Switzerland wide receiver Deborah Casanova is bouncing back from injury and her nation aims to rebound too having finished in 15th place at the IFAF Flag Football World Championships in Israel two years ago. As she prepares to compete at the European continental tournament in Limerick this week, Deborah answers some questions about the sport, her career and the time a coach once told her she was too slow to be an athlete.

What are the strengths of the Swiss team?

“We’re a very young, dynamic and highly motivated team! We want to get better day by day, practice by practice. We don’t fear anybody and won’t step away from any competition, this is what we are, what we want to be. The will and the dedication to play flag football unites us.”

What were some of the challenges of the IFAF World Championships in Israel when Switzerland’s women’s team finished 15th?

“Being a such a young team brings some challenges. It takes time to grow together as a team, to get into the game together. Communication is also key, between coaches and players (Switzerland has 4 official languages) and also between players. That wasn’t always at its prime in the past, but now, we’re all at the same level. Additionally, at the World Championships in Israel, some players where mentally and physically in a place they had never been before.”

What can you learn from those games in Israel that will help you in Ireland at the Euros?

“Participating at the World Championships was a very special and unique experience: the first time will always be remembered because it was the first time. Self-confidence as a team, competing with the best of the best is such a nice thing to do. Personally, after the World Championships, I know that I don’t fear any competition anymore. Every game we had on that level made us be better players, even if it was an enormous hard fight at the end.”

What are Switzerland’s goals for the European Championships?

“We want to be better than we were before! We want to play good football, play our game and last but not least, we want to win.”

Your track coach said you were too slow and should stop playing sports. What do you say now to that opinion and how did that inspire you?

“Honestly, I never thought somebody would call me ‘fast’! After track and field, I never did running again, until I started playing football. Competing with the best of my country and also the best internationally, I just feel now that I can be fast. That huge skill helps me to be successful in sports, of course also in flag football. Speed is key to success in my eyes. To see my success makes me feel good, to know that everything is in your own hands. There’s nobody that makes you fast, it’s just you, your workouts, your will to win.”

You tore your ACL a couple of years ago and are also coming back from a shoulder injury now. What inspired you to fight against injuries?

“Well, somehow, I had to come back. Sometimes people say giving up is the easier way, but it’s not. Not coming back, giving up is not as easy as people think. I’ll never give up, that’s just not me. Watching different people from different sports, even pros coming back from major injuries inspires me to do the same. An athlete’s heart stays on the field, even if the way back is way harder than the way to go there was.”

You have run track, done boxing and played tackle football. What qualities and skills do you bring from those sports to flag football?

“Every sport needs its own skills. Because I did a lot of different sports, I was able to adapt a lot of different elements from each of these sports. Of course, there’s a lot of endurance, speed and precision that I was able to get. By uniting all of the sports I did, I can say that the will to succeed is the most important thing.”

When did you start playing tackle football and then flag football and why?

“In 2016, I started with tackle football as a running back, then in 2019 we switched to flag football. At the end of my tackle career I tore my ACL. It took me a while to recover and I was happy that we switched to flag football. Because we didn’t have a lot of chances to play tackle. Flag football meant I could keep playing in Switzerland. The travel with the tackle team and the constant need of new players was very hard to do.”

Switzerland will face reigning IFAF European Flag Football champions Spain, Austria, who finished fourth at The World Games, hosts Ireland, Finland, and Germany in Group A in Limerick. They open the tournament against Spain at 12.15pm on Friday.