Lauren Pak: Overcoming Injury and Empowering Athletes Through Flag Football and Social Media
In a world where football has long been considered a men’s sport, a new wave of athletes is changing the game. One of those athletes is Lauren Pak, a dedicated flag football player and fitness coach whose journey through sports and training is inspiring others to push past traditional boundaries.
Her story begins in gymnastics, a sport that instilled in her the value of strength at an early age. "Gymnastics focuses so much on strength training," she said. "It’s a lot of calisthenics and bodyweight strength, but it made me proud of being strong." This foundation in strength carried over as she transitioned into weight training at 16, and eventually, she found her way into the world of flag football during college.
Unlike traditional sports like soccer or basketball, flag football wasn’t something she had grown up playing. "I played intramural co-ed flag football in college, and at the time, there weren’t any women’s leagues that I knew of," she explains. "I was one of only two women playing, and it wasn’t even really co-ed—it was all guys. But I always really loved football and wanted to be a part of it."
Her passion for the sport led her to a groundbreaking discovery: a full-contact women's flag football league. "One of my personal training clients mentioned the Boston Women’s Flag Football League, and I thought, ‘Oh, I’ve played flag football before,’ thinking it wouldn’t be that intense." But when she stepped onto the field, she realized the competition was fierce, with former collegiate basketball players and serious athletes, and she realized she had to step up her game.
The experience changed her perception of the sport. "I didn’t realize how legitimate flag football was until I played at that level.” The sport has grown so much, and now there are colleges offering scholarships for women’s flag football. It’s even set to be part of the Olympics in 2028, and Lauren hopes to be part of the national team! There are so many more opportunities for girls now than when she started.
As a woman in a male-dominated sport, she’s faced her share of challenges. "When you’re the only girl out there…you don’t get viewed as seriously. Having women’s leagues has really elevated [the sport] and has made it more impactful.”
Beyond football, her passion extends into the fitness industry, where she and her husband, Jason, are fitness influencers with over 1 million Instagram followers. They are strong supporters of training for functionality rather than aesthetics. "The fitness industry has long been focused on what you look like rather than what you’re capable of. But when you really zoom out and think about the big picture of life, what you look like is always going to change… when you start to really think about what do [you] want to do in life and what activities [you] enjoy, a lot of them require strength, or at least require strength in order to do them well and to feel good doing them.”
Her approach to training emphasizes real-world strength over traditional gym aesthetics. A lot of fitness rules, like ‘never let your knees go inward when you squat,’ don’t always apply in real-life sports. For example, when watching athletes in motion, it is evident that their knees go inwards, their hips rotate, and much more—there’s no perfect form in dynamic movement. “You want to train in [the] different angles and positions that you're going to experience on the field,” said Lauren.
Lauren and Jason practice what they preach, being extremely strong, mobile, and explosive. However, there are simply things you can’t control, and this was shown a few months ago when Lauren suffered a significant injury—an ACL tear while rushing the quarterback in a flag football game. "I typically play wide receiver, so playing that position was already a change. But I train in a way that prepares me for changing directions and different angles, so this was a shocking injury to me and everyone who knew me and the way I train.” With so much experience in the sports medicine world, she knew exactly what had happened as soon as she heard the pop. “It wasn’t even the pain that got to me. It was knowing that this was going to be a year-long recovery process.” However, as soon as she processed her injury, she tried to see the positive side, saying, “the goal of this year is to not only get through this recovery process, but also help people who are going through the same thing… so I started to move into ‘how do I use this as an opportunity to get better as an athlete and a person?’”
The road to recovery has been a testament to her resilience and approach to training. Although the surgery was tough and the rehab process has been challenging and sometimes discouraging, questioning her identity, her focus is on getting back stronger and helping others see that injuries don’t have to define you. When Lauren was younger, while doing gymnastics, she suffered injuries to both her legs, putting her on crutches while she had casts on both legs. Of course, she recovered from this injury and returned healthier than ever. Instead of dwelling on the past and overthinking things she could have done to prevent the injury, she is looking to see the positives of this situation and that is coming back stronger than ever and getting past other obstacles.
ACL injuries are notoriously common among female athletes, often due to differences in biomechanics, muscle activation, and hormonal factors. This injury often causes athletes to undergo almost a year long recovery process, sometimes making athletes question whether it is even worth it to return to their sport. In fact, according to a study conducted by Clare Ardern, one in three athletes one in two athletes did not return to the same competitive level of their sport after ACL reconstruction surgery. For Lauren, early on during her recovery process, she would tell her Jason, “there's no way I'm gonna go back to football…do I really want to risk [getting an injury] again?” But instead of dwelling on the past and the possibilities of the future, Lauren came to the conclusion that even though she would be taking a risk, it was worth it because it brings her so much joy and is something she can’t do forever. “So you just kind of have to decide what is important to you and what you're willing to risk.”
Lauren’s story sheds light on the challenges women face in sports and the need for better injury prevention strategies. Rather than letting the setback deter her, she has approached rehab with the same determination that has fueled her athletic career. She encourages others to “approach revocvering form an injury just as positively or excitedly as you approach regular training.” People often overthink about the past and what they could have done differently, but its important to recognize that there are things that are outside your power, that you can’t control. Lauren hopes people “give [themselves] a little bit of grace… [and recognize that] injuries aren’t always 100% your fault.” By sharing her journey, she using her large online platform to help to change the narrative around female injuries in sports, proving that strength is about resilience as much as power. Her commitment to returning stronger serves as an inspiration for other female athletes navigating similar struggles, showing them that setbacks don’t have to mean the end of their journey—they can be the beginning of an even greater comeback.
Her journey is one of breaking barriers—not just in football but in fitness and beyond. She’s proving that strength isn’t just about how you look but about what you can do. And that injuries shouldn’t be seen as a setback but rather a push to become an improved version of yourself, both physically and mentally. As flag football continues to grow, she’s paving the way for more women to step onto the field with confidence.
Image credit: Jason and Lauren Pak Instagram