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When 6-year-old Maci Joncich first stepped onto a football field full of boys, she was just trying to compete with her two older brothers.
At the time, flag football was simply a recreational game. It wasn’t played in high schools across the country, it hadn’t reached college campuses and it certainly wasn’t an Olympic sport.
Two decades later, as flag football prepares for its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Joncich is pursuing a dream that didn’t even exist when she entered the sport. Unlike most aspiring Olympians, she has no pathway to follow, no blueprint to look at and no Olympian to imitate.
“Growing up, I never really had a flag football idol,” Joncich said. “Not that there weren't amazing women out there playing the sport, but it wasn't marketed. It wasn't known.”
Joncich took a chance on flag football long before the world acknowledged it.
She began playing on a travel team out of Las Vegas when she was 14. Three years later, she became the youngest player selected to the U.S. National Team in 2024, just months after she graduated from Coronado High School.
Continue reading...
At the time, flag football was simply a recreational game. It wasn’t played in high schools across the country, it hadn’t reached college campuses and it certainly wasn’t an Olympic sport.
Two decades later, as flag football prepares for its debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Joncich is pursuing a dream that didn’t even exist when she entered the sport. Unlike most aspiring Olympians, she has no pathway to follow, no blueprint to look at and no Olympian to imitate.
“Growing up, I never really had a flag football idol,” Joncich said. “Not that there weren't amazing women out there playing the sport, but it wasn't marketed. It wasn't known.”
Joncich took a chance on flag football long before the world acknowledged it.
She began playing on a travel team out of Las Vegas when she was 14. Three years later, she became the youngest player selected to the U.S. National Team in 2024, just months after she graduated from Coronado High School.
Continue reading...
