When the inaugural Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic presented by Oakley kicked off at Arizona State University this spring, it represented something bigger than a tournament for a pair of players on the hosting ASU Women's Club Flag Football team.
 
For team founders and twin sisters Sierra and Sophia Smith, it marked the culmination of years of visionary work growing the sport and building the ASU flag football program from scratch.
 
The sisters' flag football journey began long before they enrolled at ASU. As juniors at Chandler's Hamilton High School, the Smiths were among the first athletes to join Hamilton Head Coach Matt Stone's startup flag football program – a program that has since grown to be ranked No. 1 in the nation.
 
The athletic Sierra and Sophia were already playing on the Hamilton basketball team when they were introduced to flag football by their friend Catarina "CC" Maccagnano, who now plays flag football at Arizona Christian University. The sisters immediately fell in love with it, guided by Coach Stone, who Sierra calls "the godfather of Arizona flag football."
 
"When the twins were seniors, they came to me and told me they were going to start the first collegiate flag football program at ASU," Stone said. "They didn't present an elaborate plan, they simply said they were going to do it. I didn't need an explanation. I just believed them."
 
For good reason.
 
No matter where they went, the sisters' ambitions to play for or create a collegiate flag football program would've followed them. But through their hometown university, the Smiths have been able to lean on more support from their family and coaches within Arizona.
 
"We're able to stay home and have access to all the coaches we've ever played flag football with," Sierra said. "And every single one of our coaches strongly supports us."
 
While the Sun Devils' inaugural flag football season kicked off in 2024-25, the process of establishing it began in February 2023, when Sierra started seeking guidance from various university contacts. As a college freshman, she spent hours researching individuals at ASU and in the community who could help her understand the requirements and process for establishing a women's flag football team.
 
During that process, Sierra also navigated challenges as staff and personnel left the university, prompting her to pivot and find new contacts. Eventually, she connected with Bret Scroggins, director of football engagement for Fiesta Sports Foundation.
 
Scroggins joined the Foundation in 2024 with the goal of expanding Arizona's football community and quickly realized there was an opportunity gap in girls flag football. When working with Hamilton High School's boys football team as a part of the Fiesta Bowl High School Football Showdown, Scroggins was put in contact with the Smith sisters by Coach Stone.
 
As an alumnus of ASU who played on the club baseball team, Scroggins was familiar with the challenges the sisters may face in creating a women's flag football team. As he continued working with Sophia and Sierra, he realized the Fiesta Sports Foundation had an opportunity.
 
"If we could help elevate flag football without creating a league or a conference, what could we do?" Scroggins said. "What if we did a national tournament?"
 
Scroggins began reaching out to universities with established flag football teams in early 2025 to assess interest in a tournament like the Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic. Ultimately, eight collegiate flag football teams from Division I universities were selected to play their first bowl games.
 
Those games, hosted by the Foundation, took place on April 18-19 at Arizona State University's Fields at Dorsey – the Smith sisters' home turf.
 
"We are the first team here at ASU, and now we're among the first to do this national Fiesta Bowl tournament," shared Sierra. "Being the first, and being able to be trailblazers for the sport, is truly amazing."
 
In addition to Arizona State, teams from Alabama State, Charlotte, University of Florida, University of Georgia, Grand Canyon University, University of Central Florida (UCF) and University of Southern California (USC) competed in the two-day 7-on-7 tournament.
 
The Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic presented by Oakley is the latest installment in Fiesta Sports Foundation's long-term investment in the expansion of the sport. In 2025, the Foundation launched the Fiesta Bowl Copper State Invitational, an in-season tournament for girls high school flag football, a year after it formed the Fiesta Bowl All-State flag football teams, consisting of Arizona's 21 best high school flag football players.
 
In past years, the Foundation also launched the Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Showdown, spotlighting in-season high school games, and a girls flag football clinic featuring Mexico's gold medal-winning quarterback, Diana Flores. Top players, like the Smith sisters, were there to support.
 
"Flag football is a growing sport, and so it's always going to be a process to get where we are, but it's so exciting to have it finally here at ASU," Sophia said. "It's a club now, and hopefully one day we will be able to be a part of the NCAA."
 
The Classic is the next major step in the worldwide evolution of flag football, considered among the top three fastest growing sports in the United States. Earlier this year, the sport was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women list, a move toward it becoming an official championship sport. Currently, more than 150 NCAA institutions offer the sport as a club or varsity team, with 60 of those schools being Division I. In 2028, the sport will debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympic Games, offering players a new opportunity to compete for a medal on a global level.
 
"Women can support the sport themselves," Sierra said, "but having all these outside people like the Fiesta Sports Foundation supporting the game, I think that's truly going to keep it growing at the level that it is."