NEW ORLEANS — Camille Rebourg started attending Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans two years ago. But her lessons in football are beginning now.
"I'm a soccer player and I'm French, so I had no idea what football was," Rebourg told WWL Louisiana. "And I arrived like a year and a half ago, so I didn't even speak English, so I didn't know what football was."
Rebourg and Lycée Français are a part of a new girls high school flag football league where experience doesn't matter – but passion does.
"With the size of our school and the number that came out, I would say it was overwhelming," said Lycée Français head coach Dante Scott. "Our high school is no bigger than 300 kids. We got 20, 24 kids on the team."
The desire behind this project goes beyond the athletes, too.
This league is sponsored and run by the New Orleans Saints, and the gear has been provided by Nike, at no cost.
"The interest is definitely there," said Saints Senior Director of Youth Sports Development, Elicia Broussard Sheridan. "The competition, as you can tell, is definitely there. We've got young ladies who are on the dance team, who are cheerleaders, playing other sports, members of the band."
This flag football league has 10 teams now, but over 40 schools have reached out with interest in joining this season. The ultimate goal is for this sport to be sanctioned by the LHSAA.
"The biggest thing that I've seen that's sort of resonated with the girls is the opportunity to make history, to be a part of history, and just knowing where this opportunity can lead," explained Sheridan.
For Sheridan, who's been around football her whole life, this is a dream project turned reality. And it has the chance to take the sport from NOLA to France, and beyond.
"To be instrumental in this opportunity to provide this for young girls," said Sheridan. "I wish I had this when I was in high school. Hopefully, in years to come, the NCAA will adopt it as a collegiate sport.
"The Olympics is going to feature it in 2028," she continued. "So who knows, we might see some of these girls in the Olympics in 2028."