For Diana Flores, the most important thing about where she is might just be what that means for other women. The Mexican flag football player, who has become renowned for showcasing that women have a place in all kinds of sports, spoke to Remezcla about why she loves flag football so much, moving past the stereotypes of women in sports, and how this is more than just a game.
Not that football and flag football are the same, though they share some similarities. “Flag football is much faster. It takes less time to play, so it is much more agile and much more creative as well. You definitely need different skills as an athlete to be on the field,” Flores explained. But she said that the visual similarities and the focus that has brought on flag football have helped break down some stereotypes about what women can do, which is a very good thing.
“What I have liked in recent years is that little by little these stereotypes have been broken, both about sports and the role of women in sport. That now we have more of a platform, more spotlight, more voice, that all these stereotypes are broken. Like, for example, the one about how if you are a female athlete, you are just tough and you cannot be feminine.”
Because that is also super important for Flores, the way we’ve moved past defining women just by what they do in their sport, and towards understanding that women don’t have to fit into a box. They can be everything.
“I can be an athlete on the field, but I can also be super feminine off it, or on it too since I get ready to play and I take care of myself afterward,” Flores told us. “For me, at the end of the day, taking care of myself, beyond personal care, is also a form of expression. And it’s about knowing that I am more than what I do, that I can be the toughest on the field, the most intense on the field, but also worry about looking good, not only while playing.”
Flores, who has a partnership with Neutrogena, spoke about that side of it too and about how important it’s been for her to have that platform. “They are one of those partnerships that you say, I need to pinch myself, because of the impact they have, and the impact they have on other people, of transmitting a message not only of health, of course, but also of self-love.”
And the goal is to keep breaking “paradigms, barriers, and stereotypes through sport.”
“It’s exciting, just thinking about everything that is coming. We have already done many incredible things for the growth of sport, to create more opportunities and more paths, but that is the beginning of bigger things. The Olympic Games will be a celebration of the sport, the athletes will enjoy it, and the fans too, I am sure that it will also create more opportunities for future generations of athletes,” Diana Flores shared before continuing, “And at the end of the day, knowing that sport is more than a game, that it is a way to inspire the next generations to do their best on and off the field, seems incredible to me.”
