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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation announced they have committed $250,000 to establishing ‘The Tampa Bay Buccaneers Girls in Football Scholarship Fund’, becoming the NFL’s first college scholarship for high school girls football players. The scholarship is open to female high school seniors participating in organized football programs, nationwide.
With the commitment, the Bucs became the first NFL team to make such a move and continues their organizational efforts dedicated to finding ways to increase the incorporation of women into the national football landscape.
“In the state of Florida alone, we have 260 sanctioned girls flag football teams, yet there are no scholarship opportunities for those female athletes after high school that help reduce the burden of their college tuition,” said Buccaneers Owner/President of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation and Glazer Family Foundation Darcie Glazer Kassewitz. “We wanted to fill that void by creating a scholarship program that would reward young women for their academic success as well as encourage them to play football.”
Of course, this isn’t the first time the Buccaneers have been involved in these types of efforts. In 2018, the team created the Jr. Bucs Girls Flag Football League, partnering with the city of Tampa Parks and Recreation Department in doing so.
The league includes 24 local recreation center teams which all received new equipment from the franchise. The team also outfitted 35,000 middle school girls with flag football equipment, by contributing to over 90 schools with girls flag football programs.
Just last March, the Buccaneers also hosted the largest girls flag football event in the country, welcoming more than 40 teams and nearly 1,000 girls to the AdventHealth Training Center for a weekend-long, round robin-style tournament.
To apply, candidates have to plan on enrolling in a full-time accredited four-year college or university and have a minimum 3.0 grade point average during their high school career. The first round of awards will be distributed at the conclusion of the 2020 academic school year. The foundation also released a video about the scholarship launch, which can be viewed, here.