Philadelphia Eagles co

Jun 17, 2023

From the moment she entered the Northeast High School gymnasium on Friday after field hockey practice, Vikings senior Taslim Sabil couldn’t stop smiling.

Taslim and her twin sister, Tasnim, were two of the student-athletes who received the first official set of FLY:FWD sports bras, an initiative established by the Eagles in partnership with Operation Warm, at an event supported by the Women’s Sports Foundation. Friday’s distribution was a part of the initiative’s larger goal of handing out sports bras to 30,000 young female athletes in the Delaware Valley this fall.

The event featured a panel that included Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, Boxing Hall of Famer and former WSF president Laila Ali, two-time Olympic gold medalist and two-time World Cup champion Carli Lloyd, of South Jersey, and Philadelphia Phantomz owner, coach, player, and philanthropist Star Wright. Taslim and Tasnim appreciated their support, through their words of encouragement and their backing of the initiative.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Tasnim said. “The fact that we have light shined on us, especially being an inner-city school, like people coming to us. A lot of times, I don’t even think people know what Northeast is. So the fact that they came here to our gym and they were talking to us and they were shining light on such an important thing such as women’s sports is really a great feeling.”

According to WSF, there are 3 million more high school sports opportunities for girls now compared to when Title IX was signed into law in 1972. However, girls’ participation rates still are lower than boys’, and their dropout rates are higher. Additionally, according to research published by WSF in 2008, the dropout rate among girls of color in urban and rural areas is twice that of suburban white girls.

Ensuring that female athletes have access to proper equipment, including sports bras, is part of the Eagles’ ongoing commitment to increasing girls’ access to youth sports and lowering the dropout rate. Wright, who also is the coach of Cheltenham’s girls’ flag football team, said her athletes already have received FLY:FWD sports bras, and they appreciate the utility of the donation.

“I think what it does is it just builds confidence and gives you a little bit of boost of extra self-esteem knowing that you’re supported,” Wright said.

Just the acknowledgment of sports bras as integral equipment to playing sports was meaningful to Taslim.

“Honestly, it’s so important because people are like, I don’t know, they get nervous saying the word in itself,” Taslim said. “A lot of times, people are like, ‘What? That’s equipment? You don’t really need it. It’s not that important.’ But it really is so important to get this. I don’t even know the last time I bought one. So the fact that I just got one has been a great day.”

» READ MORE: Meet the coach behind one of Philly’s top college football recruits: his mom

Hurts also discussed why empowering women, particularly women in sports, is important to him. Not only does he have powerful female figures in his family, including his mother, grandmother, and sister, but he also has an all-female management team, which includes his agent, Nicole Lynn.

For Hurts, lending support to the FLY:FWD initiative is centered on the significance of leveling the playing field and providing girls with everything that they need to have meaningful experiences in sports.

“We all talk about life and we all talk about what sports has done to us all, and it teaches you so much,” Hurts said to the student-athletes. “It teaches you resilience, it builds courage, it teaches you character. It builds character through the different experiences that you have. I think that’s the most beautiful thing about all of this. We’re all here together trying to get that encouragement and push you guys and uplift you guys to take the next step.”

» READ MORE: Inside Jalen Hurts’ Houston legend: Family, football, food, and fantastic finishes

The Eagles are the first NFL team to support female youth athletes by donating sports bras. In February, the team and Operation Warm announced their partnership on the heels of the team’s $100,000 equipment donation in 2022 to help support local girls’ participation in youth sports.

In March, the team distributed 1,500 sports bras at the annual Eagles Jamboree, which showcases the teams of the Eagles Girls Flag Football League. The league was launched last year, and has grown from 15 schools to 52 across Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Friday’s event was just the beginning, as the Eagles and Operation Warm look to continue their initiative this fall and provide local female athletes with the equipment they require to thrive on the field.

“I think that now that so many people got all hands on deck, we’re going to make sure that girls have what they need,” Ali said to the student-athletes. “Now it’s just about making sure that you come show up as athletes and be the best version of yourselves.”

» READ MORE: Degenerative eye disease not stopping a young flag football player’s love for the Eagles, NFL