A Game Changer in Girls’ Flag Football: Meet Juliana Zavala

In this episode of the Speaking of Phenomenal Podcast, Juliana Zavala, Senior Manager of Elementary Sports at Chicago Public Schools, shares her inspiring journey into sports administration. Juliana discusses the challenges and successes of launching the girls' flag football league with the support of the Chicago Bears and NFL. She emphasizes the importance of female representation in coaching and officiating, and the profound impact sports have on education and personal development. Her story is a powerful testament to perseverance, the influence of sports, and the growth of girls' flag football in Chicago.

INTRO/OUTRO MUSIC (used with permission)  WOMAN Performed by T

Every moment in life has the potential to be phenomenal. At Amy Boyle Photography, we specialize in capturing those moments, whether it's for your business, a milestone event, or a personal portrait. As the host of the Speaking of Phenomenal Podcast, I know the power of storytelling—and I bring that same passion to my photography. Let’s create images that celebrate who you are and wh

 If you're loving the stories and insights on the Speaking of Phenomenal podcast, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or GoodPods.  Each 5 star review is appreciated, thank you!

Joe and Bella 15% off
Stylish, easy clothing for adults with dressing challenges due to age, disability, or recovery.

Podcast Merch and more
Discover phenomenal merchandise on Etsy by Amy Boyle, founder of 52 Phenomenal Women.

Join The Dames®
Apply to become a member of The Dames® group of women business leaders in the world

PodMatch
PodMatch Automatically Matches Ideal Podcast Hosts And Guests For Interviews

HoneyBook
Save 50% off your 1st year with HoneyBook

Join today save 10% - AMYBOYLEPH10
For photographers, YouTubers, filmmakers, or students ASMP is built to help you succeed!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (00:00.056)

Welcome to the Speaking of Phenomenal podcast, Juliana. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for having me. Glad to be here, Amy. I can't wait to dive in and cover all the things we're going to talk about today. Can you give our audience an introduction to the phenomenal you? Thank you, Amy, for having me on. I'm really happy to be here. I have to say this is my first podcast, so I'm really excited that it's here with you, Amy. A little bit about myself, Juliana Zavala. I am the senior manager of elementary sports at Chicago Public Schools. I work in the Office of Sports Administration.

And I oversee elementary sports for the district. And I also oversee girls' flag football. And it's been an amazing time, overseeing girls' flag football. I know we'll talk about that a little bit more, but outside of sports, I also am a mom. I have a two and a half year old and a one year old that keeps me on my toes at all times. So I am active, very active right now with my kiddos.

And, know, one of the biggest things that I enjoy doing about this job is being in educational sports and being a female in a sports industry, right? That's male dominated. And my biggest passion is doing this and doing this for the right people, for the student athletes and their growth. And my goal is I've always been a female advocate and I'm hoping that more females and women can come out to educational sports and be a part of it.

I want them to see that there's females that can make changes and use sports just like girls flag football here in the year 2024 and just dominate in a sports industry. Again, that's male oriented, but we have a lot of great support from a lot of females outside the industry. So again, really happy to be here with you, Amy, and kind of share some of my story and the journey. Well, how did you get into sports and sports administration and all that? Where did that passion come from?

How long has the journey been and you know what lit the fire within? You're right about that. You know, I grew up in Little Village. My parents immigrated from Mexico and I have five. There's five girls and one boy in my family. And I was the only jock in the family, the only person. And my mom just never understood like, where did you learn and your passion about sports? Because my mom and my dad, you know, I mean, they didn't play many sports in Mexico, but

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (02:19.582)

My dad is a football enthusiast and loves sports. So I just kind of came out of it and it was just this, you know, something that I wanted to do, something I've always wanted to run and play sports. my passion growing up was playing all sorts of sports like cross country track, soccer, you name it. I wanted to be a part of everything. soccer was that one sport that, you know, I kept playing. So I played soccer throughout high school and college.

I also coached at the collegiate level. And then when I found out when I was a coach, was coaching at UIC with Brian Rigby. There was the first inauguration of starting a woman's soccer program, division one program there. I was looking at everything that was happening behind the scenes, what everyone was doing in the administration. And when I saw that and I said, wow, you know, there's other paths that can happen within sports. And then I just kind of started.

picking up people's brain in the office, like, okay, what was your path to become, you know, an athletic director or in marketing, branding, whatever the case is. And, you know, one of the biggest things for me was I always wanted to give back and serve. And that's why I looked into becoming an athletic director. And ever since then, I've loved it. I've never looked back. I love being behind the scenes and making sure that others have a great experience. And to me, it's, it's honestly, it doesn't feel like work.

I feel like it's just a part of my everyday and I'm always having a good time meeting great people. The fact that you said, you know, picking the brains and kind of figuring out how does this, how does this work? Where do you get into it? Because until we see more people like ourselves doing it, we don't, we, we have to create that wheel. Right. And so it's so exciting when you hear that there's a passion and people are just completely driven to figure out how to be a part of it and how to change.

the way things are going. When it comes to that, what would you say was a good strategy for you to get that first door open? What was that experience like for you? I've had great mentors throughout my journey here and I've been very fortunate, you know, to have them and all of them have been males, all male people, mentors, and I am really happy that we have those males.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (04:40.174)

advocates that want to support females and want to see females thrive. And to me, my journey is starting with some of those coaches and administrators that kind of helped me through the path. And they saw how passionate I was. They saw that I love to service. And with that, it helped me create my path. Something that I didn't know about, you know, like I mentioned before, I grew up in Little Village. My parents, my mom and dad, I think they finished the first grade in Mexico. So when they came, when the

they came back here to Chicago for the first time. My parents didn't like pressure us and say, Hey, Juliana, you got to go to college or hey, you got to get a job. My parents were like, look, you know, whatever you want to focus on, focus on it and do good at it, be passionate and work hard. And those are the two values that they kind of instilled in me. So it really started with my parents and my mom is, know, you don't realize it, but my mom was like a networking machine. Like she always talked to everyone and

you know, going back to my little Julie days or Juliana days, my nickname is Julie. My mom would tell me, okay, you know, in Spanish, she would say, come with me, let's go get milk. Well, when I lived in Little Village, to go to the grocery to get milk was a mile away, right? And then you had to carry the milk to come back because, you know, my dad was working. One of the reasons that I wouldn't want to go out there to get milk because she talks to...

everyone in each block and you know the you could say the one hour milk trip ended up being four hours and here we come and you know my mom again just loved to network and I feel that part of that is something that I learned from her is just socializing meeting people and asking questions and that's the biggest thing that coming into any career is you got to be able to ask questions you've got to learn more and ask and why it's okay to ask questions and

To me, feel like that has been my career path is picking up people's brain, trying to figure out how can I become a better leader? How can I become a better administrator to make sure that other student athletes have better opportunities than I did and things that I didn't learn until, you know, even then I'm still a student of the game and I'm still learning. Of course, when we're little, we'll be like, can we just get there and get it done? But now this has turned into asking questions and networking has really.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (06:56.14)

made a profound impact in making sure that the success, especially of the flag football league, has taken off as well. Senior manager of elementary sports. So Chicago's no small city. What is that like on the day to day? And how is the importance of what you're doing translatable for people in other big cities or even small cities? Overseeing elementary sports at Chicago Public Schools is definitely

You don't get to see it unless you experience it, right? So when I tell people what I do, you know, I oversee elementary sports, they're kind of like, you just kind of go out there and watch games. You know, it's like, no, it's more than that. There's a lot of logistical, there's a lot of movement that has to be done behind the scenes. And Chicago Public Schools is the fourth largest school district in the U .S. And yes, I contact Miami, Los Angeles. We have a good relationship with Los Angeles to figure out.

What kind of systems and things are they doing to make sure that we kind of work together and figure out what's the best practices moving forward. So on a day to day, every day is different. And that's why I love coming into work because you come into work at eight and sometimes I'm leaving the office at seven o 'clock at night. It doesn't feel like work. feels like you're enjoying it. But behind the scenes, there is a lot of tasks that have to be done to make sure that the community is all on the same page. Advocating for sportsmanship, know, social emotion learning.

making sure that the students get the skill development that they need. It's not just going out there and just playing games. Sports is a tool to help kids guide them and it's their vehicle for their next chapter in life. And that's kind of the things that we look at at Chicago Public Schools. We look at what's the big picture and where do we wanna go and how do we wanna get there? And I would think it's even so much more important now with the more we're online and the more we're on devices.

just having good programming to move our bodies, to be a part of community and learning different things, right? Because at the elementary school level, not everyone starts off knowing what sport they're gonna be good at, right? So I'd love to hear more about how did those opportunities get introduced at a young age? At Chicago Public Schools, we have our program that is called SCORE.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (09:17.486)

sports can open roads to excellence and that's really what it is. So what we try to do is our programming is fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grade and we run nine sports throughout the city. And our program is a no cup policy. So we allow all student athletes to come out and be a part of this. And, you know, one of the beautiful things about elementary sports is giving the kids the opportunity, the confidence to say, yes, I want to play. I want to learn a sport.

But then I also want to make friends and I want to be a part of something big. And we hope that that's the path to get them to high school. We don't want them to get to high school and just feel intimidated. We want them to feel that confidence that they can get and play at the next level as well. So that's a little bit of what we do at elementary. It's always the, you know, the wellbeing of our student athletes, the social, emotional is great and the skill development and then everything outside of what the students do outside of school is just being that impact in their life as well.

I know one of the main things that brought us together was the fact that we're going to talk a fair amount about girls flag football. You're one of the instrumental people in making sure that this league is successful and has grown so much in such a short amount of time. Can you tell us about that journey and what that means to you? Starting girls flag football with the support of the Chicago Bears has been honestly something that I feel is going to be part of my legacy. You ask, what is your legacy going to look like? And

You know, I do, I've been doing a lot of things, but this one's one that I will always remember. it's, it's kind of crazy to think about that. And we're in the year 2024, we're adding a new sport to the IHSA. But at the same time, it was rapidly growing. Like I can't believe how quickly it grew. when I had a conversation with Gustavo Silva from the Chicago Bears was in charge of their youth and community manager.

In 2019, we had this conversation and we were just kind of talking about an event that we were doing. We're kind of doing blankets and serving and giving service back. And he kind of brought it up. He's like, you know, I, there's a vision that's being put out in the NFL and I want to share that vision with you. And I want to ask you if you want to be a part of this. And he was asking me the question and I didn't even let him respond. And I just said, yes, you know, and.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (11:36.726)

You know, what he was telling me was, you know, Hey, in Florida and Atlanta, girls flag football has kicked off. It's a sport already in their governing body at high school. And he was asking, how can we do this in Illinois? And I said, let's do it. Let's go out and let's make this happen. We were able to make a relationship, which he already had with NFL flag and USA football. And we connected again.

several times in 2020. once everything was a go and we had the green light to go back to some sort of normal, right? When it comes back to sports, starting Girls' Flag Football was something that has always been in our mind and how we wanted to grow it in the state of Illinois. So we said, you know what? Let's start the program in 2021 with six to eight schools. Let's just go ahead and...

pilot this program and I sent out a survey to all the athletic directors, all the 90 plus athletic directors that we have charter and public schools that play in the Chicago public league. And I said, look, this is a brand new program. It's girls flag football. Whoever's interested, the first six to eight people that say yes, I'm going to have a conversation with you. So I checked it and I said, I gave them like five days. You know, I said, let's try this out.

And it was on the third, fourth day that I remember I looked at the survey. I'm like, okay, let's see where we're at. And to my surprise, we're like up in the twenties and I'm like, my gosh, you know, I'm over here thinking I'm going to six to eight schools. I'm really going to the survey. Maybe he's going to fill it with two and maybe I have to make a couple calls to some athletic directors to try to convince them to join and be part of this program for girls flag football. But that was not the case. I called Gustavo and I said, Gus.

We have a good problem and we have a bad problem. And I said, we have about 26 schools that opt in. And he's like, okay, let's do it without hesitation. He's like, let's go. So he went to his bosses and asked for additional funding to help put this program together. In 2021 of the fall season, we started and we kicked off with 21 Chicago public league teams. And you were just hoping for six to eight. That's incredible.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (13:49.326)

Yes. Part of the goal, the reason why Gustavo wanted to start in the city and why we both agreed on is the city is really diverse and it's inclusive and we can get so much going into the city. A lot of the sports usually like lacrosse and wrestling have started in the suburbs and maybe it's taken them a little bit longer to kind of make it into a section sport in the IHSA. But our biggest goal for us has always been let's start in the city.

and kind of grow from there. And that's what we did. that's perfect then. it was meant to be 21 and 21. Right. There you go. There you go. No, that was really good. It was a great feeling. And you're much beyond that now for 2024. But we'll go into those numbers in a second. You've so you've mentioned this partnership with the Chicago Bears and then initiative through the NFL in general. What kind of help does that do to get a sport that you're

itching to get started and now you have this extra energy and passion behind you. it's a front seat. You get the front seat, honestly, and that's what the girls have been getting this whole time. Having the Chicago Bears behind us, their support, not only just saying, hey, let's help you put the league together. Here's money, you know, and you can all get it started. They didn't just kind of check that box. They really helped us by making us be part of their family, making us

be part of their membership as well. And that's what makes it special. mean, I can't tell you how many times the girls have been to Hallis Hall that they go out there and they feel like it's home. They're like, I already been here, you know, but they've been a great host to a lot of things. And that's the thing with having the Chicago Bears behind us has been that our number one support. I call them our number one fans because they truly have been and they have shown it from the leadership. The McCasky family has been great. Ryan Poles.

Kevin Warren came out and talked to the girls personally and just kind of has shared their support multiple times. So again, to have someone like the Chicago Bears help support us, drive us, has been, has been special. And the girls feel it. They know it. Just on Saturday, the Chicago Bears invited two CPS teams to play during the halftime show. So Taft and King High School were playing during the halftime show. And I was at the game.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (16:14.348)

I'm so happy that I was able to experience and get invited. But not only did they play at halftime, the girls, there's three girls that have the opportunity to go out in the tunnel with the Chicago Bears. And then they also had them as one of the players as an honorary captain. So they've literally made them feel part of it and say, hey, you you're a part of this. You're here for the long run. And I'm not going to lie, I got a little emotional when those girls were coming out of the

because those three girls from TAP that came out of the tunnel were part of the product from 2021. They came in the first time and now they're seniors and they've been part of programming and they can talk about it. And I hope those girls come back and many of the 21 teams, right? These girls that came in for first year, they're seniors this year. To just have them come back and talk about their experience and talk about what this meant to them and the support from the Chicago Bears coming in.

has been huge and I don't think we would have grown as rapidly as we did without their support and the support of a big organization like them. The Chicago Bears came in and helped us by purchasing uniforms. All the girls had uniforms. Coach Eberful has purchased uniforms from five teams, know, not just the city, but the suburbs. And it's been a really great job from their end because they've

connected us with USA football, who has been helping us with equipment and NFL flag and Nike and Gatorade and Buffalo Wild Wings and so on and so forth. know, so the sponsorship has helped tremendously and it's been easy for teams to come in and jump on board because they don't have to worry about cost. All they have to worry about is coaching and everything else was taken care of. If it was not from the Chicago Bears, it's through a partnership from the Chicago Bears. Chicago public schools, we're lucky. I can't say.

or even our leadership at Chicago Public Schools, they've done a great job of, you know, supporting this. You know, they've said, yes, let's do this. Let's also put, you know, the money in to pay coaches and officials and get the sites that we need. So all around, I've been very fortunate. I feel like this was just a matter of time, you know, matter of time that someone could put this together and, you know, they say, you know, you

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (18:31.864)

put things together and everyone will come. So I'm just happy to be a part of this journey. Who are the coaches for the flag football league? Like where are you finding them and what are their backgrounds? Where are their passions? How does that all work out? For the Chicago public league, you know, a lot of the coaches don't know flag football because this is their first time coming out and playing not only coaching a sport. So a lot of our coaches that are coming in and I'm happy to say this, this data here.

But 65 % of our coaches are actually females. And that says a lot. And one of the things that I've been advocating for when I ask and new teams are coming into the league, I ask the athletic directors, look, I would like to see at least one of the two coaches be a female coach, either it's a head or assistant. It's important that the girls get to see that. And, you know, I'm so happy to say that that's what it is. I have 18 new teams, Amy, joining the league this year.

It was amazing to see that I had 11 females and four males. When do you see that? You will hardly see that honestly. And it was just a, one of those proud moments that I'm here and I'm speaking to these female coaches and there's one of the coaches that came up to me and she's like, Juliana, I literally just got assigned to be the head coach and I don't know why my assistant coach knows more about football than I do. He actually was the football assistant coach for football. Why am I the head?

And I said, because you deserve it. You deserve this spot. You deserve to be here. The girls need to see that you as a female can be the head coach. And that's what the narrative that we need to change. Females can do those head coach roles. And I'm proud to say 65 % of our coaches are females. And if you see these, these ladies, they're just dominating, you know, they're doing coaches clinics. I'm just so happy that we have more female coaches because it's a testament to.

what we're showing. It's a girls' flag football sport and we need more females to come out there. So everyone on the show listening, if you're interested in coaching, we know you more female coaches. Amy, I'll share my email. We'd love to see if you're interested and come out and be a part of it and not just coaching. We need more female officials. So please come out. We'll make sure that we link this all up with the show notes so that people realize, there's a need and you can learn along the way.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (20:53.366)

Again, all these things, until we see other women doing it, we don't know that we can, right? It's just one more thing that you're like, I wasn't aware. And now you're like, now I see other people doing it and I can do it as well. You think of football in general, and obviously a male dominated sport. What is it like to see these girls play flag supported by such a big entity like the NFL? You can say it's a dream come true for

many of the girls and that's what I've been hearing from even women that come up to me and say, Juliana, I wish flag football was a sport when I was in high school because what we're used to playing was powder puff, right? So we had the opportunity to play one game for 10 minutes, right? Throughout the whole year and you had to wait the next year to get another 10 minutes just to play powder puff. So it's truly amazing to see and a lot of the girls that are coming out to play football.

are girls that are multi -sport athletes, are girls that, you know, love football, but just for some reason, you know, they obviously couldn't play tackle because tackle is not a sport that again, you advertise. mean, I know my mom would have known if let me play tackle, let alone, you know, this aggressive sport, but it's one of those things that we're really excited. also there's a lot of girls that are coming out that have never played a sport at all.

And to me, that's really what it's about is getting girls to come out and be part of something, something bigger than anything. Yes, you're right. said, Amy, it's a male dominated sport, but now it's becoming a girls and a women's dominated sports. coming off the heels of the Summer Olympics and looking at how many medal winners were female and all these other things that are going on, when you see the rise of popularity of women in sport in general.

What do you think is the biggest influence in that? And then how is that going to translate into energy for flag and for other things that initiatives that you care about so deeply? You're right. know, having the Olympics just come off, you know, and looking at like the data and the stats that you saw in a lot of the ladies winning those medals, mean, honestly is just a testament to all the hard work that's been done in generations of.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (23:15.81)

females before us because they honestly have helped pave the path for us. I feel like when I was playing sports, we didn't have it that I'm not saying easy, right? A little bit easier, but talking about this right now and seeing how many females are getting medals, that just means that our female athletes are getting better. That means that their confidence is getting better.

It's just a testament to everything that has done before us. So I thank all the ladies before us that have been a part of this journey because without you, we really wouldn't be where we're at now. So if no one has said thank you to you, I'm saying thank you to you now, because honestly, even myself as a leader, I think about what's been done before and how, you know, even swimming back in the days was something that females couldn't even do. And now you had, we have, the US has one of the fastest swimmers. So it's just a tribute to everything that's.

been done in the past and guess what? 2028. As you know, we're going to have women's flag football and men's flag football, but I'm excited. I already told my kiddos, there are two and a half and one. I'm like, we're going, we're going in 2028 and we're going to witness another epic moment having flag football as part of the Olympics. love that energy. That excitement is translatable when it comes to the work you have done. mean, obviously none of these things.

People said yes very quickly, but there had to be some challenges along the way. What were a couple and how did you overcome them or who did you seek help from in order to make sure that you keep the eyes on the prize? The eyes on the prize. That's exactly what we kept. said, we're moving forward. This was a risk, honestly. Now that I look back at it, like it was a risk to be able to try a new sport and female sport and be able to be successful.

I really didn't look back. I kind of in my mind, I'm like, no, this makes sense. This has to happen. But one of the challenges that we had and I knew I was going to have was when you're adding a new sport, athletic directors are thinking, okay, this is going to take away from my female sports that I'm already having a hard time maintaining. By you adding another sport in the fall, this is going to take away girls from me. And two,

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (25:30.594)

The other problem was sites. In the city of Chicago, it's really hard to find green space or turf to be able to utilize. I knew those were going to be my two biggest challenges, but I was ready for it. And one of the things that I did was help advertise and social media was huge. Honestly, social media is huge, letting people know what we're doing. And the athletic directors were supportive about this and welcoming and said, Hey, you know, we're going to make this happen.

because they believe in it. They know that it makes sense. What else can we do to make this happen? And as far as space, I made all the games on Saturday. So there's no games Monday through Friday. So I was able to fit in year one. I've got two locations, one on the South side and one on the North side. And we had games from nine o 'clock all the way to five o 'clock. So every hour you had teams. had 10 schools on the South side and 11 schools on the North side. And we played double headers.

And we were able to make it happen. And on top of that, on year two, Gustavo and I wanted to spread that excitement and we wanted to go into the suburbs and we did. And the Western suburban teams came in and then year three, which was our last year, our goal was to become IHSA sanctioned. That's always been our goal. We wanted the girls to, you know, put that same trophy that the boys football team does and all the other.

I just say sports do we want them to hold that trophy. So our goal was, you know, let's get 10 % of the governing body, which is the amount of schools that need to have a program to be able to be considered and take a vote and go into the board. And that happened. in. 2023, that's what we were working on. We were working with the suburbs in the city. We all came together and I tell everyone we're literally a family because we kind of have been working together.

So those are some of the challenges that we faced, but just a little bit about our journey and how we kind of accumulated and started and moving into this year. have 150 plus teams that will be participating in the 2024 season. love what you said at the very beginning. Like this has to happen against all odds, knowing that it's not going to be easy to figure out the just the logistics alone, but it has to happen. So it's no surprise to me after hearing.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (27:49.102)

your story to find out that you won the 2023 NFL game changer award. Congratulations. That's fantastic. I appreciate it. They surprised me by they even hid my family in the storage room at Hallas Hall. So it was during the girls state championship in 2023 that I, they told me to be an honorary captain. here, you know, I'm going to be an honorary captain. And before you know it, the Chicago Bears, you know, honored me with.

the game changer award and it was truly, truly amazing to be recognized. I used to be behind the scenes. I like to be behind the scenes. I don't like to take the credit. Gustavo has told me many, many times, you know, the girls need to see you. They need to see what you do and what you've done because you're going to motivate them and they're going to see you. they said, Hey, know, if Ms. Zavala did it, I can do it too. And that's the mentality that I.

I want to see them. I've really have been getting myself out of my comfort zone. So being here with you, Amy, is honestly, it's been, it's been a lot of work on my end because I have been interviewed the last year, but it's been, again, I do this because I know that I can hopefully help other girls get the confidence that they need in order to get that to the next step. If it's maybe being in an Olympic team on 2028, because I guarantee you.

there's gonna be one girl or more than one girl on that USA national football team in 2028. So we're doing a great job. I would like to tell you a little bit about the post -secondary, what's offered at college here at the next level when you're ready, but it's all a lot of exciting things. Talk about how the role of sports and education and fostering teamwork and all the things and the resilience and then taking that now to.

college hopes, dreams, and goals beyond high school. A couple of things that I'm really, really proud of. So when I received the game changer award, the Chicago Bears invited me to one of their staff meetings. They wanted to hear my story, right? They wanted to hear a girl from Little Village. How does she, you know, help get girls flag football into a sanctioned sport in the IHSA? And in that story, while I was talking to their team,

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (30:11.122)

they invited two players that I'm really proud of. And it just kind of shows the reason why I do what I do. And one of them is Carla Rodriguez and Sadia. So Carla is actually our first athlete to be playing in the state of Illinois, woman's flag football at the college level. And Carla has been amazing. you know, my mom, like I mentioned before, she came from Mexico and she came from what her roots, her values, what they taught her.

And females sports or doing leadership roles was not something that, you know, she was raised with. She was raised with, you know, you got to be at home. You got to do the house chores. got to do. She had no idea that, you know, I wanted to play at the collegiate level soccer. And here I am and I get a scholarship to play. And I was recruited by colleges outside of Illinois and outside of Chicago.

And one of the things that my mom's rules was, you you're not leaving the house until you get married. I'm like, that's a tough rule, mom, because I don't not see myself. I don't see myself getting married at any time. But again, it's kind of what she was raised with and what her parents taught her. And when I told my mom, I'm like, mom, I'm getting these scholarships. She's like, what do you mean? You know, I'm like, yes, they're paying for my school. And she's like, how is that possible? Again, it's that education process. My mom.

didn't know, luckily I had amazing sisters that were kind of helping my mom. Like, yes, mom, I know that we didn't play sports, you know, Juliana is getting a scholarship and I've had a great teachers as well. So when I met Carla and I met her mom and I had no idea that Carla was getting recruited for a scholar, scholar, soccer scholarship and for flag football. And I was speaking with literally myself, her mom.

And, Carla was just telling me, her story. And then I shared my story and I told both of them, not knowing anything, you know, like, look, this is what happened. You know, my mom didn't let me go out of state. I actually had to play soccer at NIU because it was close to home. And my mom still wanted me to come home every weekend. I said, mom, I can't come home. I have games, you know? but then my second year, I knew that NIU was not the school that I wanted to be at. So I actually,

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (32:29.42)

you know, quote unquote, rebel. Then I went to a school in Louisiana and my mom, I mean, she was just like, you know, that's not what we do. You know, those are not your, our family values. So in a way she didn't understand that. but after I came back, she understood and she in a way regrets it. She tells me all the time, there's another mom, a little Mexican mom like myself or another mom that, you know, is stopping her daughter.

from doing something that she loves. Please let me know because I wanna speak to that mom and let her know that I didn't know I made the mistake. So I'm sharing my story with Carla and her mom. And I wanna go back to Hallis Hall when they invited me to be in front of their team because I had no idea. They surprised me that day. So I'm sharing my story with the whole team. And then all of sudden, Sadia and Carla come out from a room. I'm like, no more surprises. Like that's it. You hit my family, you know, and now.

Carla and Sadia come in and Carla that day explained to me and everyone in that room that that conversation that I had that day with her mom was the day that her mom told her, okay, you can go out and play at Cotty College and go to Missouri and play. And to me, honestly, hearing that for the first time, I was like almost in tears. I was like, wow, you know, that's again is the reason why I do what I do. And if I can

just with a simple conversation or anyone here, you know, that's hearing this conversation and hearing this podcast. There are other generation, old school if you call it, you know, that think differently, but you know, our generation is changing it. But at the same time, these values that my mom engraved in me are values that I still continue being that networker. Those are the values that help us. So just wanted to share that little story because it reminds me like, okay.

This is why I do this. Like you said at the beginning, like this will be your legacy if not one of many. And I love the fact that it starts with like an honest share of who you are, what your journey was and continues to be. And then we don't know these things until someone shows us that that influence, that ripple effect goes so far and so wide. Yes. And you know, Amy, one of the things like

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (34:50.37)

being a female, had a lot of male mentors. And when my mom tells me, you you have to be married in order to leave the house. And I'm like, I can't because the little females that I know that actually work in the industry are not married, you know? And as I'm in this industry now, I see other powerful athletes and leaders, females that have kids. And I'm like, you can do both. You can be a mom and you can also be a leader.

I bring my kids up everywhere and a lot of the times they're like, you have kids? How do you have the time to do all of this and start a new sport? And then I have an amazing partner, of course, that has helped me throughout this journey. And it just, and I tell the girls like you could do both. You just have to be able to dedicate your time and know how to balance and be able to have a great partner to help you out through this journey. But you can do both and don't let anybody tell you that being a female in the sports industry, you can't, you can't.

You just got to be able to know how to balance. And the beauty about this is when I started Girls' Flag football, both my boys were either growing up and they were part of this legacy as well. So not only was I raising my boys, I was also starting Girls' Flag football at the same time. So starting two amazing chapters in my life has been really exciting. I've been taking them to everything because it's important that they know.

that their mom is doing awesome things here and that I want them to do the same and serve and be an advocate for female sports. Well, as far as our listeners getting to learn more about flag football in our great state of Illinois, but beyond, where does somebody go to get empowered and excited and sign up and follow and everything that goes along with that? So you can log into the IHSA School Center.

You can see there how many schools have opt in to the state series and maybe there's a local high school around your area. We at CPS, you can log into CPS athletics. If anyone wants to know about Chicago Public League and our games, you could go into cpsathletics .com where you can view all the schedules. Some key dates that I want to everyone and all the viewers to be a part of. On October 4th, we'll be doing the Chicago Public League City Championship at Lane Stadium.

Amy Boyle (amyboylephoto) (37:11.95)

that championship, we're gonna have three great matches that day. So you can come out at 430, 530, and 630. And then also if you wanna be part of history, the state championship for girls' flag football will be on October 19th at Willowbrook High School. More details to follow, but we'd love to see you out there and come out and cheer on the girls and be part of this history. Well, everything will be listed in the show notes. We'll make sure that

people are armed with information, how to get started, where the passion came from, information about the game changer work, because I know there's a really nice article about that from the Bears. And just to kind of understand, to take this even beyond what our conversation is today, is chasing your dream. And even if you have to be the first, I think we're on the precipice of maybe another first coming, big first, when people see that we can do these things.

and then we have support and fire in our belly. There's nothing stopping us. And so I can't thank you enough for finding your passion, listening to your voice, going on those long walks with your mom and networking the heck out of things, because look where it's going. So thank you. Appreciate you. Thank you, Amy. And thank you, everyone. Thank you for having me.