WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Football is one of the most popular sports in the country. While it's a predominantly male sport, female participation is on the rise.
The Iowa Phoenix, a women's tackle football team based in central Iowa, is looking to keep the number of women in the sport trending upward.
Nikki Darrah is in her fourth season with the team. She didn't have any prior football experience but, her love for sports is what drew her in. The empowerment she felt kept her coming back.
"I'm very competitive," Darrah said. "I've always been in sports and an athletic my whole life. So, it was something that I have never done and something that women are trying to break into. I definitely love a strong female presence and you know, wanting to help break barriers."
The team has several newcomers this season like Brandi Thomas. She decided to step outside of her comfort zone and give football a try for the first time.
"I'm a mom of three girls," Thomas said. "So I am very all like, women, especially in sports. So, I was like, you know what, I spend my whole life kind of like with my kids supporting them. So now it's kind of time for me."
For fellow rookie Grace Francis, her love for football began when she was young. Now that she's wrapped up her collegiate softball career, she wanted to find a way to stay active.
"I played football when I was little," Francis said. "Now that I'm done with college softball, I figured this to be a good way to stay active and be able to play the game. It's different. Just learning the playbook."
Second-year player Giselle Sancen Valero knows that feeling of being new to the process. That's why in her second year with the team, she wants the newcomers to feel just as welcome and accepted as she did in her first season.
"The hardest part is showing up once you show up and you see all of the smiling faces and everyone encouraging you, everyone reminding you that you can't be perfect on your first try," Sancen Valero said. "I do not love running. I don't love the cardio, but being supported and being surrounded by a team of women who will come back and meet me where I am . . .was a feeling that I'd never had and especially as an adult, I think it's hard to find a sense of community."
All of these women share a common goal: showing the world what women are capable of.
"It's breaking barriers for women," said Darrah. "I just had a daughter and it's made me that way for her and showing how strong she can be and that she can do things that she puts her mind to no matter what anybody tells her."
For more information on how to get involved with the Iowa Phoenix, click HERE.