spotting potential.

Not just in people.

But in opportunities.

A few years ago, he took his boys’ 7-on-7 teams to a major tournament in Las Vegas.

CARTER: And far away, you could see these girls with flags.

Sound of girls’ football game

CARTER: And I was like, “What is that?” And they were like, “That’s girls flag football.” And I said, “Wow. One day, it’s gonna be on this main field.” Fast forward three years. It’s on the main field. It’s on every social media. Everyone’s trying to push it now because it’s that big.

REPORTER: After that tournament, Vince started the girls flag football program, called Lady Elevate.

Even though he has spent most of his life mentoring boys, he found himself embracing these girls like family.

CARTER: “I have six strong boys, and it’s been a blessing. But Lady Elevate… man, I had to adjust. I got to express to them how much I cared as a coach, as a dad, and as a mentor. I was like, ‘You guys are my daughters.’ Every girl that walks in this building, I treat them like they’re blood.”

REPORTER: As the sport started popping, so did Lady Elevate. It began welcoming girls from across California for combines, tournaments, and year-round training.

One of those girls was Joslyn Cetina.

CARTER: I met Joslyn at the first HER combine. Just her voice alone.

Sound of Joslyn encouraging her her teammates

CARTER: You know, her confidence. Her strength. Her leadership. You know, it was beautiful.

Sound of Joslyn encouraging her her teammates

JOSLYN: And a hop, skip, and a jump later, I became a part of the Elevate family.

Sound of athletes training

REPORTER: For some athletes, Elevate becomes a second home.

For Joslyn, it became a place where she leveled up.

JOSLYN: I love walking into a gym and, you know, people saying hi to me. Greeting me at the door. Knowing my name. My face. And Vince has created an environment that makes all these girls excited to compete and develop to play at the next level. And I know every time I’m on that turf field or in the gym, I’m going to be pushed.

Sound of Carter in the gym

REPORTER: But talent alone wasn’t just it. She been putting in that work.

That discipline.

That determination.

CARTER: I’ve seen Joslyn do some great things, but one of the meaningful things for me was taking some criticism. In the sense of, hey, put your hands like this. You’ve got to get out your routes like this. You’ve got to catch the ball like this. Some coaching cues. You’re right, coach. I’ve got to open my hands up. I’ve got to turn on the route. And that’s the growth that I’ve seen in Joslyn..

Sound of Jocelyn making a play at the tournament

REPORTER: The more work Joslyn put in, the more doors started opening.

Most college opportunities are still at community colleges and NAIA schools, but girls flag football is moving fast. The NCAA now recognizes it as an emerging sport. Division I programs are already joining the movement, including Sacramento State and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

CARTER: For any young girls listening, I would say get in your bag. That means pick up the football. It’s gonna be on ESPN more and more. It’s already Division One, getting ready for scholarships, Nike, Under Armour, Adidas. All these brands are already going after these girls. It’s gonna explode.

REPORTER: Twelve college offers later, Joslyn has helped show what’s possible.

Now another young star is starting to shine. At just 13 years old, Leyona Wilson is already a starter for Lady Elevate’s elite team.

LEYONA: To see other girls like Joslyn make big plays and achievements means a lot to me because they help me reach towards the goal I want to reach.

REPORTER: Leyona represents the next wave.

A track star.

A playmaker.

She’s one of the young athletes helping push the game forward

CARTER: Man, Lea, you know, she's seventh grade playing on the high school team. And, you know, what she's doing on the field is crazy. Just the level of play is almost like a college player, and she's only like 13. We were at fourth down. And we adjusted it like an outside hitch or something. And she took it to the crib and we won the game.

Sound of a football game

REPORTER: Leyona has been creating a lot of buzz with her play. More and more people are starting to pay attention. She even got to meet one of the biggest football creators on YouTube — AJ Green.

Sound of AJ Green YouTube channel

REPORTER: After watching her ball out, AJ sent her some signature gear.

Sound of Leyona unboxing gloves

REPORTER: Despite all the attention, Leyona says she's just getting started.

LEYONA: Some of my goals overall are to play flag football at Oregon University and eventually make it to Team USA one day.

Sound of the crowd cheering her name

REPORTER: Just a few years ago, opportunities like these barely existed for girls.

Now, flag football is growing from high schools to college campuses, and even going places it’s never been. In 2028, the sport reaches the Olympic stage in Los Angeles.

Joslyn and Leyona aren’t just sitting around waiting for the future. They’re helping change the game.

JOSLYN: Especially after receiving my first college offer, I realized that I can go somewhere. And I can go somewhere farther than college. I can stay in this sport for the rest of my life. I hope to pursue coaching professionally. Hope to be an NFL defensive coordinator. I want to go to a four-year university. The overall goal is to play in the Olympics to represent Team USA in flag football.

Sound of parents congratulating and yelling Jocelyn’s name