The Lead

Girls flag football is continuing to gain momentum in Colorado, as the Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) voted in April to officially sanction the sport at the high school level.

Parker Gabriel of The Denver Post recently took an inside look at the key role that two Broncos staffers, Bobby Mestas and Allie Engelken, played in making this long-term goal a reality.

Mestas, the Broncos' director of youth and high school football, and Engelken, Denver's vice president of community impact, spearheaded the Denver Broncos Foundation's support throughout the three-year pilot program.

"I would say it to anybody: Without Bobby and Allie, I don't know if this happens," said Patrick Simpson, the Jeffco Public Schools executive director for athletics. "It definitely doesn't happen in the time it did."

The Denver Broncos Foundation has contributed more than $700,000 to girls flag football during the pilot program, organizing and funding partners for coaches training, uniforms, referees and other guidance. Staff members have taken a very hands-on approach, with Mestas scheduling and coordinating 680 girls flag football games in 2023 alone. Shortly after the sanctioning became official, Mestas was named Bronco of the Year at the organization's annual spring honors event.

Engelken, who is the foundation's executive director, also credits the support of the Walton-Penner Family Ownership Group with fostering the growth of the sport and allowing the sanctioning process to really take off.

"Knowing it was a priority from the very beginning from ownership allowed us to have the resources and support needed to grow it even in its second year," she said.

This growth included a doubling of the number of teams between 2022 and 2023.

The Broncos and Denver Broncos Foundation remain invested in the future growth of the sport, making efforts to measure its impact among youth in the state and help schools understand the benefits involved. The foundation partnered with Children's Hospital Colorado on an extensive research project to collect data to be analyzed for future application.

Having worked for the club since 2002, Mestas says that his recent work in this area has been one of the highlights of his career.

"Allie and I have talked over the past couple of months about how, from a work perspective, this is really a once-in-a-lifetime project," Mestas said. "It's by far the most rewarding thing I've ever had the chance to work on. By a mile. And this doesn't happen without the support of so many others and the buy-in from so many others."

For more on the role the Broncos played in the sanctioning process, click here to read Gabriel's article.