El Paso native named to U.S. Women’s Flag Football National Team
EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- El Paso native Laneah Bryan is now a member of the USA Football U.S. Women's Flag Football National Team. Bryan used to play basketball at the University of New Mexico.
She and her fellow athletes will compete in the world championships in Lahti, Finland in August. Bryan was selected from 60 women who tried out for the team at the United States Performance Center (USPC) in North Carolina.
The International Olympic Committee made flag football an Olympic sport for the 2028 games in Los Angeles. This is happening as flag football's international popularity expands.
"Flag football provides a clear path for women and girls to get started in football and compete in the sport up to the international level," a USA Football representative explained in a news release Wednesday. "High school girls’ flag football is now sanctioned as a varsity sport in nine states, and on the collegiate level, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) offers scholarships and holds a championship."
The representative went on the explain that the number of girls ages six to 12 playing flag football jumped 157% from 2013 to 2023.
This year's world championships will be the first iteration since the Olympic Committee's announcement.
"This summer’s world championship, which IFAF expects to be its largest to date, will feature the best teams from around the world as determined by the IFAF’s 2023 Continental Championships, which headlined the international governing body’s biggest-ever cycle of global flag football competition," USA Football stated.
