It was cool to be able to explore a new city and really just learn more about the UK outside of London. Our real action started Friday, though, with our first girls flag football event.
This is the second year we've had a league in Manchester, and it's doubled in size for 2025 which is cool. I was really excited I got the opportunity to support these leagues this year because girls youth sports is something I've definitely gravitated towards lately.
Now having young girls in my family who I'm an uncle to or an older cousin to, I'm experiencing firsthand the positive impact that sports have on young women. These are definitely opportunities I'm all for and things I want to keep supporting. Seeing the sport of football, especially, expand to young girls is encouraging and I feel like it could open a lot of doors for them.
I had a lot of fun getting to know some of the girls in the Manchester league. It was a great group — some of them were shy at first and others were outgoing and hitting me with questions right away. It was cool to see them interact with me and drop their guard down as I got to talking and building a relationship with them through the short time I was there.