APOLLO BEACH, Fla. — It’s Saturday morning and the SouthShore Sportsplex in Apollo Beach is packed.

Boys and girls running around the fields playing one of the fastest growing sports in the country, flag football.

Hundreds of players representing teams from all over competed in the NFL Flag Regionals. Winners advance to the NFL Flag Championships.

Twelve-year-old Cora Hernandez quarterbacks the Pirate Bay Krewe team. She’s been playing flag football for four years. Last season, her team won the National Championship.

“It’s something that everybody can play,” Cora said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy, everybody is able to play it.”

Cora’s age group represents one of the real benchmarks in the popularity of flag football: that there are opportunities to play outside of the high school experience is a great example of the sport’s development.

“Ten years ago, the first time a girl played flag was ninth grade,” Coach Matt Hernandez said. “Now, the first time a girl plays flag is six.”

One of the biggest reasons that opportunity exists is the support from the Tampa Bay Bucs. They sponsor an annual tournament to kickoff the high school season. They host the FHSAA state championships and they provide scholarships. That backing is everything to Bay area flag football teams.

“They are the ones who made everyone else around the country realize what this sport could do with a little bit of backing and a lot of support and push,” Hernandez said.

Coach Hernandez has experienced that support first hand as the Alonso High School head coach. And now he sees it with his daughter’s Pirate Bay Krewe team.

“This is the biggest girls' version of this tournament ever,” he said. “So it’s always exciting seeing this many people excited to play and compete.”