US flag football star Ashlea Klam eyes 2028 Olympic gold – and so much more

Ashlea Klam catches a pass and runs for the US women’s national flag football team at last year’s world championships. Klam is positioned to pursue Olympic gold in flag football perhaps like no other young American player during the game’s boom in the country. Photograph: Lester Barnes | USA Football

Ashlea Klam won a world championship in flag football – and is in prime position to pursue an Olympic gold medal for the US – without ever having the chance to compete for a state title at her high school. And that is something the 20-year-old from Texas is striving to change with whatever time she can find away from her training and college classes.

“I think it is just absolutely crazy that I have been able to represent my country at this sport, but I was never able to represent my high school,” said Klam, who became a world-class player of a sport debuting at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics in large part thanks to a program founded by her parents. “When states don’t have flag football in their sanctioned varsity sports … it hurts. It hurts deeply because it’s taking away so many opportunities for younger girls to be able to play this sport.”