Women's flag football boom opens university pathway for Ottawa athletes

Camara Wilson wishes her father could have seen her team take the field. For years she tried building a women's flag football program at Carleton University. There were meetings, setbacks, long stretches when progress seemed painfully slow. Then, in 2023, her father — a former Carleton Ravens player and the reason she fell in love with football — died.

When the team finally took the field not long after his passing, she felt his presence. "He's been with me every single moment," she said. "A lot of what I do was for him."

Today, that pathway is beginning to take shape not only at Carleton but across Ottawa and the country. Women's flag football is growing at a remarkable pace. The sport will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. More significantly for Canadian athletes, U Sports recently announced women's flag football would become a pilot sport beginning in 2027-28, creating a national university pathway that did not exist for previous generations.

For players like Laiya Evraire, the timing feels almost surreal. Football has been woven into her life for as long as she can remember — her uncle is Ken Evraire, the former Ottawa Rough Rider and longtime sportscaster; both parents played. She started at five years old and became one of the driving forces behind Carleton's club team alongside Wilson. "There wasn't really a pathway," Evraire said. "I remember feeling discouraged."

For years, girls who loved football often reached the end of high school and found themselves wondering where they could continue competing. Friends playing hockey, soccer, or volleyball had university opportunities tied to their sports. Football players rarely had that luxury. Now they do.

Sylina Wright, a defensive captain at Carleton, first discovered football through Evraire and her football-obsessed family. Before Carleton, Wright spent years playing with the Nepean Eagles. What keeps her invested is not interceptions or championships but the trust between teammates. "You have to trust everybody to do their job," she said. "That's what makes it special."

Stephanie Thinn, who co-founded Ottawa Women's Football, played touch football at St. Peter Catholic High School in Orléans. When high school ended, so did her opportunities to compete. "There was nothing," she said. Today, Ottawa Women's Football operates women's leagues, youth programming, recreational programs, and the Hawks, a competitive travel program. When the women's league launched in 2021, it had eight teams. It now has more than 20.