Touchdown! The flag football movement is here | Troy Vincent Sr.

0:06You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hugh. Imagine a world where all young people, regardless of their gender, had access to the same opportunities. Troy Vincent Sr., who was an all-star in the National Football League, is now the executive vice president of football operations for the NFL. And he had access to the opportunities that led him down the path to football fame. But as he shares in his talk, the reality is that for many young people, especially young women, the dream of becoming a professional athlete vanishes all too soon.

0:43He asks us to consider what it will take to get sports to a place where the playing field isn't just metaphorically level, but literally accessible to all.

1:00So what if your child had the heart, the drive, the skill for something they love, but not the access. What if a sport your child loved denied her the ability to play because of her gender? Let's imagine your granddaughter, your sister, your niece. Let's imagine a world where she had every opportunity that exists for a young boy. Where the playing field wasn't just metaphorically level, it was literally accessible to her. let's think about a world where every locker room door opened with the same ease for everyone. That question has stayed with me for years and is really the reason why I'm standing here today.

2:14I think about my journey in this journey of sport and football. I was raised by a strong woman, Alma Vincent, this quiet determination, and women surrounded my life throughout my childhood. That brings me back to a young girl in the city of Trenton, New Jersey, named Tracy Williams. Now, Tracy not only played every sport, Tracy competed, Tracy was smart, Tracy was fast. Tracy not only competed, Tracy used to whoop our tails. But as time went on, there was no coach or recruiter in the neighborhood recruiting Tracy, there was no place for girls as what we would call on the football playing field.

3:14So as time went on, she dreamed, but her access quickly vanished. Today, a father of five. Not so young kids anymore. Five different dreams. five different personalities, five different aspirations, and five levels of complete drama. I have had my fair share of carpools and sport practices. Our oldest child, Desiree, our oldest daughter, our beautiful daughter. Desiree has always had this hunger and this competitiveness about her. Can throw a pretty good spiral by the time Des was seven. Des was smart. Desiree was agile. Many would consider her slightly tough. Desiree played a ton of football in the backyards with her brother and friends.

4:26By the time Desiree turned 10, the opportunity to keep playing quickly vanished. It wasn't because Desiree lost interest. Desiree lost access. Meanwhile, her brothers, our sons, they had the opportunity to continue to play at both the high school level and the collegiate level. I realized that I was teaching my sons life lessons of toughness, building grit, telling them not to cry. And quickly, I realized that I was just reinforcing this thing called the man box, where I was teaching my sons one thing, but then yet reinforcing that boys get to compete and girls get to cheer. It was at that time I realized that the system was broken.

5:33Fast forward 30 years, flag football has truly emerged as this dynamic, all-inclusive sport. Today, it is not only creating options for young women. It is being played by 20 million people across 100 different countries. This flag movement is real. It is creating options for young women that never exist before. flag football teaches as we would consider these life skills that football has always taught they just haven't been shared with young girls of leadership resiliency toughness it develops grit now young women young girls have an opportunity to compete now you may be asking yourself why Why this movement?

6:39Why all of a sudden this explosion? It's affordable. It's accessible. It's all inclusive. And I'll add one more point there. It's social media friendly. Today, 17 states have sanctioned girls varsity flag as a true varsity sport in high school. 19 additional states have pilot programs. 100 plus colleges now offer flag with scholarships. Let's take Kilo Lowe Westerly. I love this. She's the first female to earn a Division one full scholarship for flag football.

7:33She's the first of many. That's just the beginning. And this is what excites me. In 2028, flag football will debut in the Los Angeles Olympic Games. OK, there's been 100 years. Let's think about this. A hundred plus years of football and our young ladies will be able to take the field in a sport that once had no place for them. We're not in the Olympic Games, if not for the participation and the skill level of young women across the globe. NFL flag, we're now in six different continents. Flag is truly becoming a global language. It is truly taking the world by storm and it's taking the world by storm because of the participation of women.

8:35Women are driving this movement. I won't allow anyone to say it's because of marketing. It's because. No, it's not. It's simple. We opened the door for her and we gave her an opportunity to participate. and she's taken our sport to another level. It is so important that this movement, that we nurture it in this time, in this space, we must nurture this movement. What do I mean by nurturing the movement? Let's take advantage of this momentum. The one thing that we have to be careful of, and this is why I'll challenge the group here. It is so important that we don't commercialize it for men or boys, because there's a tendency to do that, to commercialize a sport and create a commercial model for boys.

9:24And then yet we get satisfied with just access for women. No, we must create a equal playing field as we develop this great sport. It is so important that we nurture it. So you may be asking, well, what can I do? Ask the question at your schools. Start small. Reach out to your local parks and rec. Do young women have the ability to play flag football at your school, at your local parks and rec? We talk about life skills. Life skills in football are so transferable. We need to remind, just like we remind our young boys, these transferable skills that I live by every single day. Leadership, toughness, communication skills.

10:21These are all transferable life skills. Read a defense, read a room. Call an audible, solve a problem. Lead a drive, lead in life. These are things that we've been telling our young boys and what the game provides us as a transferable life skill for over 100 years. They're now on the table as an option for young ladies. So in closing, let's just imagine a world where Tracy from my old neighborhood, my granddaughters, Layla, Rosie, Nadia, Giotti. Imagine a world where they can take the field. Imagine a world where your niece, your sister, your daughter is representing our country. Imagine a world where your niece, your daughter, your granddaughter is walking out in the opening ceremony.

11:20Here's my challenge. And here's what I would leave. Let her leave. Let her dream. Just let her take the field. Why? Because the future of football and sports, it is through women and is now. Thank you.

11:46That was Troy Vincent Sr. speaking at TED Sports Indianapolis in 2025. If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at ted.com slash curation guidelines. And that's it for today. TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective. This episode was fact-checked by the TED Sports Research Team and produced and edited by our team. Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Lucy Little, and Tanzika Sungmarnivong. This episode was mixed by Christopher Faze Bogan. Additional support from Emma Taubner and Daniela Balarezo. I'm Elise Hu. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.

12:26Thanks for listening.