SA Lady Dolphins Elite 10U earn national flag football doubleheader

SA Lady Dolphins Elite 10U are headed to Westfield, Indiana, and Greater Des Moines, Iowa, in the same summer. The 10-girl roster, made up of players ages 9 and 10, earned a berth in the third annual NFL FLAG Championships and the No. 1 seed in the Gold Division bracket at the AAU Junior Olympic Games.

The NFL FLAG Championships Presented by Toyota are set for July 23-26 at Grand Park Sports Campus, with championship games scheduled for Sunday, July 26. The event will draw more than 350 teams, the largest field in its history, and will include girls and boys teams from across the United States along with more than 10 international teams. The AAU Junior Olympic Games are scheduled for July 29-Aug. 8 in Greater Des Moines, giving the Lady Dolphins barely a week between the two national events.

The program began only about a year ago with a handful of girls, including the coaches’ daughters. Head coach Jacob Lorensy built the team by giving young girls a chance to play football.

Lorensy already oversees more age groups, including 8U, 12U, high school and 6U teams, and he wants to expand even further by building a girls league of his own.

The NFHS counted 17 state associations that had sanctioned girls flag football by June 2026, with six more states voting on sanctioning this year and 15 states in pilot programs. In Texas, the Houston Texans’ She’s Next initiative grew from 18 Houston-area teams three years ago to 152 this year, and more than 270 girls flag football teams are expected statewide by 2027. The Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans also staged the first Girls Flag Texas State Championship in Denton on June 13-14, while nearly 40 public, charter and private schools in El Paso County played in the inaugural Region 19 girls flag season last year.