After becoming the female face of the NFL and starring in a Super Bowl commercial with tennis legend Billie Jean King, what keeps Mexican passer Diana Flores up at night is representing her country in the first flag ball tournament at an Olympic Games.
“There are about 20 million people practicing my sport in 100 countries, today it is on track to be Olympic in Los Angeles 2028. A bright future awaits sport, which is inclusive because it gives men and women the same opportunity to develop on the field,” the captain of the women’s flag ball team that won the 2022 World Games.
Since her triumph at the World Games last July, the life of the native of Mexico City took a 180-degree turn by putting the flag ball and her team in the international media.
This, driven by the support of the NFL and the International Federation of American Football, which intends to popularize their sport around the world with flag soccer, has led her to be one of the leaders who hope to put this sport in the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Flores has established herself as the ambassador of flag ball with the commercial “Run With It”, which stole the attention in the last Super Bowl and that at the moment has more than 4.5 million views on YouTube.
“To me this is incredible. It opens more opportunities for boys and girls, for future generations, not only to develop on the field but to achieve their dreams because in Mexico and the United States, there are academic scholarships for players,” added Flores.
The graduate of Marketing and Communication at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, one of the most prestigious universities in Mexico, has practiced flag soccer since she was eight years old.
At 14 he won his first major title in his sport when with the team of North Penn High School in Pennsylvania (USA) he won the NFL regional championship.
The level she showed since her early years, in which she even faced men due to the lack of women’s tournaments, earned her to become in 2014 the youngest player to play the World Flag Ball, at 16 years.
Despite her achievements, among which are third place in a World Cup, she rose to fame until the title in the World Games, which the Mexican team won against the United States with four touchdown passes of hers, after which she was offensive coordinator of the American Conference of the NFL in the Pro Bowl Games 2023 and for her position in the Super Bowl.
In the commercial launched at the most important football game of the year, a reporter interviews Flores and asks him if there is someone capable of removing the flags he carries on the sides of his hip, after which the communicator tries to snatch one and a chase against Flores begins in which NFL players such as Davante Adams appear. from the Las Vegas Raiders and King, who helps her escape.
With the sports world watching what she does, Flores aims not only to turn flag ball into an Olympic sport, but to open doors for more women to stand out in the NFL and in all disciplines.
“One of my goals is to continue opening doors for women, not only in flag, but in different sports. This empowerment of women is very important today,” she said.
