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GILBERT SUN NEWS | JANUARY 16, 2022
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Gilbert teen aces spot on major flag football team BY DREW SCHOTT
GSN Contributing Writer
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laying wide receiver is a special experience for Brenna Ramirez. “It’s enthralling in an indescribable way when you can go up and go grab it and reach for it or all the different moves you can make like reaching over the shoulder, lunging for it as far as you can,” Ramirez said. “When the outcome goes your way, it’s quite rewarding.” Ramirez’s passion for football was evident from a young age. As a baby, she slept with a ball in her crib. At 4, she asked her dad and cousin to play the sport in the backyard. At 6, she joined her first team. Today, the Gilbert High School senior has parlayed her talent into an impressive accolade: one of 12 starters on the 2022 U. S. Girls 17U Flag Football National Team. This summer, Ramirez and her teammates will face squads from across the globe, the latest step in a football journey that has included multiple teams and a severe injury, but a constant of hard work and love for the game. “You know how you find a person that is a strong character (with) integrity?” Louis Ramirez, Brenna’s father, said. “Brenna has always lived her life in that fashion. And I think she’s being rewarded for that.” Louis and Doris, Brenna’s mother, have four girls who have played a variety of sports from soccer to basketball to softball. Yet according to Doris, “football was never on our radar” in terms of sports that her daughter would take up. However, Brenna quickly started showcasing interest in it. Those moments in the backyard blossomed into Ramirez asking her parents to play organized football. The only option was joining an all-boys flag football team in a recreational league, which is
there, but just remembering why I was there and (that) I can still make it.” The July 2021 workout was a triumphant return to athletics for Ramirez, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during club softball the previous August. Just over two months later, Ramirez learned she earned a spot on the U17 Gilbert High School senior Brenna Ramirez was presented team. But it Ramirez began playing football at a young age and with an opportunity to play for the 2022 United States Girls wasn’t her only joined her first team at 6 years old. In honor of her 17U Flag Football National Team, where she will be one of favorite player, Cardinals legend Larry Fitzgerald, she l a r g e - s c a l e 12 starters going against teams from across the globe. (Photos wears No. 11 in all of her games. Dave Minton/GSN Staff) achievement on the football field. what Ramirez did. and Paralympic Committee. She became determined to play flag “I knew from when I was younger that Ramirez and her family knew of the this is what I wanted to do,” Ramirez organization because it sponsored youth football in college after learning prosaid. “I could play all the other sports in tournaments she took part in. With Bren- grams in the National Association of the world, but football was it.” na participating in an upcoming event in Intercollegiate Athletics, an alliance of From National Youth Sports to Coast San Diego, Doris asked if USA Football small colleges and universities in North to Coast to the Gilbert Youth Football would have a scout there analyzing play- America, offered the sport. Once it was officially authorized by the NAIA in the League, Ramirez showcased her skill set ers for the U15 and U17 tryouts. and interest in pursuing football longEven though the organization did not summer of 2020, Doris said “we got a term by charting a path at wide receiver. have someone in California, Brenna was bazillion calls.” Ramirez ended up receiving six offers Yet once Ramirez turned 14, she aged able to send over video clips of her play out of the youth leagues. So Doris went and other information, resulting in an and after visiting three of the schools, to work searching for opportunities that invitation to the event at the Grand Park chose Keiser University in West Palm Beach, Florida. Among the factors that would allow her daughter to continue Sports Complex in Westfield, Indiana. her football career. “Most of the girls were from two or stood out to her about Keiser included She found one through USA Football, three main teams and I and only two oth- an experienced coaching staff and their which represents America in the Inter- er girls from my team were trying out,” priorities of players succeeding on the national Federation of American Foot- Ramirez said. “I was trying out for (U)17, field and in the classroom. ball — a group of 71 nations — and is my two teammates were trying out for a member of the United States Olympic (U)15. I remember being a lone wolf out see FLAG FOOTBALL page 29
