Throughout the 2026 Illinois high school girls flag football season, the Bears will recognize standout student-athletes through the Player of the Week Award, brought to you by Dunkin'. Each week, one player will be recognized for her outstanding performance on the field as well as her sportsmanship and community involvement off the field.
St. Ignatius junior Josie Borkowski earned Week 8 Player of the Week honors for her standout sectional performances as a running back and rusher, leading her team to the No. 3 seed in the IHSA State Tournament. In two sectional victories, Borkowski totaled 114 rushing yards and 54 receiving yards and accounted for 24 points, including an interception return for a touchdown.
Borkowski spoke with ChicagoBears.com about how flag football has impacted her life, her team's experience at the State Tournament and more.
What does winning Player of the Week from the Bears mean to you?
I was honestly shocked. I didn't even know my coach had been nominating me, but I was in class and my bio teacher is one of the JV coaches, and she told me to check my email. I was shocked. It's such an honor. It's so exciting.
When did you start playing flag football?
I started last year, which was the first year of the program. I did cross country freshman year to stay in shape for basketball and track, but I was really excited to get into football because I really love team sports. It was super exciting, and I was doing it with all my friends.
Were you a football fan before you started playing?
I watch a decent amount of football with my family, so it was super exciting to find out that I had a chance to play because that had never been an opportunity for me. We all grew up Bears fans, so they were thrilled about the award. And they were super excited about the opportunity for me to play last year because I never thought that I'd have an opportunity to play football.
How has playing flag impacted your life?
It's been such a nice thing to have after school and kind of a break almost from everything else. Obviously it's serious, and our coaches are serious about it, but it's also so fun. And our coaches are great. They let us have fun. It's just been super fun.
Who has influenced your flag journey the most?
Probably my coach, Coach Marks. He was the JV offensive coach last year, and then this year he was the varsity offensive coach, so he moved up with us. He's just so fun. He puts so much of his time and effort into it, and it makes the rest of us want to put our time and effort into it, too.
If you could only play one, offense or defense, which would it be?
That's a tough one. Honestly, I really like rushing on defense.
What was your favorite memory from this season?
Probably the bus ride to the State quarterfinal game because it was pretty long, and we all got bagels before and blasted music on the speaker. It was super fun to be with everyone.
How would you describe your team's experience at State?
It was super fun and exciting to have that happen in just the second year of the program. And we have such a young team. It's mostly juniors and sophomores, and we all were on JV together last year, so it was fun bringing that team chemistry from last year into this year.
What's your ideal future in flag football?
If I had the opportunity to play in college, I would love to. I don't know yet, though. I'm really just starting to kind of hear about and understand it, because it's growing so fast. I would love to play in college, though, if I had the chance, but I'm definitely going to play next year.
