Women's flag football has basketball players trading sneakers for cleats ahead of 2028 LA Games

A year ago, point guard O'Mariah Gordon was leading Florida State into the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Not only is the 5-foot-5 grad student now at another school, but playing an entirely different sport. Shooting jumpers has been replaced by covering receivers and catching passes at Warner University in Florida. It's opened up a whole new lane for her — one that could possibly end up with Gordon on the 2026 Team USA flag football squad for world championships this summer in Germany. Down the road, maybe even on the team when the sport makes its Olympic debut at the 2028 LA Games. Same with Loryn Goodwin, a second-round pick by the Dallas Wings in the WNBA draft who pivoted and turned her talents toward the football field. The sport is so new that USA Football is looking for players in all sorts of places. Gordon and Goodwin were among the athletes named to a pair of training camps this spring in Chula Vista, California. Their journeys could be just the start of a migration of players to the football field from the basketball floor or the soccer pitch or the volleyball court or the world of track. "Friends that I have played basketball with are asking me, 'How did you get into this? How did you start?'" said Goodwin, who played hoops at North Texas, Butler, UTSA and Oklahoma State, where she earned All-Big 12 honors. "Anybody can play. To be elite, you've just got to put the time in." The path from hoops to the field The skill set from basketball to flag football is a natural crossover. Rebounding is akin to the timing of pass catching, while the ability to read a defense and hand-eye coordination remain paramount. Not to mention both are 5-on-5, featuring sudden stops and starts. All those things came in handy for Team USA receiver/defensive back and North Ridgeville High graduate Isabella "Izzy" Geraci, who's developed into one of the top players in the world after a basketball career at Cleveland State and USC Upstate. She envisions players of all sorts and heights one day turning up on flag football fields. "With the pace the sport's going, there may be a lot of women who are interested in joining the game," said Geraci, whose last season was 2022-23 with USC Upstate where she started all 31 games. "Some of those women may be 6-5, 6-6 — your freak athletes." Geraci will attend U.S. national team training camp in pursuit of making the roster for the third time. She won a gold medal at the 2024 IFAF Flag Football World Championship in Lahti, Finland. She is seeking her second world championship this year, when the event will be held in Düsseldorf, Germany. A sneaker convention leads to flag football Gordon was finished at Florida State last season after a career that saw her score more than 1,000 career points and earn All-ACC honors. Finished, too, with college sports — or so she thought. She attended a sneakers convention in Tampa, Florida, last summer when she ran into Warner coach Tim Mimbs. She dabbled in flag football in high school but not recently. "He's like, 'Want to give flag football a try again?'" Gordon recounted. "I took a chance on myself and here we are." In addition to being a receiver (six TD catches this season) and a safety (seven interceptions, two for scores), she's working toward her master's degree in business. Last week, Gordon participated in the U.S. national team trials, where she stood out and earned an invitation — along with Goodwin — to the training camps in April and May. On the men's side, Heisman Trophy winner and NFL QB Robert Griffin III earned a spot, while 66-year-old Hall of Famer Darrell Green fell short in his comeback bid. After the two camps, selected athletes will move to a third one in June. USA Football will then name the 2026 alternates and final 12-athlete rosters for both the men's and women's teams. It's another step in identifying talent before the Summer Games. Following her brothers' path There's a clip on Instagram that shows Goodwin's pass-catching prowess. It was a backyard family football game a few years ago. Blanketed by little brother TJ, a quarterback in college, Loryn Goodwin sprang free and made a one-handed grab while falling to the grass. She comes from a family of tackle football players. Another brother, Jayden, played defensive back at Air Force and her cousin, Marquise, was a receiver in the NFL. A flag football player as a kid, she gravitated toward hoops, where she moved around in college — "before transferring was cool," she laughed — due to coaches leaving, family situation and staff changes. She found the perfect fit at Oklahoma State and averaged 20.6 points in 2017-18 for a Cowboys team that made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Goodwin was taken by the Wings with the 18th pick. She spent time with the Wings and Los Angeles Sparks. She also played in Europe, where she broke her foot and led to the end of her pro hoops career. Enter flag football. A friend introduced the 32-year-old Goodwin to a team in Florida. Little did she know it was an all-star squad. "I was playing at the very highest level right off the bat with zero experience," Goodwin said. "That's wild to think about." It prepared her for this — a chance to make the Team USA roster this season. Down the road, maybe the Olympics. "I've put," Goodwin said, "everything into this."