Zaire Franklin hosts girls flag football event at his former stomping ground to help grow the game

A little rain couldn’t keep the kids away from attending Zaire Franklin’s girls flag football jamboree Saturday. More than 50 girls from sixth to 12th grade lined up outside La Salle College High School to participate.

“We’re here to grow the game. We’re here to teach the young ladies the beauty of the game that I grew up in love and taught me so much,” said Franklin, a graduate of La Salle and linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts who’s also an NFL Global Flag Football Ambassador. “I could do nothing more than continue to grow the game and give the game to the young women in Philadelphia and I’m glad we got some girls here to get after it today.”

The jamboree featured plenty of drills and games. It started with the kids splitting into groups of five for agility drills, such as the defensive back backpedaling, five cone drill, and the agility ladder before switching to position-based drills, with quarterback, running back, wide receiver, center, and defensive back as the five options.

While not many girls went to the wide receiver group, plenty ran up to Eagles wide receiver DeVonta Smith, who was there in support of Franklin. He signed a variety of things from shirts to jerseys and posed for photos.

“I was once a young kid looking to do things like this,” Smith said. “Any time I get a chance to put my hands in anything like this, I love too.”

Franklin added: “Obviously [Smith]’s a great competitor, great player, even better person. He’s a great ambassador for the city … so definitely thankful he was able to come here today and I know what that means for the kids and the girls to just be able to be around him and inspire them to continue to chase their dreams.”

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Joining Smith was Isabella Geraci and Amber Clark-Robinson, two members of the U.S. women’s national flag football team who will be competing in the 2028 Olympics. Hailey Gibbons, an Army Ranger, also attended the event. The trio served as coaches throughout the day, helping kids learn the different skills of flag football.

“I love these types of events,” Clark-Robinson said. “They always bring joy to me just to see the excitement on their faces and the curiosity.”

Once the drills were over, the girls took their skills to the field. Even with the rain starting to pick up, they still battled it out in a series of five-on-five games. Participants were split into four different teams, each wearing a different color T-shirt that read “Zaire Franklin’s girls flag jamboree.” While two teams were playing, the other two would work on skill drills like route running and pass breakups.

Each sidelined hyped another up as plenty of highlight-worthy plays were made. Coaches were even sending playful banter back and forth, with one saying “It’s going to be a long day green [team]!” after his team just scored.

“The five-on-five game was really good to see,” Clark-Robinson said. “The sense of pride was high and just to see all the skills applied and that they were listening and having a great time out here.”

The day concluded with another set of competitions. Kids got a chance to see who could run the fastest and who could throw a football the farthest. Once that was over, everyone huddled up by the DJ booth, where Franklin turned the mic over to Geraci, Clark-Robinson, and Gibbons for a panel, and they all shared inspirational words to the group.

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“Something may seem tough. It may seem like it’s not for you. You may be ready to give up and maybe ready to throw in the towel but keep pushing and keep fighting,” Clark-Robinson said. “The end result is always going to be there. Keep working hard for it. Keep putting effort into it. It’ll all come back full circle.”