When Jade Strawberry \u201917 (CLAS)\u00a0got the news that she\u2019d been promoted to chief of staff of the youth-sports advocacy organization RCX Sports as a 26-year-old with less than three years in the industry, she felt both immense pride and a brief flash of panic: Was she ready for the job? Could she handle the work? Had the team made a mistake?<\/p>\n
\u201cI had that one night of impostor syndrome,\u201d Strawberry confesses. So, as she\u2019s done countless times before, the former UConn volleyball player stepped into her bathroom, looked herself in the mirror, and gave herself a firm pep talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is literally what I asked for. We\u2019re gonna go do it, and we\u2019re gonna go get it,\u201d she remembers telling herself. \u201cYou\u2019re here for a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since then, Strawberry has been named one of the 2024 New Voices Under 30 by Sports Business Journal for her leadership of her organization\u2019s Females in Flag initiative, aimed at increasing the number of young women athletes in flag football at every level, from junior varsity to university.<\/p>\n
Nearly 70,000 girls competed in high school flag football around the country last year. In 2024, the NFL Flag Championships \u2014 for boys and girls \u2014 broadcast for the first time on ESPN.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams were buzzing, that\u2019s for sure,\u201d Strawberry says of the competition, recalling her own excitement as fireworks whizzed and crackled overhead during the opening night ceremony at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Onsite with her team were two college women\u2019s flag football players, inaugural winners of the International Scholarship sponsored by the RCX Sports Foundation in partnership with the NFL.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn between meetings, we would walk around the fields together, just sit down and hang out,\u201d says Strawberry. They asked her advice on all manner of things, making Strawberry recall her own time as a young athlete, eager for support from her coach or older teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that you are looking at me in that way, as a mentor,\u201d she told them. \u201cAnd if you need a resource, I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n