By Michael Preston Satisfying a hunger to discover a competitive sport that challenged her athletic abilities and later a desire to play at the pinnacle of the game is what drove Vanita Krouch to become an iconic figure in women’s flag football. The quarterback – a mainstay of U.S. Women’s flag national teams in since 2016 - will again lead the United States when she lines up at a fifth international tournament this week. It was that desire to reach such heights that drew her to flag football following a Division 1 basketball career at Sothern Methodist University, and a spell playing semi-professional basketball. “Basketball was the sport I grew up playing, but after a while it wasn’t satisfying the hunger in me, so I googled ‘adult sports for after college’ and found flag football,” she explains. “I formed a team with my brother and started playing men’s 4-on-4. We knew we were fast; I had good hand-eye coordination and was good at it naturally, and it was super empowering that we could hang with those guys.” At that time, the sport served as a recreational outlet after a day at the office that brought with it socialization and helping Vanita to stay in shape. Playing in more competitive leagues came next and in abundance, but the idea of representing her country, wasn’t even on the radar at that time. “I was playing in nine leagues in a week, playing every day,” Vanita says. “Once you tap into the community in Dallas, you find out that they all know each other. They boys told me I needed to take a team to nationals in Orlando, so I got to satisfy the full hunger with travel and new experiences.” Then a new dish appeared on the menu: the U.S. Women’s flag football national team. “I had seen Mexico playing at a tournament and then just randomly, one of my teammates came across a YouTube video of a competition in Germany with Japan and USA and there’s a USA flag team on the video, so that really intrigued me. I felt pretty confident that I could be a part of that. And I wanted to.” But Vanita didn’t make the cut. Having found the national team’s contact information online and submitted highlight videos and a resume to ask for a tryout, her request was denied. Having since earned back-to-back IFAF world championships with her nation, Vanita has been compared to Tom Brady, whose seven Super Bowl rings set him apart from his peers. But an overlooked element of their comparative success is that both future stars of their respective sports had to bounce back from a setback at the highest level, Brady being almost an afterthought sixth round selection in the 2000 NFL Draft. Undeterred at not making the national team, Vanita persisted. “The pathway has changed now, but back then they didn’t have the tryouts we have now, so it was more about word of mouth and who has heard of you,” she explains. “They were recruiting from the tackle world and Katie Sowers was on the team but got hired by the NFL to go and coach, so she gave up her spot. That opened the door for me because one of the girls who played both tackle and flag said that more of the flag girls needed to be given a chance.” Three-time silver medalists in prior tournaments, the United States claimed a first goal medal in IFAF women’s flag football in Panama in 2018, beating the hosts 27-12 in the championship game and then defended their title three years later in Israel as Mexico were dispatched 31-21. A year later, the women’s program suffered a rare defeat, a 39-6 loss to Mexico in the final of The World Games. Vanita insists that revenge will not be a driver when the traditional rivals meet again at 10.30am this Thursday, July 6, on the second day of action at the IFAF Americas Continental Championship at the United States Performance Center and University of North Carolina Charlotte. The Americans will instead focus on learning from that loss. “I’m not going to say it’s revenge,” Vanita says. “I’m more excited to play for my team and my country again as it’s been a year and we’re finally getting a chance to suit up again. It’s about our performance and we’re going to be extremely hard to stop both on offense and defense if we execute our game play. “Mexico are always a solid team and they played a very good game last time and we probably played our worst game ever. Kudos to them. Every team is feeling pressure right now. Will Mexico be able to win again? Is Panama going to sneak up on us?” The answers to all those questions will be answered this week on Wednesday, July 5, when the United States open the IFAF Americas Continental Championship against Panama at 9am. Vanita then leads the Americans against Chile (12.15pm) and Brazil (4pm). Thursday begins with that mouthwatering matchup against Mexico (10.30am) and then versus Canada (2.30pm). Friday’s focus is on the placement and championship games. View the full schedule here: https://ifafamericaschampionship.com/game-center Photo: Ryan Pini/USA Football # # #