Ki'Lolo Westerlund, 17, is America's flag football star of the future

New York Times

07-03-2025

Ki'Lolo Westerlund knew she had a starring role in an NFL Flag 50 commercial promoting flag football that would air during Super Bowl LIX. She knew she'd be appearing alongside past and present NFL players such as Myles Garrett, Justin Jefferson and Marshawn Lynch. She just hadn't seen it. It aired on millions of screens worldwide right after halftime, but the 17-year-old flag football star was actually at the game in New Orleans with her father.
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Westerlund was a standout receiver and defensive back at Liberty High School in Las Vegas. She also helped the U.S. Girls' Junior National Team win gold medals in the 15U and 17U groupings of USA Football's Junior International Cup each year from 2022 to 2024. Last year, she became the first recipient of a Division I flag football scholarship, and before enrolling at Alabama State this fall, she'll try out for the 2025 U.S. Women's National Team later this month.
But while Westerlund's phone blew up with notifications, she eagerly awaited the chance to witness the Super Bowl ad for herself. Once the third quarter ended, it played on the screens at the Caesars Superdome.
Essentially, Westerlund played herself, but with the clock wound back 40 years to 1985. She played a high schooler who, despite being doubted by her male counterparts, thrived on the gridiron, juking and dodging defenders. The climax was a scene in which she mimicked Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley's gravity-defying backward hurdle to embarrass an opponent who questioned her skills.
Leave the past behind. Let's make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states. #NFLFlag50 #SBLIXhttps://t.co/mWxpXJ0Ogy pic.twitter.com/I0yzbDYZGo
— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025
Westerlund was sitting — well, standing — in the Eagles fan section at the Super Bowl when the ad played, and the Bird Gang faithful surrounding her, already ecstatic as they witnessed the Eagles' beatdown of the Kansas City Chiefs, went nuts.
'It was really an honor,' Westerlund said recently in a phone interview. 'That's kind of when it all hit me. I was emotional. And I was like, 'Wow, this is actually happening. This is crazy.' All the people around me were like, 'Wait, that's you!''
NFL Flag 50 is a campaign that the league started to push for girls flag football to become a sanctioned varsity high school sport in all 50 states. There are currently 14 states that have sanctioned it, Louisiana recently gave it conditional approval and 18 additional states have started pilot programs. The NFL Flag program has provided opportunities for youths of all genders to learn and play the sport since the 1990s.
If you're wondering why the NFL would put together a two-minute commercial to air during an event where a 30-second commercial reportedly cost around $8 million, the popularity of flag football — and the league's investment in the sport — has exploded in recent years.
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Flag football will debut as an Olympic sport in a five-on-five format at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The NFL changed the Pro Bowl to a flag football format in 2023. While it's uncertain if NFL players will participate in the 2028 Games, it's something league officials and USA Football (the governing body for American football in the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee) are discussing.
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In the last five years, flag football has become a collegiate sport at the NAIA, NJCAA and the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. Earlier this month, the sport got a recommendation to join the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which would allow schools in all three NCAA divisions to make a deeper commitment to the sport and one day potentially submit it for consideration for championship status.
Alabama State, an FCS program, became the first DI school with a women's flag football program in April 2024. This past offseason, it became the first DI school to hand out a scholarship in the sport. It went to Westerlund.
When Alabama State coach Jennifer Constuble received approval to offer a scholarship, she knew she wanted to use it on someone who would be not only a game changer on the field but a trailblazer off of it.
'It was honestly a no-brainer,' Constable said recently. 'She was my No. 1 pick to do that. … She's going to be that person that kids are going to look up to.'
Westerlund is excited to compete at the collegiate level, but her larger goal is to compete in the 2028 Olympics and, more broadly, to continue to grow the game.
'Absolutely,' Westerlund said when asked if she believes people are becoming more accepting of girls and women playing football. 'They are coming around and trying to understand it.
'And for those that still don't, they will soon.'
Boredom led Westerlund to flag football.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced shutdowns worldwide, she was a volleyball and rugby player with no intention of playing flag football. But during a period of inactivity in 2020, she decided to try out for Apex Predators, a youth flag football club in Las Vegas.
'I was actually really bad,' Westerlund said, but she made the team alongside future U.S. Women's Team member Maci Joncich and others. They started to play games against boys' teams. And while Westerlund gradually improved, the team wasn't faring well.
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'We were constantly getting beat and whupped and made fun of, which I think brought us a lot closer as a team,' Westerlund said. 'And it just pushed us to keep fighting.'
As the Apex Predators developed better chemistry, they began to talk about how they wanted to play against other girls at some point. So they worked to promote the game both locally and in other states as they traveled to play contests to garner interest.
Nevada had already sanctioned flag football as a varsity high school sport in 2016, so Westerlund was able to start playing when she enrolled at Liberty High in 2021. That was also the first year USA Football held tryouts for its national teams. The process of making the junior national team was an eye-opening experience for Westerlund.
'There were so many girls out there. And just before trials even started, seeing (all of the) like-minded people, it made me want to just keep going,' Westerlund said. 'It made me realize that it's bigger than just what we had in our little league in Vegas.'
Unlike her flag football predecessors, Westerlund had others she could look up to as role models. The biggest was Ashlea Klam, who at 19 became the youngest player to make the U.S. Women's National Team in 2023. Her former teammate, Joncich, who broke Klam's record in 2024, was another.
Meanwhile, Westerlund started to develop a reputation in her own right. While coaching a club team in the Los Angeles Open — a flag football tournament — several years ago, Constuble was short a player and found herself looking for an extra body.
Constuble happened to be friends with an aunt of Westerlund, who was in town and signed up for the squad. The team went on to win the tournament.
3x gold medalist Ki'Lolo Westerlund joins us after starring in the @NFLFLAG 50 commercial during #SuperBowlLIX and discusses becoming the 1st flag football player to receive a NCAA D1 flag football scholarship 🙌@TheRokuChannel | Check local listings pic.twitter.com/8Ke4RONxEG
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) February 10, 2025
As much as Westerlund's skills stood out, so did her infectious personality.
'Her personality, her presence, her leadership qualities — she blended with a group of girls she had never met before so instantaneously,' Constuble said. 'They all became friends.
'Her play ability speaks for itself,' Constuble continued, 'but beyond her play ability, it's her work ethic and her genuine desire and determination to be better and uplift everyone around her. That (is) such a pivotal role as a true ambassador for the sport and really somebody that young girls can look up to. It goes beyond athleticism. She's just a genuine person who is humble hearted and has a mindset of, 'I can do this, you can do this and we can do this better together.''
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Westerlund was constantly dancing and couldn't stop running her mouth — whether it was talking trash to the opposing teams, complaining to the referees about calls or encouraging her teammates. She backed it up with her athleticism and competitiveness.
'I think it's just my confidence — that's what makes me stand out,' Westerlund said. 'My passion for this game is just so strong. It's more than just football. It's everything that goes into it. I always want to play for a bigger purpose and a bigger reason. I always want to set a great example for other players, young or older.'
As Westerlund prepared to transition into college, Alabama State became the easy choice. It's an HBCU, which appealed to her with her Black and Samoan heritage. It would allow her to major in fire science, which she hopes to use to become a firefighter. Given the program just started last year, it provided her an opportunity to help build something.
'It meant the world to me,' Westerlund said. 'Five years ago, I couldn't see myself in this situation because I didn't know anything about flag. I'm seeing the growth and knowing that I'm making an impact. And this is just a bigger step to open windows for so many young women.'
To Constuble, it isn't even a question that Westerlund's flag football career will extend far beyond Alabama State.
'I think she's already been on that radar to make that Olympic team in 2028,' Constuble said. 'If there went on to be a professional, NFL flag football program and it was all men, she'd probably make that, too. Her work ethic and her drive are far superior to most people her age — and even people older than her. She does everything with such a passionate heart that the only limitations are going to be the ones she gives herself.'
Constuble began coaching flag football in 2003 when she and her husband at the time started an NFL Flag program in Victorville, Calif. She coached at the club and high school levels, then worked in the Los Angeles Rams' youth engagement and football development program before she was hired as Alabama State's coach last November. Across her long journey in flag football, the sport has made plenty of strides.
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There are now over 100 countries where flag football is played. From 2014 to 2023, the number of children who played flag football in America increased by 38 percent (according to USA Football) to over 1.6 million. During that same time frame, the number of girls participating in flag football increased by 44 percent to upwards of 230,800.
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'I've invested in this for over 20 years, so, to me, it's been a long time coming,' Constuble said. 'The sport has taken over the hearts of so many young ladies. And these young ladies who've probably grown up watching old highlight films of their dads or being on the sidelines watching their brothers or cheering on their cousins in the stands have developed a true love for the game. And now we're seeing so many of those girls having an opportunity to actually play it for themselves.'
Still, there was grassroots-level work to be done when she started at Alabama State last November.
This January, Constuble held an open tryout for her inaugural team. She landed on a group of 26 women, none of whom intended on playing flag football when they enrolled at the school.
'Ninety percent of them have never played flag football,' Constuble said. 'They just genuinely have a love for football and knew that they wanted to be a part of something special.'
Westerlund is expected to lead that charge moving forward. If she makes the 2025 U.S. Women's National Team later this month, she'll compete in the 2025 IFAF Americas Flag Football Championships, which decides who will qualify for the 2026 world championships and The World Games in August.
'And then I also strive to make the Olympic team, which would be amazing. I absolutely love representing my country,' Westerlund said. 'After that, I just want to constantly make an impact, whether I'm coaching or playing. I do want to be a firefighter, but I would make time for football, of course.
'My goal is just to stay dedicated, stay consistent and inspire others.'
(Top photo courtesy of USA Football)