The Kansas City Chiefs have a presence at the 2025 NFL FLAG Championships

USA Today

19-07-2025

This week, Chiefs Wire's Ed Easton Jr. spoke to Stephanie Kwok, the Vice President and head of Flag Football, to discuss the impact the Kansas City Chiefs and the rest of the league are having on the ongoing NFL FLAG-In-School program with GENYOUth and this weekend's 2025 NFL FLAG Championships.
"We've got 300 teams coming out, about 3,000 athletes. Everything's going to broadcast on ESPN and Disney channels as well as the NFL network." said Kwok, "So looking forward to a long weekend of flag football and some of the best youth flag football will be going on in the country and and in and in the world, with some of our international teams coming too."
Ten youth flag football teams will represent the Kansas City Chiefs at the 2025 NFL FLAG Championships at the Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Ohio. The teams qualified through last October's NFL FLAG Regional Tournament and compete in Chiefs-branded uniforms.
"It's so interesting because flag football has been around for a long time, for decades as a recreational sport, but over the last few years, we've just seen that growth explode. I think there have been a lot of factors. I think the tailwind of the Olympic announcement back in late 2023 certainly helps with that." said Kwok, "But I think it's really to the culmination of a lot of the grassroots efforts that we've been seeing by all of the NFL clubs, by NFL itself, by all of the organizations in the community, just continuing to build flag football, continuing to build especially opportunities for girls to play in high school, for them to go then go on and play in college, so now you're seeing that momentum. With over 30 states offering high school programs for girls, there are more than 100 colleges that have either varsity or club teams as well. So that's a snapshot of all the growth we saw in the U.S., not even mentioned globally."
The KC Novas, Prairie Fire, Thunder Monkeys II, KC Shockers 12u, Thunder Monkeys, Grip Boost Elite, KC Heat—Red, and KC Shockers will represent Kansas. The KC Kings and Mambas will join them from Missouri.
"We've got the NFL FLAG-In-School program as well, which GENYOUth runs and which the NFL Foundation funds, that is just trying to help increase that accessibility," said Kwok. "But we're seeing that, not just at the elementary school levels, but that carries through with the accessibility. So I think one really interesting statistic in high school is that 50% of the girls on the high school flag football team are playing a high school sport for the first time, so we're just increasing opportunities for kids, for girls, to play sports, but also to have that experience of being on a high school athletic team."
NFL FLAG-In-School is a critical entry point for millions of students to get moving in school. By providing free flag football equipment and a standards-based curriculum to schools, the program empowers educators to motivate students with a fun and inclusive activity designed for all skill levels.