- December 26, 2024
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When Brooklyn Travis stepped onto the football field for her first game of tackle football, the Foundation Academy eighth-grader didn’t know what to expect.
Despite that uncertainty, however, there was one thing she was certain of: She wasn’t scared of those standing on the other side of the line of scrimmage — no matter their size, and no matter that she was the lone girl amongst a field of boys.
In fact, she knew it was they who should be scared. They came to play checkers, while Brooklyn came to play a hard-hitting game of chess.
“I was never really scared to play tackle football, because I’m not really scared of people who are bigger than me — stronger than me — because I feel like there is more to it than just power,” said Brooklyn, 13. “I remember for my first football game I wasn’t nervous (and) wasn’t worried that I’d mess up; I was just ready to get out there and sack somebody.”
She didn’t get the sack she was looking for, but she played on both sides of the ball — on the offensive and defensive lines — and picked up a half-dozen tackles for the Lions junior varsity team.
In the stands, her father, Brian Travis — a former Florida Gator and NFLer — watched on in utter joy as he saw his daughter dominate in a game that’s as much a family tradition as it is a sport.
“The very first time, I cried, and the reason why I cried is because we love to see our children flourish,” he said. “This young lady has zero fear ... and everything she sets her mind to she has done successfully.”
Though Brooklyn Travis started out her athletic career playing soccer as a kid, it was at the age of 5 that she began taking on football — albeit flag football.
At the Roper YMCA, she played under the tutelage of her father, who coached the team, and it was there she first started to get a feel for the game, which came with its own unique challenges.
“It was OK for me; I wasn’t the best at it,” Brooklyn Travis said. “One of the hardest things was I wasn’t as fast as the other kids, but I was good at pulling flags and defense, and then having my dad as my coach — he is definitely a lot harder on me than any other coach ever at any level.”
Brooklyn Travis and her younger sister, Bailey Travis, were both always two of the best defensive players on the field, and that itself led to a fun competition between them. Brian Travis also added his own spin to things as the coach.
“There were times it was, ‘Who could pull the most flags,’ and the loser would have to clean the winner’s room,” Brian Travis said. “It built competitive nature in both of them.”
As the years passed, she continued playing flag, as her parents wouldn’t let play tackle football until she was physically mature enough to do so. She needed to be able to take the physical wear and tear of tackle before she would be allowed to play, Brian Travis said.
Brooklyn Travis had been begging her dad for years to play on the West Orange Bobcats — a youth organization that Brian Travis helps coach — and finally, this year, she was allowed to take to the field to compete in tackle football for the first time.
And when she showed up and joined the junior varsity team at Foundation, it took some adjusting for her teammates — who had never had a girl on the team before. She quickly gained respect in practice and in games for a combination of hard work and her intense presence.
“I think one of the things is that I was intimidating to them,” Brooklyn Travis said with a laugh. “One of our players even told my friend, ‘I’m scared of Brooklyn,’ and it was funny.”
When going out into a sport that is predominantly played by boys, to dominate in her first year is an incredible feat alone, but if you throw in her academics and juggling of other sports, it’s even more impressive.
Along with football, Brooklyn Travis has been playing softball for going on three years now, meaning she has been playing multiple sports while maintaining an impressive 3.6 GPA. It’s a routine that has taken a lot of effort to get down, but it has paid off, she said.
Right now Brooklyn Travis plays with Divergent — a softball organization which her parents helped start.
But between her time on the football, softball and soon-to-be soccer fields, there’s one objective that continues to motivate Brooklyn in her athletic journey: She wants to prove that girls can achieve anything.
“A lot of the girls think it’s impressive that I play softball and do football,” she said. “One of my cousins plays with a lot of boys and a lot of people are like, ‘You can’t do it because you’re a girl,’ and I want to show her that you can do anything when you put in the work and you put your mind to it.”
