How Ashlea Klam Made Flag Football Her Career
Pro Footballer Ashlea Klam Says Flag Football Is Not "Just a Recreational Sport"
Ashlea Klam is locked in — and she has the phone background to prove it. On a Zoom call with the pro footballer in early August, she shows me her lock screen: a photo of herself passionately screaming during a play. It serves as her reminder to always bring her whole self to the game.
Klam is the one of the top collegiate flag football players of her division, named the 2026 NAIA Women's Flag Football Player of the Year and captain for Team USA. And she didn't arrive here by happenstance. Inspired by her older brother, Klam has played flag football since she was 7 years old on a team created by her own parents.
"In Texas, whenever a 7-year-old girl at the time with little pigtails says, 'I want to play football, majority of the parents would say, 'Well, what about this? What about this? Why don't we try this?'" Klam says, "But both of my parents were like, "Oh heck yeah! If we can't find you a team, we'll make you a team.'"
In high school, Klam was already plotting out her future in the sport. "I had a gut feeling that it would be able to take me somewhere," she tells Popsugar in a conversation about her latest partnership with T-Mobile.
"One of the biggest misconceptions is that it is just a recreational sport."
Klam began her official flag football career at Kaiser University and now she's transferring over to Cal Poly University, a D1 school, to play the game. This is also her fourth year on the women's US national team, which she's hoping will make headlines at the next Olympics when flag football makes its debut. "One of the biggest misconceptions is that it is just a recreational sport," Klam says. "No, people can make genuine careers out of this."
It's a reality Klam hopes to convey through her latest partnership with T-Mobile. The brand recently launched its Friday Night 5G Lights program offering small-town high schools the chance to receive funding of up to $1 million to upgrade their football fields and athletic facilities, thereby helping create a better experience for athletes and the entire community. (Klam joins NFL icons Rob Gronkowski and Patrick Mahomes in supporting the effort.)
"When growing up, my parents created a community for me and so that's why this is such an authentic partnership for me because they're creating communities for small towns," Klam says. In supporting these resources, she hopes other young girls will be encouraged to play the game. She wants to create as many "pathways" as possible for them to reach the top.
Fortunately, the industry is already recognizing the potential, Klam says, acknowledging the meteoric rise in the investment of women's sports: a recent Nielsen study showed a 120 percent increase in advertising spent on the category since 2022. It also noted that 122 million Americans (more than half the population) are interested in women's sports.
"People are starting to realize that supporting women's sports is no longer just good to do," Klam says. "People are starting to realize that it truly is good business."
Alexis Jones is the section lead of the health and fitness verticals at Popsugar, overseeing coverage across the website, social media, and newsletters. In her seven-plus years of editorial experience, Alexis has developed passions for and expertise in mental health, women's health and fitness, racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare, and chronic conditions. Prior to joining PS, she was the senior editor at Health magazine. Her other bylines can be found at Women's Health, Prevention, Marie Claire, and more.
