TAMPA, Fla. — On August 8, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation awarded four $5,000 scholarships as part of the Bucs Girls In Football Scholarship program. The scholarships were given to incoming college freshmen attending an accredited four-year college or university. Applicants must have played organized high school football (tackle, flag, touch), maintained a 3.0 GPA or better on a 4.0 scale, and written a short essay explaining how their prospective career path will have a positive effect on the sports industry. 2022 marks the third year of the Bucs Scholarship program.
This year's recipients were Elle Bohlman (Carmel, CA - University of Notre Dame), Jairis Gomez (Bradenton - Florida State University), Kaylen Thomas (Brentwood, TN - Mount St. Mary's University), and Olivia Zorrilla (Riverview - Florida State University).
The popularity of girls flag football is spreading quickly across the country. This class of college freshmen is part of the foundation of a sport that has a bright future.
"People at first were like, 'Oh, it’s just girls flag football.' Now, it’s like 'OH! It’s girls flag football!' It’s crazy how it’s growing," Gomez said. "It’s awesome because you’re being part of that process of it growing. And you’re growing with the sport, and it’s just like super-cool."
Zorrilla said it's important for young women to have role models in sports, so they can continue to follow in the footsteps of those who played before them.
"I can get there. It’s not impossible. It’s not something that’s out of reach," she said. "Seeing someone that’s already there shows me that I can get there now. There’s even more ways to do that. Especially with how far we’ve come."
Bucs vice president of community impact Tara Battiato said the Bucs are proud to be a franchise that's known for its emphasis on inclusion and diversity.
"To be able to oversee the department and come up with all of our programming that is moving this needle forward for these girls and women- and real equality, not only in the NFL but in all of sport is pretty spectacular."
Bohlman said receiving a scholarship based on her love for football and sports is something that shows which direction the NFL is moving.
"The NFL is such a big organization. It really cares about women and sports and in football, which is not an everyday thing, but it’s becoming one, which is really cool."
Thomas played flag football and rugby in high school, and she's continuing her rugby career at Mount St. Mary's. She said seeing women like Bucs assistant defensive line coach Lori Locust and director of rehabilitation and performance Maral Javadifar have on-field roles is something that's a huge inspiration.
"Just women in sports, growing in general, inspired me. I want to be a physical therapist for a football team, or the trainer," Thomas added. "Now seeing that other women are able to do it. It’s just so amazing to see how the sport’s growing."
This year's scholarship recipients have goals ranging from psychology to management. They want to continue to lead the way for young women pursuing careers in sports.
"Sports, in general, is not gender-based anymore," Gomez added. "Anybody can get into it. You just have to have the passion for it and have fun while you’re doing it."
"Those girls in the NFL are just showing every woman in America that you can do whatever you want to do," Bohlman said.
"I actually can do this," Zorrilla continued. "And I have people around me saying 'You can be a woman in sport and do big things.'”
