The Bears traveled back across the pond last week to host three girls flag football championship events, just eight weeks after helping kick off the third season of girls flag football in the United Kingdom.

With the support of former Bears cornerback Charles "Peanut" Tillman, Phoebe Schecter — a UK celebrity known for playing and coaching football — and Nike, the Bears crowned a champion from each league: Lillian Bayliss (London), St. Michael's (Birmingham) and and 2024 National Champion Mount Carmel (Manchester).

"We are extremely pleased and excited for the success of our third year of girls flag football in the United Kingdom," Bears director of football development Gustavo Silva said. "The second year of the Manchester league, the first year of our league in greater Birmingham and the relaunch of our London league were great successes. The continued growth of the young ladies and their increasing passion, knowledge and success are a testament to our commitment to growing the game in our international markets.

"There is no doubt that girls who were introduced to the sport through our girls flag football initiatives will one day represent their countries in world and Olympic games."

The championship event in Manchester featured three girls who are already on their way to achieving that goal. Izzy Olerenshaw and Mia Pollard from Mount Caramel, as well as Mia Samuels from Moorside, will compete for Great Britain's U15 and U17 mixed flag football teams in the 2025 European Youth Flag Football Championships in Austria this September.

For Samuels, girls flag football became an integral part of her life quickly and unexpectedly. Now, it's presenting her with once-in-a-lifetime opportunities as well as giving her a new family to grow close with.

"I started this last year knowing nothing about it," Samuels said. "I played in this league, joined a team outside of school and now I'm on the GB squad. I had no clue what this sport was and I never thought I'd get where I am now, but I would say it's such a major part of my life now. I love being a part of it.

"Being with the GB team is so amazing. They're such a wonderful group of girls and it's so nice to get that top-level training. I'm so proud of that experience. It's so amazing and I can't wait to see where it takes me in the future."

For Schecter — a former captain of the Great Britain women's national American football team — seeing girls like Olerenshaw, Pollard and Samuels develop into nationally recognized athletes is surreal. With all three girls hailing from the Manchester league, which began in 2024, Schecter is noticing the rapid development in players and teams from Year 1 to Year 2.

"This is really where you can see the growth and development over the past couple of years," Schecter said. "It's been so cool because the girls have made such a sisterhood out of it. Some of the girls arrived playing Rocky music as their team walked in in their uniforms. They were cheering for each other. We had cheerleaders here again. The whole thing was really quite magical."

While Schecter helped facilitate all three championships, Tillman played a role in teaching the girls some new skills and cheering them on throughout their games. As an advocate for the Bears Mini Monsters and Monster Flag programs, Tillman has also noticed the progression of the girls' talent and competitiveness.

Tillman was impressed with the girls' throwing abilities, defensive strategies and fundamentals. He even witnessed a completed Hail Mary, where one girl jumped up in the end zone and snagged the ball with just five seconds left. However, his favorite play of the week obviously came on the defensive side of the ball.

"There was a young lady who had a pick-six," Tillman said. "She ran that thing back and she got to the end zone. She gave out this roar, it was just like, 'look at me. Look how strong I am.' And you felt it. It was just like she found her power in that moment. She found her voice. That was by far the coolest thing that I've seen thus far with all the football that we're doing out here. You could just see her confidence went through the roof. It was great. I really enjoyed her."

The conclusion of the third girls flag season in the United Kingdom, which featured 500 participants, serves as the latest representation of the Bears' commitment to growing the game internationally.

This year, the Manchester leagued doubled in size, the original London league re-launched in new boroughs and the Birmingham league completed its first season. For longtime advocates of the sport like Schecter, seeing girls flag football grow rapidly with the Bears' support has been an emotional and rewarding experience.

"The idea that we've got our major broadcasting partners, ITV, Sky Sports," Schecter said, "I was like, how phenomenal is this that we actually have big-time news stations coming out to talk about girls flag football in the UK because of what the Bears have done.

"This never would have happened before. And here it is on the biggest stage possible in this country, showcasing the amazing work that the Bears are doing and how much it's impacting these girls' lives."