Just over a year ago, twins Hannah and Lucy Machin from Manchester were introduced to flag football for the first time. Their school, Fisher More Roman Catholic High School, had launched a team the year prior to participate in the Bears UK girls flag football league.

The twins remember feeling scared at first to pull a flag and catch a ball. The sport felt intimidating, given its relative newness to England, particularly to young girls in the UK.

Those nerves didn't last long.

As the twins took more and more reps at practice and eventually played in games, their confidence grew, and playing football felt natural.

"Now, we genuinely just couldn't live life without it," Hannah said.

Hannah and Lucy helped Fisher More capture a championship against St. Anne's last week in Loughborough, where the Bears hosted the Girls Flag Football National Championship.

"We've worked so hard to genuinely get where we are," Hannah said. "We lost games, won games, had injuries, it's just been amazing really."

The top eight teams from the club's Manchester, London and Midlands leagues, which featured 43 total teams in 2026, met at the Loughborough College campus for the first-ever collective championship event. While the Bears previously hosted three individual tournaments to crown a champion of each league, the growth in the league's fourth season resulted in a larger event this year where four Manchester teams, two London teams and two Midlands team were represented.

"The Bears Girls Flag Football National Championship was the culmination of a great season, with continued growth to 43 teams across three regions," Bears director of football development Gustavo Silva said. "The level of excitement, skill and competitiveness of the girls has been elevated year after year. We are extremely proud of the girls for their efforts, dedication and courage, and for continuing to be trailblazers of the sport.

"Their gratitude and excitement fuel our commitment."

A majority of the girls who competed in the tournament have a similar story to that of Hannah — who now also plays for Team Great Britain U15 — and Lucy, one where flag football has unexpectedly become an integral part of their lives, giving them a sense of community and sisterhood, a newfound self-confidence and a path for a future in sport.

The Bears have impacted over 10,000 young people in 11 regions with their international initiatives, including the UK girls flag football league, since 2022. While the intention of the league is, first and foremost, to create opportunity for girls all across the country, the rapid growth and reach of the league has also created enhanced competition.

NFL Global Flag Ambassador and Sky Sports NFL analyst Phoebe Schecter, who has spent the last few years helping the Bears operate their UK league, has seen a shift in the girls' mindsets from playing the game for fun to also playing the game to win.

"I think the biggest change in the past three years from then to now, ultimately, is their understanding of the sport," Schecter said. "They're able to organize themselves in a manner where they're calling the plays, they're creating the plays. They are not just letting it happen in front of them. They have a true understanding, and when they're not on the field, they're practicing. We didn't really see that before.

"I look at the passion of these young girls, and just see how much they're enjoying the sport of flag football, and it truly just drives me and excites me about the future."

Schecter, who has played flag football for 13 years and currently plays for Team Great Britain, supported the championship teams in Loughborough alongside Bears staff and cornerback Josh Blackwell, who spent several days across the pond as part of the Bears' 2026 UK summer tour.

For Blackwell, seeing the sport operate at this level is a new experience. Having never seen girls flag football while he was growing up, the Bears special teams ace was surprised with how fast the sport has grown, especially in the UK.

"To see where girls flag football is now, I think it's really cool and I think it's going to keep progressing in the future," Blackwell said. "The players out there are fiery. I see a real competitiveness and a real drive and a love for it. Talking to Gus out there, he was talking about how for a lot of the girls, this is a different outlet for them in terms of sports. And you can see the love for it is real. I think that's really cool to see."

Blackwell spent the day in Loughborough cheering on the teams while also picking Schecter's and Silva's brains, including asking the referees, coaches and girls questions to better understand the differences between tackle football and flag football.

From Schecter's perspective, the presence of a current NFL player who is also interested in learning and supporting girls flag football is a gamechanger for the girls who competed in the tournament and the rest of the teams around the league.

"Josh's passion and his curiosity is incredible," Schecter said. "He wants to learn more about flag football, about what the girls do, and how they train, and how they get better. And he's such an inspiration, because he's somebody who they get to watch on Sundays, and now he's watching them on this Friday, and I think that's a really kind of cool picture to paint for each other.

"These girls have never had any professional athlete come and be there for them. And I think giving them that stage to feel special and know that this whole day is about them and nobody else is incredible."

As flag football nears its debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, the Bears UK league has become a launchpad for girls who have aspirations of representing their country on the international stage. Several girls who have started their flag football journeys by competing in the Bears league are now either playing for Team Great Britain's U17 or U15 programs, including Hannah from Fisher More, or beginning to train with the squad.

While the ultimate goal would be for a Bears league participant to eventually reach the Olympics, the focus remains on creating equity and opportunity in the sport for girls in the UK.

"For me, the best part of the Bears league is the opportunities it brings to the girls," Fisher More assistant coach Richard Johnson said. "Being a P.E. teacher myself, sometimes it's a real challenge getting older girls involved in sport. The fact that they're so committed, we've got pupils who are now playing for GB, they're in Loughborough every other week, training, meeting new people.

"It just the opportunities, the social side, healthy mind, healthy fitness. Obviously, a lot of children nowadays are distracted by other things, mobile phones. The fact that they're doing this, and if you look at them all smiling now, it's the fact that with the hard work, there's an end product to it. And I think it's just seeing that pathway."