Mexico’s Diana Flores Is The Face Of Flag Football You Need To Know

You mightiness retrieve Diana Flores from her popular commercial that aired during Super Bowl  LVII successful 2023. As she ran done a shot stadium and past an full city, nan backmost and skipper of nan Mexican nationalist emblem shot squad evaded nan women and men trying to drawback her flags. Flores leaped and spinned and jumped, her hips jutting broadside to broadside to flight each opponent, until yet she was joined connected nan thoroughfare by a unit of different women shot players. While that commercialized raised nan floor plan of some Flores and her sport, it besides changed her life by bringing her successful interaction pinch a legendary fig successful women’s sports. 

Among those who made a cameo successful nan action-packed commercialized was Billie Jean King. While King’s quality successful nan advertisement was fleeting, nan belief she made connected Flores during filming was not. 

“She became a friend and a mentor for me,” says Flores. “She’s guided maine successful this travel disconnected nan section to cognize what I request to cognize to correspond athletes successful nan champion way, and support increasing nan game, and inquire for what we deserve.” 

At nan 2023 NFL Pro Bowl Games, Flores was nan AFC violative coordinator, coaching alongside Peyton Manning and different convention legends. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Though King and Flores were calved much than half a period apart, they person overmuch successful common. King’s profession was defined by taking risks, specified arsenic starting nan Virginia Slims Series for women successful 1970, and defeating Bobby Riggs successful nan ballyhooed “Battle of nan Sexes” successful 1973. 

Now, Flores is carrying connected that pioneer tone arsenic nan look of women’s emblem football, which will make its Olympics debut successful 2028. As nan 28-year-old continues to powerfulness nan sport’s historical maturation up of nan Los Angeles Summer Games, King’s Women’s Sports Foundation is group to grant Flores pinch its inaugural 2025 Game Changer Award. And Flores is besides authoring a book—Flag Football for Dummies, releasing successful January 2026—that intends to thief break down nan fundamentals of nan game, including rules, strategies and more, done an approachable, illustrated guide.

Flores began playing emblem shot erstwhile she was conscionable 8 years old, pinch nan encouragement of her father, Luis Flores, who played tackle shot successful precocious schoolhouse and assemblage successful Mexico City. One time her begetter noticed women training connected a shot section 1 time and instantly drove home, put his girl successful nan car and brought her to their practice. The Mexico City squad was made up of teenagers and young women, but their passion caught her attention. The young Flores was captivated by nan measurement nan players were throwing nan ball, moving and yelling connected nan field. When her begetter asked nan women if his girl could subordinate nan team, they said yes, and she became nan youngest member. 

“The adrenaline that nan crippled has ever brought me, since I was young, is 1 of nan things that made maine autumn successful emotion pinch nan athletics complete and complete again,” says Flores. She needed that enthusiasm because emblem shot tested your committedness successful nan sport’s fledgling days. She remembers her coaches asking squad members to bring trash bags to believe truthful they could walk nan first 15 minutes clearing garbage from nan field. They seldom had their ain gear. They utilized hand-me-down boy’s tackle shot uniforms, often played connected ungraded fields aliases nationalist parks aliases wherever they could find a spot of grass. And astir of nan time, Flores was nan youngest, arsenic nan squad had problem recruiting players successful those early days. 

“I recovered that my information for showing up was for nan girls that couldn’t, and for immoderate of my teammates that started playing but had to extremity playing emblem because they stopped having nan support of their parents,” Flores says. “As I grew up I realized this athletics was giving maine a batch of opportunities that different girls didn’t have. And each I could do was conscionable do my best.” 

At 16, Flores became nan youngest subordinate to compete successful an world emblem shot tourney aft she was named to nan Mexican nationalist squad for nan 2014 world championships. Two years later, she helped lead Mexico to a third-place decorativeness astatine nan worlds, and nan federation has been a unit ever since. Mexico won golden astatine nan World Games successful 2022 and 2025, some pinch Flores arsenic captain.

At nan 2025 World Games, Flores helped Mexico conclusion nan U.S. successful nan final—yet different section successful a budding emblem shot rivalry. / Jiang Hongjing/Xinhua/Getty Images

“Those 2 golden medals person been immoderate of nan champion and biggest accomplishments I person had pinch my team,” she says. “But disconnected nan field, to beryllium an ambassador for nan athletics and person nan opportunity to lend to this activity of alteration and support opening doors for nan game, it’s 1 of nan biggest blessings and accomplishments for maine to beryllium portion of that.”

As an ambassador for emblem football, Flores has officially worked pinch nan NFL and nan IOC to bring emblem shot to LA 2028, an Olympic-sized opportunity she knows will move nan tide for women’s football. 

“I deliberation that will everlastingly beryllium 1 of nan biggest accomplishments I’ve had, because I cognize that transcends my domiciled arsenic an jock connected nan field,” she says. “It conscionable helped unfastened this anticipation for nan adjacent generations of emblem shot athletes to dream bigger than ever and person much opportunities successful nan future.” 

Spoken for illustration a existent friend of Billie Jean King’s.